Diego Luna teases the story of Cassian Andor in his Rogue One prequel show
Weirdly, Cassian's arc on the Disney Plus show sounds a lot like his arc in the movie it's based on
Aux News Cassian Andor
Rogue One: A Star Wars Story is undeniably the best of Disney’s Star Wars spin-off movie (it’s not a tough competition), and some news writers who will not be hearing any arguments to the contrary might argue that it’s in the top two or three of all Star Wars stories ever, with its high point being the surprising level of deftness it brought to a story about varyingly crummy people we’ve never met before who all selflessly agree to give their lives for the greater good. We all come to Star Wars for cool lightsaber fights, we don’t necessarily come for the gut-punch of learning to like someone just so we can see them vaporized by the Death Star.
Diego Luna’s Cassian Andor was one of the keys to making that story work, since he was a kind of Star Wars character we hadn’t really seen before in the movies: A good guy who has become so broken and hopeless that he’s willing to murder for the greater good—but he’s not on some dark path or potentially turning evil like ever Jedi. He’s just seen some shit, and it’s not until he sees Felicity Jones’ Jyn Erso push through her own issues that he realizes that there’s still some value in giving your life to a cause.
That’s his arc in Rogue One, and according to Vanity Fair’s deep dive on the future of Disney+’s Star Wars TV shows, it will… also be his arc on Luna’s Andor prequel show. Luna says the story of Andor will be about his character being “really revolution-averse, and cynical, and lost, and kind of a mess.” Vanity Fair describes it as his transformation from “a self-serving nihilist into a selfless martyr.” Again: Cassian Andor’s first scene in Rogue One involves him murdering an informant to cover his tracks, and while he’s not “revolution-averse” in that moment, he’s certainly cynical, lost, and kind of a mess.
So it’s a little strange that this storyline is apparently going to be “starts as a dick, becomes a good guy, then becomes a bigger dick, then becomes a better good guy.” But hey, characters have been treated worse in Star Wars, and Luna was good in the role. Plus, it might give Luna a chance to spend time with Jabba The Hutt.
Elsewhere in the Vanity Fair piece, Luna describes Andor as a story about “a migrant,” with Cassian’s home getting destroyed when he’s a kid and then hiding out on a planet that eventually gets colonized by the Empire.” Vanity Fair also says that Genevieve O’Reilly will once again reprise her role as Mon Mothma, who originally appeared in Return Of The Jedi (played by Caroline Blakiston) and has since been retconned to be a key member of the Rebel Alliance. There’s no mention of Forest Whitaker’s Saw Gerrera, but we heard last year that he might stop by for a little Star Wars fun. Andor will premiere on Disney+ later this year.
15 Comments
I’ll probably watch it but I really don’t care about anyone from Rogue One, maybe the show will change my opinion.
Yeah, a lot of fanboys seem to love it more than any of Disney’s other Star Wars films, but to me it just feels too much like forcing something you loved to grow up with you. It wasn’t “fun,” y’know?
Yeah I didn’t care about the plot or the characters and the movie was badly edited. Smarmy Droid was ok but everyone else was pretty meh.
I really don’t care about anyone from Rogue One
I saw Rogue One when it came out. I think I enjoyed it. I remember nothing about it, to the point that when the teaser for Andor was released, I didn’t realize the show was about a character from that film. I actually didn’t know until I read this article.
I don’t enjoy prequels set not long before the events of the main movie/show, because not only are prequels dreary with the reset of any character growth, but especially with this it will end and “shortly after, he dies so nothing he does really matters”Like the dark crystal prequel “and despite winning this battle, they would all soon die in a genocide”
I want to like this show, so very, very much. But if the reports that Alan Tudyk’s K-2SO is not in it are true, Andor is going to have to work VERY hard to overcome that disappointment.
I’ve heard they’ve already planned multiple seasons (like five or something) of Andor, so seems they’re putting at least a bit of effort into it.
Might actually be worth our time.
Supposedly it’s down to three, from five, but irrelevant as they’re still putting effort in! <3
Hey, I thought Solo was a great movie!
Mon Mothma… has since been retconned to be a key member of the Rebel Alliance. Can anyone explain this comment to me? My perception of her ROTJ character was always “that lady who is in charge” so I didn’t see her Rogue One character as a retcon, but I am missing something?
I can explain the comment: Barsanti.Because you are right and he, as usual, has no idea what he is talking about and is just reaching for snark. She led the briefing and gave out the assignments for the battle of Endor. You don’t give that job to some rando.
Hey editor, fix that header image– you accidentally used a shot of Tom Holland with a beard when he was 13.
Dear god, that sounds so boring
Solo was better than Rogue One.