Andor: Diego Luna Is Sad About Filming the Star Wars Series’ Final Season

Diego Luna’s time playing the title character in the Star Wars series Andor on Disney+ will soon end, and the actor feels sad about it. Luna hopes to earn Emmy Awards consideration for his performance as Cassian Andor, a reluctant rebel recruit against the Empire in the show’s first season. In the meantime, he’s filming Andor Season 2, which will be the Star Wars TV show’s final season Disney+ and should bring the character’s timeline closer to the events of Rogue One: A Star Wars Story, the film in which Luna debuted as Andor. During a break from filming, Luna expressed his mixed feelings about the production.

“I am very excited filming, all the time I feel that we are approaching the end and, therefore, the process is lived with a certain melancholy,” Luna told the Associated Press. “There is also an inevitable part of saying how sad it is to leave this team, to leave this dynamic, to leave this time living here.”

Gabriel Luna and the Emmy Awards

Should Diego Luna receive a nomination for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Drama Series, it’d be the first nomination in that category for a Star Wars series (Giancarlo Esposito received a nomination for Best Supporting Actor in a Drama Series character in 2021 for playing Moff Gideon in The Mandalorian). More significantly, it’d be the first time a Latino actor has been nominated in the category since Jimmy Smits (who is, coincidentally, also a part of the Star Wars universe) earned a nomination for NYPD Blue 30 years.

“What makes me sad is the fact, the fact that the last nomination for a Latino actor in this category was so many years ago, it is very absurd knowing the number of interesting stories that have been told, the number of actors who have done memorable jobs,” he said. “But it’s also exciting to know that I’m not the only one and that makes me think that good things are coming for people who look like me, who come from where I come from.”

Gabriel Luna and the End of Andor

Luna’s time as Cassian Andor may be drawing to a close, but he won’t leave the Star Wars universe empty-handed. Speaking to fellow Star Wars star Hayden Christensen for Variety‘s Actors on Actors in June, Luna revealed what souvenir he took back with him.

“I got the jacket of the character. I really worked for that. I made jokes about it since day one. I was like, ‘I just got this job because this jacket fits me. Clearly, it’s all about the jacket,” Luna revealed. “And then the jacket had to be worn in Jordan at 45 degrees Celsius. I mean, it was impossible. I was sweating. But I’m sure you got a lot of the sweating also with the outfit.”

When will Andor Season 2 be released on Disney+?

Showrunner Tony Gilroy developed Andor for Disney+ as a spinoff of the 2016 film Rogue One: A Star Wars Story, the film that led up to the start of the Star Wars original trilogy. Diego Luna leads the series as Cassian Andor. He’s joined by an ensemble cast that includes cast members Kyle Soller as Syril Karn, Adria Arjona as Bix Caleen, Fiona Shaw as Maarva Andor, Stellan Skarsgård as Luthen Rael, Denise Gough as Dedra Meero, Genevieve O’Reilly as Mon Mothma, Faye Marsay as Vel Sartha, Varada Sethu as Cinta Kaz, Anton Lesser as Major Partagaz, and Elizabeth Dulau as Kleya Marki. Forest Whittaker guest-starred as Saw Gerrera, and Andy Serkis appeared as Kino Loy, a prisoner forced to build pieces of the Death Star. Gilroy is an executive producer on the show, along with Kathleen Kennedy, Sanne Wohlenberg, Diego Luna, Toby Haynes, and Michelle Rejwan. Andor Season 1 debuted on Disney+ in September 2022 and is streaming now.

Andor Season 2 is planned for 12 episodes on Disney+. Production on the second season began in November 2022, is currently taking place in the United Kingdom, and is expected to continue until August. Andor Season 2 aims to debut on Disney+ in August 2024. Some Star Wars fans hope K-2S0, Andor’s droid partner voiced by Alan Tudyk in Rogue One: A Star Wars Story, will appear in the final season.