Diego Luna recently spoke over Zoom to Den of Geek about Andor finally happening, after delays due to COVID, and how he helped to develop Cassian Andor’s backstory.
“For me, Rogue One is the beginning of something,” Luna says. “I’m so happy to be able to dig in deeper.” In fact, the actor views “going backward” with the tale of Cassian Andor as an exciting challenge.
“We know where this character ends, but how complicated can we make it for him to get there? And that’s where creativity comes in because it’s never the way you approach a story. It’s like a different part of your brain that has to connect,” Luna says. “It’s exciting to have that opportunity in storytelling of going backward and not forward. Going forward is easy. As an actor, this is what you’re always asked to do.”
Rogue One doesn’t reveal very much about Cassian’s past, but the spy does mention that he’s been fighting the Empire since he was six years old. That line, and the backstory Luna formed in his head to better understand his character’s motivations in the movie, are the jumping-off points for the show. But back in 2016, Luna assumed that Cassian’s origin story (“Something that was very personal and that just belonged to me”) would only live on in his imagination—he never thought we would see the rebel’s formative moments on the screen.
“All this story just happened in my mind. It wasn’t relevant to anyone. He talks about a traumatic past, but there is no specificity,” Luna says. “Obviously, as an actor, I had my backstory. You don’t arrive on set without knowing where you’re coming from and what motivates every decision your character makes, but that’s information that no one cared about for years.”
According to the actor, fleshing out the character’s history with Gilroy and the writing team for Andor “was like when you dream something, and then suddenly, you’re talking about that dream with others… I was asked so many times, ‘What were you thinking when you said this? What was your backstory in this moment?’”
While the series has already been greenlit for a second season that sets up the events of Rogue One, the Cassian Andor we’ll meet at the start of the show isn’t all that interested in revolution and definitely isn’t willing to sacrifice himself for the Rebel cause. Instead, Andor season one is the story of a migrant trying to survive in a foreign (and hostile) place.
We learn on the show that, when he was just a boy, Cassian’s home planet was taken over by the Empire, forcing him to escape off-world. Much of his anger toward the Empire stems from this traumatic event and the feeling that his home was ripped away from him.
“It’s difficult to find out where he comes from because obviously he’s been forced to move,” Luna says. “And today, the story of a refugee is a story that is very pertinent to the world and where we find it. It’s so difficult to find yourself in a place where people aren’t coming from somewhere else.”
Read the interview in full here. The first two episodes of Andor debuts on Disney+ on August 31st, as part of a twelve episode run in its first season.
