Discover how a rebel got his start

Andor Disney+

After his character was — spoiler alert! — killed at the end of Rogue One: A Star Wars Story, Diego Luna didn’t think he’d ever return to a galaxy far, far away.

“Killing him was bold and risky and different,” Luna says in a virtual chat. “I loved how it committed to the idea of sacrifice in a way that you don’t see in big budget films. I think Rogue One celebrated the intelligence of audiences and the need for audiences to be challenged.”

So he was surprised when Lucasfilm decided to green-light a prequel series that would delve into the backstory of how Luna’s Cassian Andor became the leader of a ragtag group of rebels who set out on a mission to steal the Death Star plans.

As it turns out, it was a line in Rogue One that Luna and series creator Tony Gilroy had been thinking about for years that gave rise to the idea of exploring Cassian’s backstory. When Felicity Jones’s Jyn Erso questions his commitment to the Rebel cause, he breaks down in anger. “I’ve been in this fight since I was six years old,” he says. “You’re not the only one who lost everything. Some of us just decided to do something about it.”

“The series will give us the opportunity to see the awakening of a revolutionary,” Luna, 42, says.

Before Gilroy (Michael Clayton, the Bourne movies) took over, the original treatment followed Cassian’s life with his Rogue One sidekick K-2SO (voiced by Alan Tudyk). Fans of the series Andor will see will be something altogether different.

“We are doing it in a realistic approach — as realistic as a galaxy far, far away can be,” the Mexican-born actor and director says. “We’re hoping you see this character as if he’s someone close to you or people you know ... we want you to think, ‘That guy exists, therefore, change is possible.’ People becoming part of the solution is something that can happen.”

The 12-episode first season begins five years before the film and traces Cassian’s beginnings from his life as a child to his years as a thief who gets drawn into the Rebellion’s fight for freedom.

For Luna, the return to the world of Star Wars has been thrilling.

“I feel like I kind of own this role and this story in a very special way.”