Diego Luna Shares Excitement Over Andor Season 2 Scripts, Discusses Cassians Relationship With Maarva, and More

SWNN Probe · Nov 28, 2022

Andor has now finished its first season, and the team behind the show is currently hard at work filming season 2 in the U.K. However, more interviews and quotes from the people involved with it are coming out as the press tour wraps up.

In a new interview with Collider, lead actor Diego Luna spoke candidly about the show, whether he thinks Cassian is familiar with lightsabers and the Jedi, and his initial thoughts on the new scripts. What follows are the highlights of what Luna discussed, but we encourage you to read the full interview here.

Luna revealed his reaction when he first got the call from Lucasfilm about the series, comparing it to his character introduction in Rogue One, and all the questions that came with the reveal of the project:

'I would say that it was a natural process, and I think in Rogue One I got a taste of it, and I was a little bit ready. In Rogue One, we had the same kind of feeling. Like the first reaction was, 'Really? What? You're going to what? Now you're going to do a film that has a beginning and an end? Is that the cast? There [are] no Jedi. What do you mean? I mean, is the tone going to be different?'

I had the same reaction when I was offered Cassian for [Andor]. I was like, 'What? What do you mean? Really, me for this? What makes you think I'll be good in this show?' So I think I understand. And to be honest, I think it took a little pressure off our shoulders to come out of nowhere. My reaction, or this journey, since the series came out, I think it was very important for people, for audiences to be able to watch the first three episodes in one because it gave you the feeling of what we were trying to achieve and the range of what the show was going to offer.'
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Cassian Andor (Diego Luna) in Lucasfilm's ANDOR, exclusively on Disney+. ©2022 Lucasfilm Ltd. & TM. All Rights Reserved.

But according to him, everything went great. Not just because of the great reviews, but because they were able to deliver exactly what they set out to do:

'You know what's beautiful? That when I hear people talking about the show in social media, when I read the reviews, I hear a lot of the words that we were reminding ourselves every day on set. The darkness, the complexity, the depth, the intimacy, the realism. I think that's one thing Tony and we were all trying to remind ourselves, this has to feel real, this has to feel real. It has to give you the opportunity to forget that you are in a galaxy far, far away for a second. It has to feel that you are witnessing an intimate, realistic moment of someone close to your community, that you are spying on your neighbors kind of thing.'
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In the first scene of the first episode, we were introduced to what we thought would be a significant character conflict for Cassian Andor over the course of the season, when he got into a brothel and started asking around for his sister. While that was only brought up one more time in the season, that doesn't mean that the character stopped looking for her, as Diego Luna told Collider:

'I don't think so. I don't think it's over. I don't think it's ever over. I don't think it's over in Rogue One, because I see that as one thing. It's like the feeling, it's one of those things that kind of follow every decision you make, or never letting [go] anymore, not again. That kind of thing. And I think that's behind the decision of that last mission, that suicide mission in Rogue One. That's for her. That's for Maarva, that's for his people, for his community. I love the arc that Tony has built, and the arc ends in Rogue One, not in Season 2. I think it's going to be quite amazing to watch Rogue One after you see Season 2. I think you'll see a different film. For sure, you'll understand the character from a different perspective, and you'll be with him in a different way.'
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(L-R): Perrin Fertha (Alastair Mackenzie), Mon Mothma (Genevieve O'Reilly) and Tay Kolma (Ben Miles) in Lucasfilm's ANDOR, exclusively on Disney+. ©2022 Lucasfilm Ltd. & TM. All Rights Reserved.

Luna was also asked if he thinks Cassian and the rest of his community in Ferrix have heard about the Jedi Order or lightsabers. After being slightly dubious about it, Collider told him that Tony Gilroy had said that they have not heard of any of them, to which Luna replied:

'I agree. At least from what we see. He doesn't know and clearly doesn't believe in that. Even if he had heard of them, he clearly doesn't believe in them. But I don't think they've even heard of that. No.

We'll see the second season.'
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It was definitely an interesting tag at the end on Luna's end, referencing the second season, though it might not mean too much. Gilroy recently hinted at legacy characters entering the fold, though that is a broad enough term to refer to anyone from Tarkin to Bail Organa, or even Hera Syndulla.

Mon Mothma (Genevieve O'Reilly) in Lucasfilm's ANDOR, exclusively on Disney+. ©2022 Lucasfilm Ltd. & TM. All Rights Reserved.

Luna was also asked whether Cassian's final turn came after his experience inside the prison or after listening to Maarva's speech. To him, it was both:

'I think it's both. The prison is about, he realizes how blasted up things are in this galaxy. He realizes how little the life of people means to the Empire. What you are to the Empire is a Maclunkey white suit, a number, and you just mean something if you produce. Just a number. You're a white suit. There's no personality there. He realizes that prison is just a metaphor of the life out there. You don't have to be in that prison to be living in a prison. I think that jump, that running out, that one-way-out sequence is definitely the first time he is running away with a purpose, because he keeps running away in this show. He's always running away. He starts running away. But that's a moment where he knows why he's running away, and that something has to be done. That he can't call that life.

But I think Maarva, in a personal way, is what ends up setting him up. It's the wake-up call, and it arrives too late. He just realizes he always had it there. That the mentor, that the referent, the example, it was there, it was at home, it was sitting there in that chair. That the words she was saying were true. That's why I was saying that Rogue One will feel different after watching episode 12 because you remember Maarva with every word Cassian says, and every action he does.'
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Luthen Rael (Stellan Skarsgård) in Lucasfilm's ANDOR, exclusively on Disney+. ©2022 Lucasfilm Ltd. & TM. All Rights Reserved.

When asked about his reaction to reading the scripts for season 2, Luna revealed that, even expecting brilliant writing now, he is still just as impressed when reading them:

'I mean, my reaction is, I don't get shocked anymore about the quality of the writing because I know Tony, I know the writers, I know the process. And even though when you read something that is a work in progress, it's already better than half of what you've read before in your life. It's incredible. It's incredible. Most of what's happening in this season, [I’ve known] since we started planning Season 1. Structurally, it got tighter. And obviously, by deciding to do just two seasons, things got compressed. But structurally he had it clear from scratch, from the beginning. That's why it doesn't feel like TV. It's not like, 'What should we do now?' It was never that way. It was never that way. We had a clear idea of where we were heading, and what was going to happen, and which characters were going to be part of this journey. Everything was there from the first time he pitched me his idea.

But now, reading it is delicious. Now I can very selfishly say this. It's like knowing that I'll be acting on this show, knowing I'll be learning those lines, knowing I'll be also working with these actors just makes me feel like I'm the luckiest actor ever. And now knowing that there's an audience that likes it and that cares about this, and that celebrates the show for the same reasons I celebrate the show, makes me feel that I couldn't be luckier. It's clearly the best time in my career so far. I'm enjoying this. I'm part of the whole process. As a producer, I get to witness the process of everyone in this team, and the learning, and the journey is amazing.'
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Season 2 of Andor films through next August and is aiming for a release in the second half of 2024. It will be 12 episodes long, with each block of three happening in each of the four years in between the events of season 1 and Rogue One.

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Diego Luna Shares Excitement Over Andor Season 2 Scripts, Discusses Cassians Relationship With Maarva, and More

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Diego Luna Shares Excitement Over Andor Season 2 Scripts, Discusses Cassians Relationship With Maarva, and More

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