Why Andor Could Be The Darkest Star Wars Series Yet
"Star Wars" fans are destined for multiple treats this summer. While the "Obi-Wan Kenobi" Disney+ series draws nearer and nearer, Lucasfilm also expects to release "Andor" from Tony Gilroy — best known for writing the "Bourne" movies and pitching in on "Rogue One" — and starring Diego Luna by the end of the summer. "Andor" brings Luna back as Cassian Andor, the expert rebel spy featured prominently in 2016's "Rogue One: A Star Wars Story." Cassian actually dies in "Rogue One," but his solo series takes a step even further back to explore how his character wound up as a key player in the early rebellion that Luke Skywalker and Han Solo eventually join.
Cassian is not the only intriguing "Star Wars" character who will feature in the series: Mon Mothma (Genevieve O'Reilly), a character known for helping create the rebellion but who has mostly sat on the sidelines of "Star Wars" stories, will also star in the series and show how she and Cassian eventually meet in the early stages of the war between the rebels and the Empire. If this seems like a lot of ground to cover, don't worry — according to Vanity Fair, Gilroy has already started working on Season 2.
Even a long time ago, in a galaxy far, far away, "Star Wars" hasn't generally been considered tonally "dark" as a whole. But given the story at hand, Gilroy and Luna, who is also executive producing the series, say "Andor" could be the darkest "Star Wars" has ever gone over its upcoming 12 episodes (via Deadline).
Andor takes place in Star Wars' darkest moments
In a recent interview with Vanity Fair, Diego Luna said that he thinks the "Andor" television series can help explore the revolutionary ways people can change the real world through fleshing out the life of Cassian Andor. Luna and Tony Gilroy confirmed that "Andor" meets Luna's character five years before he sets off on the fateful Rogue One mission and will also include plenty of scenes that show the Empire taking over his homeworld when Cassian is a child. Gilroy told VF that Cassian and his adopted homeworld will grow radicalized over the first season of the show as the Empire continues expanding its grasp over the galaxy.
"It's all the ways that oppression can pull a culture apart and destroy it," Gilroy said.
"Andor" and the other major "Star Wars" streaming effort this summer, "Obi-Wan Kenobi," both take place in that some two-decades-long gap between "Revenge of the Sith" and "A New Hope." As a result, Luna said that the series is comprised of some of the "Star Wars" franchise's darkest moments — as well as tidbits about his character that were not explored in "Rogue One." He added that he spent plenty of time creating a fictional backstory for Cassian Andor during preparation for the one-off 2016 movie that at the time, he figured he would never get an opportunity to pull from again.
"Now all that material is useful again," Luna told VF, noting that he shared all those details as Gilroy wrote the series' scripts.