Andor Director Talks About Filming Kino And Luthen's Big Monologues

Tony Gilroy's "Star Wars" series "Andor" was a quick success among fans and critics alike following its debut in September of 2022. As its title suggests, "Andor" serves as an origin story for Cassian Andor (Diego Luna), who plays an important role in the Rebel Alliance during the events of "Rogue One."

Critics credited the maturity of "Andor" for its popularity in numerous positive reviews for the series published at the time of its premiere. Disney even announced that it kicked off production on "Andor" Season 2 in November, suggesting that it might not be long before the next chapter of the hit show begins.

Partway into its run, fans praised "Andor" Episode 6 as a highlight, with some going so far as to describe it as the best "Star Wars" has been since the Disney era kicked off in 2015. Episode 6, which falls just about halfway into the show's initial 12 episode run, is something of a fulcrum point for Season 1 — much of what happens before is building to the Rebel heist that takes place in the episode, while fallout from the heist continues to affect virtually every principal character moving forward.

Episode 10, for example, features monologues by both Kino Loy (Andy Serkis) and Luthen Rael (Stellan Skarsgård) that help underscore the significance of its heroes' rebellion. In an interview published in conjunction with Episode 10's premiere, its director Toby Haynes went into detail about just how he brought these monologues to life.

After "Andor" Episode 10 premiered on November 9, The Ringer published an interview with Toby Haynes, who directed six episodes of "Andor" including Episode 10. During their discussion, interviewer Ben Lindbergh asked Haynes how the monologues by both Kino Loy and Luthen Rael came together during the episode's production.

First, discussing Kino's big moment, Haynes revealed that he decided to film Serkis' monologue in its entirety, despite the episode alternating between live footage and voiceover. Nevertheless, Haynes recalled Serkis having his monologue down on his second take, and only requiring five takes in total.

Meanwhile, Haynes found something to be missing from Skarsgård's monologue at first, before characterizing it to the actor as excessively speech-like. "He went, 'Oh my God, thank you. Thank you so much. Thank you.' And then he did three more takes, and it had all the spontaneity, it had so much more emotion," Haynes said.

For what it's worth, Haynes described directing Skarsgård in glowing terms — both in his Ringer interview and an earlier conversation with The Hollywood Reporter, in which he called filming Skarsgård opposite Saw Gerrera actor Forest Whitaker as a career highlight. From the sound of it, then, Haynes has remained highly appreciative of his opportunities to work with legendary actors like Serkis and Skarsgård, but unafraid to actively direct them as he did during their challenging monologues in Episode 10.