Star Wars: Andor's Diego Luna Reveals Why Now Is Right Time for Return of His Rogue One Character

Six years after audiences watched Cassian Andor (Diego Luna) sacrifice his life for the Death Star plans in Rogue One: A Star Wars Story, the rebellion begins in Andor. The Star Wars series, streaming September 21 on Disney+, is set five years before the events of Rogue One and A New Hope during the reign of the Galactic Empire. Tony Gilroy, who reworked the Gareth Edwards-directed standalone film released in 2016, returns to tell a new Star Wars story: the birth of a hero and the rise of the Rebel Alliance. (Watch the trailer above.) 

"I thought it felt right, and that it was a great idea," Luna told SFX Magazine of Lucasfilm's spy-thriller prequel to Rogue One. "It was an open space for creativity, complete freedom, because very little had been said about Cassian and about his story, so we had room to come up with great ideas, with a great team lead by Tony Gilroy."

Luna added, "The show lives where I like stories to live, where the grey areas are, where contrast happens, and where nuances are important and quite vast." 

As part of a budding rebellion against the Empire, the two-season series spans the five years before Rogue One and begins with the "revolution-averse" Andor joining forces with such like-minded rebels as senator Mon Mothma (Genevieve O'Reilly). A skilled spy and killer, Andor will explain how its central character gave his life for the Rebellion in a key victory against the Empire. 

"No one wakes up saying, 'I'm going to do this and I'm going to bring about this change.' So many times you find these characters were part of the problem before they've understood they could be part of the solution," Luna said. "That contradiction is really interesting because then it gives you a very dramatic arc. With most of these characters, either they start where they don't want to end or it's the other way round, but there's always a gigantic path they have to go through where they end up transforming. That's what's beautiful."

He continued, "As far as possible, it'll be connected to many, many experiences that are real, and we also had the reference of the [Star Wars] galaxy we are part of. Saying we are in a galaxy far, far away is a great tool to talk about our own galaxy."

Diego Luna returns as Cassian Andor and is joined by cast members Genevieve O'Reilly, Stellan Skarsgård, Adria Arjona, Denise Gough, Kyle Soller and Fiona Shaw. The executive producers are Kathleen Kennedy, Tony Gilroy, Sanne Wohlenberg, Diego Luna and Michelle Rejwan. Tony Gilroy is also the creator and showrunner. 

The first three episodes of Star Wars: Andor are streaming Wednesday, September 21, on Disney+.