This week, Vanity Fair published an enormous behind-the-scenes exposé on Lucasfilms’ slate of upcoming Star Wars television shows for Disney+. We got confirmations of the release windows for Andor, Ahsoka, and The Mandalorian season 3, as well as plenty of interesting tidbits about Obi-Wan Kenobi, the upcoming limited series which will see Ewan McGregor and Hayden Christensen reprise their roles as Obi-Wan and Anakin Skywalker/Darth Vader from the prequel trilogy.
It also gave us our best look yet at the Rogue One spinoff Andor, which Lucasfilm has been very tightlipped about until now. The show will follow its namesake character Cassian Andor (Diego Luna) as he transforms from “self-serving nihilist into a selfless martyr,” setting up his ultimate sacrifice in Rogue One where he, Jyn Erso (Felicity Jones), and the rest of their team give up their lives in order to steal the Death Star plans. The show is being spearheaded by Tony Gilroy, who co-wrote Rogue One, and it sounds like the continuity between the two projects will be strong.
“This guy gave his life for the galaxy, right? I mean, he consciously, soberly, without vanity or recognition, sacrificed himself. Who does that?” Gilroy asked. “That’s what this first season is about. It’s about him being really revolution-averse, and cynical, and lost, and kind of a mess.”
Andor is a refugee story
Luna also shed some light on the show. The Mexican actor describes Andor as a refugee story, something that strongly resonated with him. “It’s the journey of a migrant,” Luna said. “That feeling of having to move is behind this story, very profoundly and very strong. That shapes you as a person. It defines you in many ways, and what you are willing to do.”
Andor begins with the destruction of Cassian’s home planet. The show will depict the Empire at its full strength as it assimilates planets across the galaxy into its totalitarian rule with terrifying efficiency. Andor will end up on another planet only to watch as it too falls under the sway of the Empire.
“His adopted home will become the base of our whole first season, and we watch that place become radicalized,” Gilroy explained. “Then we see another planet that’s completely taken apart in a colonial kind of way. The Empire is expanding rapidly. They’re wiping out anybody who’s in their way.”
While we’ve seen this period of galactic history covered before in Star Wars shows like Rebels, it sounds like Andor will be taking a more grounded approach and showing the experience of the people and societies caught in the Empire’s path. That fits really well with Rogue One, a movie all about a group of regular people stepping up to make a heroic sacrifice for the greater good.
Andor will feature Rebel leader Mon Mothma as a main character
We also learned that Andor will star Genevieve O’Reilly as Mon Mothma. Mothma originally appeared in Return of the Jedi, where she was played by Caroline Blakiston and had an iconic line about how “many Bothan spies died to bring us this information.” O’Reilly portrayed a younger version of the character twice before, in a deleted scene from Revenge of the Sith as well as in Rogue One.
Now she’ll be stepping into a much more central role. VF reports that Mothma will have a plotline that runs parallel to Cassian Andor’s. From Rogue One we know that he eventually becomes one of her agents working to undermine the Empire. No doubt Andor will show how that relationship came about.
Andor is due out sometime late this summer. Until then, Obi-Wan Kenobi premieres on Disney+ on May 27.
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