How Diego Luna returned from the dead as Cassian Andor in the new Star Wars spin-off

Diego Luna’s character was supposed to be dead and buried thanks to Star Wars prequel Rogue One, but he reveals how Cassian Andor is back as a changed man.

Diego Luna had no good reason to think he’d ever return to the world of Star Wars.

After all, his character Cassian Andor had literally been reduced to ashes in the fiery finale of the 2016 hit Rogue One: A Star Wars Story, having helped save the galaxy by delivering the plans for the Death Star into the hands of the Rebel Alliance.

But in science fiction no one needs to stay dead for long so when the idea for Andor – named after his resourceful, ruthless, Rebel captain character – was floated, Luna was intrigued but cautious.

The 12-part series, which premieres on Disney+ next month, is set five years before the events of Rogue One, the movie that fed directly into the action of George Lucas’ very first Star Wars movie, thereby making it a prequel of a prequel. Confused much?

So was Luna, until it was explained to him that Disney’s now proven extended TV format (thanks to The Mandalorian, The Book Of Boba Fett and the recent Obi-Wan) would allow a deeper dive into parts of the galaxy far, far away only hinted in the three film trilogies to date.

“First of all – I’d hoped it was the same boots, but they are not,” says Luna with a laugh, when asked how it feels to be stepping into Andor’s shoes again.

Diego Luna returns as Cassian Andor in the new Star Wars spin-off, Andor.

“It’s the boots he uses five years before Rogue One and they are much more uncomfortable. I can’t say I thought this was going to happen because I would be lying, but when they shared with me the idea, it sounded to me like a great idea and it made complete sense to me.

“In fact, it was like ‘I don’t know if this could be a film but definitely a series’ because of the length and the chance to explore.”

The nature of Rogue One – not to mention its definitive ending that killed off almost all of its heroes, including Felicity Jones’ protagonist Jyn Erso – meant that Luna thought it would be a one-and-done for him in the career-changing Star Wars world. But given that other actors from Mark Hamill to Carrie Fisher to Ewan McGregor and Natalie Portman and Daisy Ridley to Adam Driver had launched or boosted their profiles off their multiple appearances in the films, did Luna feel short-changed to be so short-lived?

“To be honest, not at all,” he says of his heroic death. “In fact, it was the opposite – to me that was bold and exciting. I was like ‘holy shit – wow! If that’s where we are going, then this is a journey worth taking’. I like risk – I like things to be different and I also really like the idea of being part of something that could just be that.”

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The Cassian Andor that audiences met in Rogue One is a true believer who is prepared to go to extreme lengths – including murder – to achieve the rebellion’s objectives and, in the end, is prepared to sacrifice his own life to help overthrow the Empire.

The character that audiences will meet in Andor, says Luna, is an entirely different prospect – a thief and cynic whose home world has been destroyed by the Empire but thinks that those who want to take it down are on fool’s errand.

“It matters to know how far from that man you met he was five years before and what needed to happen in his life,” Luna says. “If you see the story of many people who brought change, you realise how far they were at the beginning from the person they become. There is a journey needed and many times you have to be part of the problem to understand that you can be part of the solution – or the solution itself.

“It’s kind of like doing a new character in a way because it’s not the guy you met – it’s another guy that will end up becoming that man one day.”

Felicity Jones and Diego Luna in a scene from Rogue One: A Star Wars Story.

Luna was also attracted to the more nuanced tone that Andor is promising to explore. Where the early Star Wars films clearly defined their heroes and villains – the plucky band of fighters and dreamers banding together to bring down the totalitarian regime led by the evil Emperor and his murderous enforcer Darth Vader – Andor delves into more ambiguous territory and notion that one person’s freedom fighter is another person’s terrorist.

“Exactly,” says Luna. “What’s good? What’s wrong? It’s a big debate. What I love tonally about our show is that it lives in the grey areas and the nuances are what matters. There’s not good and bad – there are just people surviving in a very obscure time in the galaxy. That’s what is interesting.

“The characters are complex and they have contrasts, and when you think you get to know them, they surprise you with a new face you didn’t know they had. To witness the awakening of this man is going to be something people will be excited by.”

Luna was visibly moved at the rapturous reception he received from fans when he appeared at a Star Wars Celebration event alongside his Andor co-star Genevieve O’Reilly in May to talk about the show. The Mexican-born actor, who first shot to fame alongside compatriot Gael Garcia Bernal in Alfonso Cuaron’s acclaimed 2001 road movie Y Tu Mama Tambien, says that, prior to Rogue One, he spent most of his life “trying to get people’s attention to watch stuff they don’t know they want to watch”.

Diego Luna on the promotional trail in New York for Andor, which streams on Disney+ from next month. Picture: Cindy Ord/Getty Images

The passionate following and the extreme secrecy of the Star Wars world, he says, is the exact opposite, where he knows that fans want every last detail as soon as possible, but he’s not allowed to share it.

“It’s a beautiful starting point,” he says. “I don’t see it as pressure or anything, I just see it as paradise. I already know that what I am doing, people will like to watch – and in fact they will watch.

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“I hope they watch to the end and I hope they like it and find all the stuff that we cautiously plan interesting – but they will be there. And that is an amazing feeling and that is what I was saying thank you for at Celebration. That energy just makes my journey a very exciting one.”

Andor streams on Disney+ from September 21.

Originally published as How Diego Luna returned from the dead as Cassian Andor in the new Star Wars spin-off