Rogue One had no problem winning over the majority of Star Wars fans when it hit theaters in 2016. The film’s ragtag team of rebels included Diego Luna’s memorable turn as Cassian Andor. Now, Luna is getting the chance to reprise his role in Disney+’s highly-anticipated Andor series, which, according to showrunner Tony Gilroy, will change the way that fans look at Cassian’s first appearance in the Star Wars universe.
Cassian referenced his turbulent life story on several occasions throughout Rogue One. This made him the ideal character to revisit for a spinoff. But viewers may be surprised by what they learn in the upcoming series. While speaking with Vanity Fair, Gilroy shared new details about what we can expect from Andor’s first season. Specifically, fans will discover how Cassian’s vendetta against the Empire took root.
“His adopted home will become the base of our whole first season, and we watch that place become radicalized,” said Gilroy. “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.”
The spinoff will dive into Cassian’s moral ambiguity as well. To illustrate this, Gilroy brought up Cassian’s introduction in Rogue One when he murdered one of his own informants to keep him out of Imperial custody. Gilroy also promised that the show will examine where this ends-justify-the-means approach came from.
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“You know he’s been fighting since he was a child, right?” noted Gilroy. “He says that. You know he’s been a guerrilla fighter. You certainly know he’s been an assassin. He kills an ally in the very first scene. That was a big gulp on Rogue One, to see who would swallow that. He’s morally complicated in a really dark way.”
In the long run, however, it sounds like Andor’s main goal is to shake up the status quo, even among those who think they know everything about Star Wars.
“There are certain events that happen in these five years [before Rogue One] that are important and need to be paid attention to,” added Gilroy. “There are certain people, characters that are legacy characters, that the audience, the passionate audience, really feels that they have an understanding of and know. In some cases they’re right. And in some cases, what we’re saying is, ‘What you know, what you’ve been told, what’s on Wookieepedia, what you’ve been telling each other … is really all wrong.”
Andor will premiere on Disney+ later this year.
Are you excited for the show to trace Cassian’s history? Let us know in the comments below!
Recommended Reading: The Art of Rogue One: A Star Wars Story
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