Warning: Spoilers for Andor season 2, episodes 1-3!The first three episodes of heroic sacrifice in Rogue One: A Star Wars Story. But, as with most of the best Star Wars projects, Andor has a sprawling ing cast with stories just as fascinating as its titular character’s.

ScreenRant’s Andor season 2 review stated that the series’ latest outing “breaks all the franchise’s boundaries”, and this is thanks in large part to writing and performances that offer a new look into its characters’ lives. Genevieve O’Reilly’s Mon Mothma is forced to navigate an increasingly authoritarian state, while Diego Luna’s Cassian Andor and Adria Arjona’s Bix Caleen discover what rebellion means to them. All of this is while Denise Gough’s Dedra Meero and Kyle Soller’s Syril Karn climb the Imperial ladder in search of more power.

Across three separate interviews, ScreenRant’s Ash Crossan spoke with Andor’s Tony Gilroy, Genevieve O’Reilly, Diego Luna, Adria Arjona, Denise Gough, and Kyle Soller about their work on the second season. The creator and cast talked about how the Andor season 2 timeline recontextualizes Rogue One: A Star Wars Story, making that already emotional movie hit even harder. Plus, they shared insights into their characters that make them more sympathetic than ever.

Andor Will Change How You Look At Rogue One: A Star Wars Story

“You Understand What That Sacrifice Actually Means”

Although Diego Luna was quick to say that “you don’t need to know Rogue One in order to understand what we are talking about and what these characters are going through,” the actor confirmed that Andor season 2 “dramatically” impacts how viewers will perceive that movie. “I think [season 2] gives it so much emotional weight,” Luna said, continuing, “All those words now have a meaning. What he's talking about when he says he has done terrible things for the Rebellion–you understand what that ultimate sacrifice actually means.”

Luna credited “the beauty of Tony Gilroy’s writing” for the fact that “you don’t need to know that terrible, dramatic ending that Rogue One has in order to make these characters interesting to watch.” But even so, the sacrifice that Cassian Andor does make in that film is going to be given even more emotional weight throughout the course of Andor season 2’s 12 episodes. “There’s always the feeling of the big picture,” Luna added, to that point, “and it’s sad to get to the end, but it’s also beautiful to get to the end with such a strong piece.”

Source: Screen Rant Plus

Adria Arjona & Diego Luna Share Their Very Human Star Wars Experiences

“I Just Was Bawling Before Walking The Red Carpet”

For Bix Caleen actor Adria Arjona, being a part of Andor season 2 gave her an opportunity she’d never had before: it’s the first time the actor has really been able to come back to a project and delve even deeper into one of her characters. “To be able to live in the shoes of a character that means so much to me one more time was really exciting. To live in her headspace was also really interesting, and I learned a lot from it.”

Being an actor in Star Wars also exposed Arjona to legions of Star Wars fans. “Right after the trailer had gone off,” Arjona shared about an experience she had around Andor season 1, “I saw this wonderful content creator who, within maybe two or three hours, did a video of replicating my costume. She screenshotted a piece of the trailer, and within an hour, she had my whole costume.”

“Then,” Arjona continued, “she shows up to the premiere of season one wearing it. I just crying. I just was bawling right before walking the red carpet, [because of] how much that meant to me. She's a beautiful Latin woman, and we had this moment and this eye-to-eye, and it was such a special moment.”

There are actors behind the droids and behind the creatures, so you're interacting with someone, and there is that playfulness that happens.

Luna spoke about a very different, but equally human moment that happened on the set of Rogue One: A Star Wars Story, specifically a scene when K-2SO slaps Cassian Andor in front of some Stormtroopers to sell the idea that Cassian is an Imperial prisoner. “I couldn't stop laughing for hours,” Luna said. “It was painful because it was an improv.”

“And that's the beautiful thing [about] this show,” Luna continued, “and Rogue One also: we are acting with real people. There are actors behind the droids and behind the creatures, so you're interacting with someone, and there is that playfulness that happens when you have someone in front [of you] to play with. It's science fiction, but it's all mechanical. It's all real, it's all there. And Alan Tudyk is just impossible.”

Genevieve O’Reilly Reflects On Mon Mothma’s Hidden Emotional Crisis

All Against The Backdrop Of One Of The Galaxy’s Biggest Hit Songs

One of the most compelling characters of Andor has always been Mon Mothma, the character first introduced in 1983’s Star Wars: Episode VI - Return of the Jedi but given new life and much more depth by actor Genevieve O’Reilly. The first three episodes of Andor season 2 especially test the senator’s composure, as well as her willingness to do what must be done. “She is the face of diplomacy,” O’Reilly said about Mon’s determination to keep up appearances, continuing, “She must wear that mask, and she must wear it well.”

Mothma wears that mask especially well during a moment in episode 3 where she dances with abandon at her daughter’s wedding. The song is a callback to Andor season 1, revealed Gilroy: “It's the Niamos theme. When [we went] to Niamos the first time, [season one composer Nicholas Britell] said, ‘Let's have something Miami.’” That song would go on to be used as source music elsewhere, with Gilroy explaining, “Our idea was that ‘Niamos!’ was a galactic hit, so when we came to the wedding, Brandon Roberts remixed it [and] gave it a really hardcore Tarzana, California EDM mix.”

“That is a really unique moment for character,” O’Reilly said of her dancing scene. “It’s in a cultural celebration where you can lose yourself in this dance number, but you can be wrestling with a pain, a personal torture, or chaos. What’s so beautiful about that piece is that you can see her dancing or drinking, which might be celebratory to everyone else that's there, but actually, she's dying inside. She's just had her friend tacitly murdered. It's the first time you wrestle her from the stricture of her composure.”

Source: Screen Rant Plus

Tony Gilroy Reveals Why We've Said Farewell To Andy Serkis

Sometimes Fans Must Lose What They Love

One actor who won’t be appearing in Andor season 2, according to Gilroy at least, is Andy Serkis, who played Kino Loy in a particularly memorable arc from the first season. “I mean, yeah. Who wouldn’t want to bring Andy Serkis back?” said Gilroy. But the showrunner shared a very logical reason to keep the character out of the second season, saying, “We kind of dropped the mic there, and all I [would] do is have a lesser version of what happened before. You’re going to him the best as it is.”

People Think Denise Gough & Kyle Soller Are Real-Life Villains

“The Empire Is So Significant … They Can Get A Bit Spooked”

In contrast to Adria Arjona’s experience with adoring fans, Kyle Soller and Denise Gough revealed they have been treated like Imperial officers in the real world. Denise Gough relayed a story about losing luggage in Peru, in which “The guy behind the desk was really nervous and saying, ‘I'll help. I'm going to help.’” It didn’t help that Gough was with Jacob James Beswick, who plays Heert, Dedra Meero’s assistant in the show.

“I said to the attendant, ‘Are you okay?’” Gough shared, “and he said, ‘It’s very strange for me, because I finished Andor yesterday, and now you are here. And I am in trouble.’”

Kyle Soller has had his own share of similar interactions, saying that he’s been to events where “there was this kind of feeling that they didn't want to overstay their welcome in front of someone from the Empire. I think that, [for] people that have grown up with it or really attached themselves to it, the Empire is so significant as a force that they can get a bit spooked.”

Dedra Meero & Syril Karn Have Very Different Season 2 Journeys

“It’s Too Dark For High-Kicking”

One of the most interesting things about Syril Karn and Dedra Meero is the fact that both often seem on the verge of coming to their senses and realizing they work for an evil regime. “It’s a real testament to the writing [and] to the show that, even in these characters, you can … open yourself up [and] have empathy,” Gough said.

But it sounds like the darker nature of Andor season 2 did make that a little more difficult for the actor: “She wasn't as fun to play this year. She was fun last year. She's like a girl boss, all of this kind of stuff. and then–oh God–she's a fascist. There was a whole camp element to Andor season 1, but this season is not messing around. It's too dark for high-kicking. I represent a really dark part of indoctrination, for sure.”

“Syril’s feeling pretty good about himself,” Kyle Soller added. “He’s got some new threads. He found a new tailor. He’s got a promotion.”

Dedra Meero & Syril Karn’s Relationship, Explained

“It’s Weird As All Get-Out”

Andor season 1 ended with a kiss between Syril Karn and Dedra Meero, inviting questions about what that relationship would be like moving forward. “Oh my God, it's weird as all get out,” Denise Gough said about that relationship’s evolution in season 2. She continued: “It creeps me out. I was so fearful of this idea that she would be rescued and then she'd fall in love, because so often that just means the end of your storyline as a strong woman in anything. But the writers are too sophisticated for that.”

“We meet them in this kind of arrangement they have now,” Gough said, “but they’re both still very much Syril and Dedra. Then, you have to watch them navigate around each other while maintaining who they are. It's not what I would like for a relationship. It sort of also makes sense that they're in each other's orbit like that.”

New episodes of Andor season 2 hit Disney+ on Tuesday nights.