Andor

The final season of “Andor” required visual storytellers to craft a stylized tapestry that reflected each episode’s underlying themes while unifying the whole. “We treated every three episodes almost like a movie and gave them their own identity,” says cinematographer Christophe Nuyens, who photographed the first six episodes. In “Harvest,” the challenge was balancing lighting sources and camera movement to link two sharply contrasting storylines: the elaborate wedding of Rebel Alliance leader Mon Mothma’s daughter and Stormtroopers in search of undocumented workers on Mina-Rau, which climaxes in a surprise death. “It was important visually that everything could fall nicely together, so for the first three episodes, we decided to play in a sunnier environment,” he says. “The Stormtrooper scene was like a jigsaw puzzle. We had to mix a practical location with a staged set and then all the TIE fighter stuff was also shot on a stage.” Adding to the scale was the cinematographer’s use of a large-format camera and Ultra Vista lenses. “It was important to use a big sensor as it gives you the feel and scope almost like in ‘Rogue One,’” says Nuyens. “It was the biggest change we made this season and I think those lenses make it look really nice.”

“Andor” has been the “seminal creative experience” of Tony Gilroy’s life.

The filmmaker spent over five years steeped in the world of the “Star Wars” prequel series, which follows resistance fighter Cassian Andor (portrayed by Diego Luna) during the nascent days of the Rebellion. On Tuesday, “Andor” earned 14 Emmy nominations for its second and final season, including in the marquee race for drama series.

“It’s hard to imagine that I’ll ever be as deeply invested with as much and so submerged with so many people in such a huge endeavor,” Gilroy said via Zoom after the nominations announcement. “It’s a life experience as much as anything else. Everybody on this show really came away with a deeper sense of community and affection than they went in with.”

In addition to drama series, “Andor” was nominated for its directing, writing, cinematography, production design, costume, editing, score, original music, sound editing, sound mixing and special effects. Performances by Forest Whitaker (guest actor) and Alan Tudyk (character voice-over) were also recognized.

A grounded, political spy thriller, “Andor” is set during the five years leading up to the events of “Rogue One: A Star Wars story,” the 2016 film on which Gilroy is credited as one of the writers. The series has been hailed by critics and audiences since its 2022 debut, captivating both longtime “Star Wars” fans as well as those who don’t know an Ewok from a Wookiee.

Cassian Andor (Diego Luna) and K-2SO (Alan Tudyk) in “Andor.”

(Lucasfilm Ltd)

The show’s second season, which unfolds over the span of four years, provided key glimpses into the Galactic Empire’s operations as well as the origins of the Rebel Alliance. And while the show is inspired by revolutions past, Gilroy admits it has been “spooky” to see current events parallel moments from the show.

In an interview with The Times, Gilroy discussed “Andor’s” nominations, real-life parallels and more. The conversation edited for length and clarity.

Congratulations on the 14 nominations! How are you feeling?

I’m trying to find a word that everybody you’re calling doesn’t use. I feel affirmed. It’s very exciting, obviously.

Where were you and what were you doing when you heard the news?

I waited and I took a ride and took a shower and got out and saw my phone was hot. I waited to see if my phone was hot.

Is there an “Andor” group chat where you all can chat in a thread together?

No. Well, maybe there is and I’m not on it. It’s more text mania. Then you have to figure out who’s on WhatsApp, who’s on this, who’s on that. Everybody’s on different s—. It’s actually really f— complicated, to be honest. Now I’ve got emails to answer, WhatsApps to answer.

What has it been like for you to be on this ride with this show as real-life events start to parallel what happened on the show? It feels like we’re living through so much of it now.

It’s been spooky. We had to do a very interesting thing, I think, and figure out how to sell the show while this was all happening without us getting confused, or the world getting confused, or anything else. So I’m really proud. We went all around the world and really sold it really hard. It’s hard to get a large audience to watch “Star Wars” — it’s strange, but it’s really difficult. Along the way I think we managed through the relevancy and the politics of it as successfully as we could. I think now things are a little bit looser. We’re a little bit more free with how we want to speak now so that’s a little bit liberating.

How hard is it to hold some of that in while you’re trying to appeal to an audience?

There wasn’t anything really cynical about it. Everything we said was legit. The historical model is truly what we were doing, and we’re not espousing an ideology in the show or anything like that. But we were also quite taken aback as things went along, at the amount of things that started rhyming with what was going on. Watching Sen. [Alex] Padilla get [handcuffed] while we’re watching the Ghorman senate — there’s things we did not expect to see lining up. It’s really tough and it should be obvious what people think about it.

One of the show’s nominations was writing for Episode 9.

Dan Gilroy, nominated!

How does it feel to be able to share this moment with your brother?

All three Gilroy brothers were nominated today! It’s very pleasing to see that. There’s so many things on here that really, really, really, make me smile. It’s really great that [production designer] Luke [Hull] and [costume designer] Michael Wilkinson [were nominated]. All the technical things that came in for us today were really satisfying. All these awards are community property no matter how people talk about it. You know how many people it takes to stand behind every one of these episodes. They’re just epic, the amount of people that are involved.

As you’re picking these individual episodes, how did Episode 9 stand out? What made it special for you?

We were really torn about what to [submit]. We had three candidates that we really were really interested in. In the end, people felt — direction wise — that the Ghorman massacre, Episode 8, was such a powerhouse. It’s such a strong flavor and so memorable that we could not have that beat for direction. And we also felt that [Episode] 9, it’s just so sophisticated. The spy writing and the sleekness of the politics and the sleekness of the storytelling in there and the scale of the issues for the characters that came up. That was always the favorite for script.

Since you mention Ghorman, what was memorable about working on that episode for you?

It’s always an experiment to see if you’re going to get the power out of things that you think you’re going to get. [So,] to watch that expand beyond where we thought it was going to be, and to have it affect us, the people making it, more than we expected. To have the extras walk off the set on the final day of shooting, when they were finally released, all the people in that square after months and they went off singing the Ghorman national anthem on their own on the way out of Pinewood [Studios]. I’m very proud of it.

That anthem is also nominated.

That’s really all I care about, Tracy. I’ve written a national anthem and it’s been nominated for an Emmy. [Laughs.]

Dedra Meero (Denise Gough) and Grymish (Kurt Egyiawan) in “Andor.”

(Lucasfilm Ltd)

Your time with “Star Wars” is pretty much wrapped up. What has it been like for you, being steeped in this world for so long?

“Rogue [One]” aside, just being on this show the last five and a half, six years, this is the seminal creative experience, I’m imagining, of my life. It’s hard to imagine that I’ll ever be as deeply invested with as much and so submerged with so many people in such a huge endeavor. I can’t imagine that will ever happen again. It’s a life experience as much as anything else. Everybody on this show really came away with a deeper sense of community and affection than they went in with. To make a great show, and we’re really proud of it, and to come away feeling the way that we feel about each other and what everybody did, I’m as proud of that as anything.

How are you going to celebrate?

I’m going to roll these calls and I’m going to go back to prepping the movie that I’m supposed to start shooting. I’ve got homework to do. I’m going to try and get an hour or two of work done before I go out for dinner with my wife. But I’ll have an extra cherry in my old fashioned tonight.

Disney+ is back with a mega-cheap £1.99 streaming offer – these are the series our team is loving

The weekend is here and for those keen to relax on the sofa with a bingeable series, there’s lots on offer. Disney+ is making headlines for the return of one of its most affordable deals, as prices drop to £1.99.

The deal ditches the usual £4.99 per month price of the Standard with Ads plan for a much cheaper £1.99 rate. It makes it the cheapest major streaming site, less than Netflix, Amazon Prime Video, and Apple TV+ tariffs.

Shoppers will have to sign up for the subscription to get the £1.99 price, but there is no required contract and users can leave after each 30-day window. The deal is available to snap up by June 30, and it lasts for four months before rising to the previous £4.99 rate.

READ MORE: Top Tech: Disney+ £1.99 per month deal is back but with one major upgrade

READ MORE: Non-greasy SPF spray that’s ‘anti-blemish’ gives sun worshippers clearer skin and ‘more confidence’

With a packed TV guide for the summer, including the live-action Snow White and Marvel’s Ironheart, there’s plenty to watch. As a team filled with series lovers, we’ve got a handful of recommendations from the new Welcome to Wrexham season, reality dramas The Secret Lives of Mormon Wives, or decade classics like Grey’s Anatomy.

Get Disney+ for £1.99 for four months

£4.99

£1.99

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Disney+ has brought back its popular deal that lets new and returning customers join its Standard with Ads plan for £1.99 per month for four months.

This means members can stream hit shows like Andor, The Bear and Alien: Earth, plus countless titles from Star Wars and Marvel, for a fraction of the usual price.

Narin’s favourites – Daredevil: Born Again and Welcome to Wrexham

Daredevil: Born Again might be the best TV series I’ve watched this year so far. Charlie Cox and Vincent D’Onofrio reprise their roles as Daredevil and Kingpin as the two old adversaries clash once more, with both men trying to juggle their public personas and secret lives inextricably linked with New York’s crime-ridden underbelly.

The result is a show that takes the best of the already-brilliant Netflix run (including some fan favourite returns) and surprisingly makes it even darker and more brutal – what would Walt say?

As a proud comic book geek I freely confess that Marvel fatigue has been a thing for a while now, with much of their output proving a miss rather than a hit for me. Daredevil: Born Again (and actually also Thunderbolts which will be coming to the streaming giant in due course) are a pleasing and much-needed return to quality and definitely a must-see.

Welcome to Wrexham season four is streaming now on Disney+ and this £1.99 deal allows you to watch the thrilling climax of the celeb-led club’s season week by week. In the four short years since A-listers Ryan Reynolds and Rob McElhenney bought Wrexham AFC for £2 million the club’s fortunes have transformed, taking it into a £150m+ force in football.

This show offers a great behind-the-scenes look at that ascendance, led by both men alongside a cast of supporting characters, including the team’s sweary yet brilliant manager Phil Parkinson and Executive Director Humphrey Ker.

Don’t let the football distract you, though – at its core, this is as much a show about the community and people who live around Wrexham as the on-pitch shenanigans and all the better for it. If you like your reality TV heartwarming rather than angsty then this is your next perfect binge watch.

Harriet’s favourite – The Secret Lives of Mormon Wives

If drama, gossip, affairs and the craze of social media is your thing then I’d highlighy recommend The Secret Lives of Mormon Wives. Season 2 of the reality series has recently hit Disney+ after a gripping first season – and I’ve never been more hooked on a series.

Yes, you have to enjoy shows like Keeping Up with Kardashians and The Real Housewives to love this. The series follows a group of MomTok influencers and their Mormon community as they navigate growing social presence and scandals.

Jake’s favourite – Andor Season 2

I’ve been a huge Star Wars fan since I was a little kid, but had almost given up on the franchise after some of its recent output left me with Jedi fatigue. That was until the new season of Andor pulled me well and truly back in.

After admittedly not being blown away by the first season, I was completely gripped by the eponymous rebel spy’s latest mission, so much so that I binged the whole thing in one weekend. It may not feature any lightsabers or Jedi, but what it does offer cements its position as one of the greatest Star Wars titles there is and without doubt, the best episodic instalment yet.

There simply aren’t enough superlatives to describe the series; it’s beautifully shot, each performance is Emmy-worthy and the high-stakes of Andor’s mission result in incredibly intense viewing – especially in the latter half of the series. Going back to watch Rogue One – which is set immediately after the Andor finale – completely changes the viewer’s perspective on the story, making a great film even better.

Jada’s favourite – Abbotts Elementary

Quinta Brunson has been on my radar since she first went viral for her ‘he got money’ videos when I was a teenager, with her enthusiastically telling anyone who would listen that her cinema date was rich since he bought a large popcorn. I’ve watched her through the Buzzfeed years and when I heard that her award-winning show was going to be available to stream on Disney+ I knew it was time to get a subscription.

Abbott Elementary is about a public school in Philadelphia where the odds aren’t really in anyone’s favour. It’s so consistently funny that I’d love to be a fly on the wall of their writer’s room. Quinta plays Janine Teagues, a perky second-grade teacher with so much enthusiasm to make a positive difference. The cast are all hilarious in their own right, Ava the principal (played by Janelle James), who bribed her way into a job has to be one of the standout characters and over the seasons she seems a little more vulnerable even if she remains obnoxiously tone deaf.

There’s romantic tension with Janine and Gregory, played by Everybody Hates Chris star Tyler James Williams, that had me routing for them the whole way through as they awkwardly navigate their feelings.

It’s easily the best mockumentary sitcom I’ve ever seen, my only gripe is the episodes are released later in the UK than the US – so I made sure to catch up to the season finale when I visited the states earlier this year.

Eve’s favourite is something Disney+ doesn’t offer

1883 is, without a doubt, one of the best TV series I have watched to date. I’m a bit of an all-rounder when it comes to the shows I watch.

I’m a sucker for Gilmore Girls and Ginny & Georgia (both on Netflix) as well as the hit, edge-of-your-seat, relatively brutal mob-family extravaganza Mobland (Amazon Prime), Ted Lesso (Apple TV), The Last of Us (NOW) and New Girl (Disney+). All of which bring very different things to the table. But when I was recommended 1883, aside from knowing the bare bones of its description, I had no idea what to expect.

Ginny and Georgia season 3 – Get Netflix free with Sky

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Sky is giving away a free Netflix subscription with its new Sky Stream TV bundles, including the £15 Essential TV plan.

This lets members watch live and on-demand TV content without a satellite dish or aerial and includes hit shows like Ginny and Georgia.

A prequel to the highly regarded Yellowstone (a show still on my watch-list), 1883 is an American Western drama miniseries which follows the origin story of the Dutton family to the Yellowstone ranch. The show sees the five Dutton family members in post-Civil War America flee poverty in Texas and embark on a long, arduous journey through the Great Plains in the hope of a better future in Montana.

A description of the show on IMDB reads: “The post-Civil War generation of the Dutton family travels to Texas, and joins a wagon train undertaking the arduous journey west to Oregon, before settling in Montana to establish what would eventually become the Yellowstone Ranch.”

Exploring the use and roles ranchhands/cowboys as well as the history, challenges and conflicts faced by the Indiginous Americans during this period, it’s an action-packed, heart-wrenching story that had me hooked.

The 10-part series features some pretty big names in the world of film as country music such as Tim McGraw, Faith Hill, Sam Elliott and even has cameos from Billy Bob Thornton and Tom Hanks. Its sequel, 1923, stars Helen Mirren and Harrison Ford – also an incredible watch on Paramount+

Phoebe’s favourite – Grey’s Anatomy

Grey’s Anatomy is my mum’s favourite TV show of all time. She has been a loyal viewer since the first series aired in the mid-2000s, so when it was announced that the American medical drama would be available on Disney+, I wanted to see what all the fuss was about.

I signed up and began binge-watching the gripping show right away. I can happily say Grey’s Anatomy has earned a place in my top TV shows of all-time. It’s full of heart and passion, and a bunch of characters I adore. The show’s creator Shonda Rhimes has me laughing out loud one minute and ugly crying the next. With there being 21 series and over 400 episodes waiting to be watched, it’s sure to keep households entertained for months.

Looking back, casting Diego Luna in “Rogue One: A Star Wars Story” may well prove to be the single most consequential decision in that storied franchise’s history. Hearing Luna’s Mexican accent in a galaxy far, far away was not only refreshing. It was radical.

And as Season 2 of “Andor” proved, it set the stage for what has to be the most Latino-coded of all the “Star Wars” tales, which is fitting considering this Tony Gilroy-created series was designed not just to explore Cassian Andor’s backstory but flesh out the dashing revolutionary spirit Luna had brought to the character. What better place to, pardon the pun, mine for inspiration than the vast history of resistance and revolution throughout the American continent?

Here are a few ways in which “Andor” felt particularly Latino.

Warning: this article contains some spoilers.

Undocumented laborers

Season 2 of “Andor” found Cassian, Bix (Adria Arjona), Brasso (Joplin Sibtain) and Wilmon (Muhannad Bhaier) relocated to the agricultural planet of Mina-Rau. It’s a place that served as a safe haven for these Ferrix folks, allowing them to be housed while working for a local farmer — all without papers. Yes, our very own Cassian is an undocumented laborer (when he’s not, you know, on some super-secret Luthen-guided mission, that is).

“Andor” has always focused on the way the Empire functions at a granular level, while the “Star Wars” feature film trilogies are all about big-picture stuff. In its two-season run, this Luna-fronted project followed the day-to-day lives of those living under the thumb of the Empire. And in the scenes at Mina-Rau, the show insisted on showing what happens when those with a semblance of power (a uniform, a weapon) confront those who they think have none.

When Lt. Krole (Alex Waldmann), a lowly Imperial officer carrying out a run-of-the-mill audit of the crops in Mina-Rau, comes across Bix, he sees an opportunity. She’s clearly alone. And, perhaps most obviously, at a disadvantage: She has no papers. If she’s caught, the secure, if precarious, life she and Cassian have built in Mina-Rau will come crumbling down — all while putting them at risk of being revealed as smugglers and rebels.

Still, watching Krole escalate his slimy sexual advances into a rape attempt was a reminder of the impunity of such crimes. When those who are undocumented are seen as undeserving of our empathy, let alone the protections the law is supposed to provide — like many people in our current government seem to think — the likes of Krole are emboldened to do as they please.

Hiding in plain sight and los desaparecidos

Such ideas about who merits our empathy are key to authoritarian regimes. Borders, after all, aren’t just about keeping people out or in. It’s about drawing up communities and outlining outsiders; about arguing for a strict sense of who belongs and who does not.

When Cassian and Bix land in Coruscant after their escape from Mina-Rau, they struggle with whether to just lay low. You see Cassian being jumpy and constantly paranoid. He can’t even handle going out shopping; or, if you follow Bix’s winking joke at the grocer, he can’t really handle the spice. But that’s expected if you constantly feel unsafe, unable to freely move through the world, er, galaxy.
More tellingly: If your existence is wedded to bureaucracy, it’s easy to be dispensed with and disappeared. Bix knows that all too well. She’s still haunted by the specter of Dr. Gorst (Joshua James), the Imperial Security Bureau officer who tortured her. He appears in her nightmares to remind her that this is a war now littered with “desaparecidos”: “His body won’t be found and his family won’t know what happened to him,” his hallucination taunts her. It’s not hard to read in that line an obvious reference to those tortured and disappeared under the military dictatorships of Argentina, Brazil, Chile and the like.

Throughout “Andor” Season 2, we also watched the Empire slowly rev up its border policing — especially when it came to Ghorman. At first a planet most known for its gorgeous textiles, Ghorman later became the anchor for the show’s entire narrative. The best way to control a people is to surveil them, particularly because soon enough they’ll start surveilling themselves.

The Ghorman Massacre

The beauty of “Star Wars” has always been its ability to speak to its time. When the original film first premiered in 1977, echoes of the Vietnam War and anti-imperialist sentiment could be felt in its otherwise outlandish space-opera trappings. But not until “Andor” could the politics of George Lucas’ creation be so viscerally felt. This is a show, after all, that didn’t shy away from using the word “genocide” when rightly describing what happened in Ghorman.

In “Who Are You?” audiences got to see the Empire at its cruelest. Watching the Death Star destroy Alderaan from afar is one thing. But getting to watch Stormtroopers — and a slew of young, inexperienced Imperial riot police officers — shooting indiscriminately into a crowd that had just been peacefully singing in protest was brutal. It was, as Senator Mon Mothma (Genevieve O’Reilly) would later frame it, unconscionable.

The chants in the crowd “The galaxy is watching” are clearly meant to evoke the chants heard at the 1968 Democratic National Convention: “The whole world is watching.” But the essence of the massacre harks back to another infamous 1968 event: the Tlatelolco massacre.

Just like Ghorman, the Oct. 2 student protests at Mexico City’s Plaza de las Tres Culturas began as a peaceful demonstration. But soon, with helicopters up above and an encroaching military presence from every which way, chaos followed and the incident has long served as a chilling example of state-sanctioned violence. The kind now best distilled into a fictional massacre in a galaxy far, far away.

Villa, Zapata, Andor

In the hands of Gilroy and Luna, “Andor” billed itself over two seasons as the begrudging rise of a revolutionary. Cassian spent much of Season 1 trying to hide from who he could become. It took being sent to a grueling slave prison complex in a remote location (sound familiar?) to further radicalize the once-smug smuggler.

But with every new Empire-sanctioned atrocity, he found himself unable to escape his calling as a member of the Resistance. Yes, it costs him his peaceful life with Bix, but neither would have it any other way. Cassian has a solid moral compass. And while he may not play well with others (with authority, really), he’s a charming leader of sorts whose childhood in Ferrix set him up to be the kind of man who would sacrifice his life for a cause.

You don’t need to have Luna sport a mustache, though, to see in his rascal of a character hints of revolutionary icons from Latin America. Even if Cassian is more Emiliano Zapata than Pancho Villa (you’d never find him starring in films as himself, for instance), the revolutionary spirit of those historical Mexican figures is undeniable. Especially since Cassian has long been tied to the marginalized — not just in Ferrix and Mina-Rau but later still in Ghorman.

Add the fact that his backstory grounds him in the indigenous world of Kenari and that he is quite at home in the lush jungles of Yavin IV (where he may as well be playing dominoes in his spare time) and you have a character who clearly carves out homages to resistance models seen all over Latin America.

As attacks on those most disenfranchised here in the United States continue apace, “Andor” (yes, a spinoff sci-fi series on Disney+!) reminds us that the Latin American struggles for liberation in the 20th century aren’t mere historical stories. They’re warnings and templates as to how to confront this moment.

And yes, that message obviously works best when delivered by the devilishly handsome Luna: “The Empire cannot win,” as his Cassian says in the first episode of the show’s stellar second season. “You’ll never feel right unless you’re doing what you can to stop them. You’re coming home to yourself. You’ve become more than your fear. Let that protect you.”

This story contains spoilers for “Andor” Season 2, including Episodes 10 through 12.

When Elizabeth Dulau first heard what showrunner Tony Gilroy had planned for her character in Season 2 of “Andor,” she burst out laughing.

“I just couldn’t believe what he was saying,” says the actor, who portrays the aloof and steadfast rebel spy Kleya Marki in the “Star Wars” series. “And then my first thought was: I need to keep this a secret now for years. How on Earth am I going to do that?”

Kleya plays a pivotal role in the final three-episode arc of “Andor.” After Imperial intelligence officers finally uncover Luthen Rael’s (Stellan Skarsgård) ties to the Rebellion, the antiques dealer attempts to kill himself before he can be captured and interrogated. When Luthen fails, it’s left to Kleya to tie up his final loose end and then deliver vital information to the rebels on Yavin.

Dulau, who didn’t even know if she would be called back for Season 2, learned of Kleya’s storyline in 2023 when Gilroy called to tell her he wanted her to return.

“I’m glad he told me then because it gave me a long time to really ponder how to prepare for that scene,” Dulau says. “He said, ‘We want her to be the one that kills him, and we want it to be additionally heartbreaking because she doesn’t have time to say goodbye.’”

“Andor’s” final episodes sees Kleya utilize the skills she’d honed as Luthen’s closest and most trusted associate as she infiltrates a heavily guarded hospital to reach him. But rather than breaking Luthen out to save him, Kleya’s only option is to unplug him from the machines that are keeping him alive. Then, she has to make sure the information Luthen died for is delivered to the Rebellion.

“We do not have a bad moment of film of her in our cutting room,” says Gilroy, comparing Dulau to Meryl Streep. “She’s unbelievable.”

Elizabeth Dulau says it boggles her mind that Kleya’s story ties into “Star Wars’” famous Death Star plans.

(David Reiss)

“Andor” marks Dulau’s first acting job after graduating from the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art in London. While the audition came to her as a role in an “untitled Disney+ project,” she’d heard on the down-low that it was for a “Star Wars” project. She has since been cast in shows including “All the Light We Cannot See,” “Gentleman Jack” and the upcoming “House of Guinness.”

“The beautiful thing about Kleya in Season 1 is that she’s such a mystery,” Dulau says. “You can tell that she’s important, but she’s sort of on the peripheries. There’s so many question marks, so it’s such a delight that a lot of those questions get answered this season.”

That Kleya ultimately plays a role in helping the Rebel Alliance get the Death Star plans needed for them to eventually defeat the Empire also “boggles my mind,” she says.

“It’s not lost on me that Tony has literally written me into Star Wars history with that storyline,” Dulau says. “That blows my mind because it’s so iconic and I have a teeny, tiny little corner of that now.”

Dulau, in a conversation edited for length and clarity, discusses Kleya and Luthen’s relationship, her character’s commitment to the Rebellion and working with Stellan Skarsgård.

There is so much that happens in Episode 10, but how did you approach that final moment where Kleya has to unplug Luthen from life support?

Tony made it very clear to me that he didn’t want her to totally break down in that scene. That breakdown, for Kleya, comes afterward because she’s still in action mode. In that scene, I really wanted to connect with all the love that had grown between her and Luthen, against both of their better judgment, but also all the hate. When Luthen and whatever team of men came to the community she lived in and destroyed them when he worked for the Empire, Kleya was not so young. She would remember her mom and dad. She would remember if she had siblings, any best friends. Luthen is not innocent on that day. He was brave enough to save Kleya, but we don’t know what happens outside of his ship.

Then they spend the next 15 years protecting each other and continuing to save each other. So against their better judgment, love grows between them. I think they’re constantly being pulled apart by that. It’s too scary to acknowledge the fact that they’ve come to really care for each other because this awful thing is there. I wanted to try to condense that and make it as clear as possible in that scene when I go to kill him.

I spent a lot of time leading up to shooting on that day daydreaming. I use daydreaming a lot in my process. And I daydreamed about that day — what happened, what Kleya saw and what she did not see when Luther and his men came to destroy her people. I daydreamed completely made-up scenes in my head, like the day when Luthen made Kleya laugh for the very first time, or happy memories between them. I imagined that those actual flashback scenes were memories of hers that just were intrusive thoughts as she was trying to focus on her mission.

Kleya Marki (Elizabeth Dulau) is Luthen Rael’s (Stellan Skarsgård) closest associate.

(Lucasfilm Ltd.)

What was your initial take on Kleya and Luthen’s dynamic?

In Season 1, what really fascinated me was that he sets a lot of importance to Kleya’s words. He really listens to her and trusts her and allows himself to be seen by her in a way that he doesn’t let himself be seen by anyone else. So what’s the power dynamic? It’s not the classic father-daughter thing. It’s not like he’s the boss and she’s just the assistant. There’s a real equality, and that’s quite rare, I think, to see between an older man and a younger woman. I was just fascinated by that and had a lot of fun in Season 1 trying to square up to Stellan Skarsgård and tell him what to do. That was intimidating, but really fun.

Then when I found out their backstory, so much about Kleya made sense. It just really broke my heart. In another life, Luthen would have just been this antiques nerd. In hardening himself to what he has to do, he also hardens this young girl, Kleya. It helped me realize that underneath all that hard exterior, at the very core of who Kleya is, actually is something extremely tender and extremely loving. That’s why she is so tough on the outside because there’s something very painful that she’s protecting deep down. She doesn’t let herself have any friends or fall in love or any of that. She makes herself as lethal a weapon as possible. But against her best judgment, love grows for Luthen, care grows between them, and all of that is what they have to lose. But neither of them are ever willing to admit that.

So much of “Andor” is about the sacrifice everybody makes. But for Kleya, we see that her sacrifice has been ongoing.

Yes. “I don’t have lately, I have always,” she says. She has stripped her life of anything that makes her vulnerable. Joy and love and friendship are some of the the most worthwhile things that a human being can have in their life, but it also makes you vulnerable, in a way. And Kleya just cannot afford to be vulnerable. She tells herself, “I have nothing to lose. Everything is for the Rebellion.” [But] she’s lying to herself. She doesn’t really know until Episode 10 that, actually, Luthen is the thing that she has to lose. And she’s willing to do it. She’s willing to sacrifice.

It seems like the closest Kleya has to a frenemy of sorts is Vel, but how do you see their dynamic?

Vel really gets under her skin. Even though Vel is such a tough character as well, she has those relationships. She allows herself to have that relationship with Mon Mothma, her cousin, and with Cinta. She allows herself to fall in love and Kleya just cannot wrap her head around it. How could you let yourself be this vulnerable? But also, maybe for Kleya, there’s a bit of jealousy there as well that Vel has those things.

Kleya has made herself “as lethal a weapon as possible” for the Rebellion, says Elizabeth Dulau.

(Lucasfilm Ltd.)

How did you see Kleya’s trip to Yavin and seeing what she and Luthen had been working for? Because things aren’t quite over for her yet.

I always thought she sees it as her final job, getting the information about the Death Star to Cassian and just getting that information to Yavin. Because you see Cassian have to convince her to come with him to Yavin. She doesn’t want to go there. I don’t know how much she feels she has left to give at that point. She is overwhelmed by grief for Luthen and that grief makes her realize just how much actually she’s come to love him. So she’s in this place of this immensely painful realization about the man who did this awful thing and wiped out her people. How does anyone reckon with that? That’s the space that she’s in when she’s trying desperately to convince Cassian to go without her to Yavin.

Then, once she’s on Yavin and she sees Vel, that tiny little conversation with her, as short as it was, it’s monumental for Kleya because it helps shift her perspective enough that she maybe starts to see a future for herself there amongst that community.

That final shot actually is her looking at the people of Yavin doing their morning routines and seeing the culmination of all of her and Luthen’s work for all those years. I think it’s a feeling of immense satisfaction and sadness that they pulled it off, but also that he’ll never see it.

What was it like working with Stellan Skarsgård?

My final audition actually was with Stellan. I remember my agent calling me to say, “Your recall went well. The note is, for your final audition, just try not to be too nervous. Walk into that room like you’ve been doing this for years.” Then she said, “Your final audition is going to be at Pinewood Studios. You’re going to be reading opposite Stellan Skarsgård. But don’t let that make you nervous.” And I just burst out laughing. Like, this isn’t real. This isn’t happening.

He met with me for coffee 10 minutes before the audition because it was a chemistry read and he wanted to not do it cold. Stellan has this wonderful magic to him that after 10 minutes of chatting with him for the first time ever, I really felt like I was walking into the room with a friend and that I had someone in my corner that was rooting for me.

Stellan has had such a long and rich career, so I don’t know what this job is for him, but this is such a huge job for me and Stellan has been such a huge part of that. I always looked forward to having another scene with Stellan. It was like going home again, having another scene with him, because he was my anchor throughout the whole thing. He knew that it was my first job, so I could ask him all the questions about what was happening, acting techniques for screen, all of that stuff. I could have those conversations with him and he was always so willing to talk about it. He really took me under his wings big time and I will always be so grateful to him for that.