Andor, the latest Disney+ series from Lucasfilm, has been full of surprises. Perhaps the biggest, however, was the shocking appearance of an established Star Wars actor in a brand-new role. In the series’ eighth episode, fan favorite performer Andy Serkis was revealed as lovable tough-guy Kino Loy, the foreman at an Imperial factory facility for imprisoned workers on the planet Narkina 5. Diego Luna‘s titular Rebel finds himself captive in the facility after a skirmish lands him on the Empire’s radar, and he quickly learns that Serkis‘ Loy is not a man to be trifled with. Unfortunately, aside from the fact that Kino is the man-in-charge for prison Unit 5-2-D, not much else has been told about the character’s backstory within the Star Wars universe.
Although not technically official, Serkis opened up about where he feels Loy came from in a recent interview with the folks at Collider. Speaking to Steve Weintraub, the former Planet of the Apes star explained his opinion that Loy was once a shop steward who fought for workers’ rights, an act that eventually led to problems with the Empire and a forced assignment to Narkina 5. Having learned his lesson, Serkis‘ foreman is now doing what he’s told and biding his time until his final 250 days in prison are complete. The actor elaborated:
When he was incarcerated, he then almost sheds any desire to look out for other people apart from himself. Just do his time and get out. To try and get out and just survive the sentence, the torture, the desensitization. I think it was that desensitization that made me perhaps have that slightly lost but kind of hardened and toughened shell.
Andy Serkis
Serkis previously portrayed the mysterious Supreme Leader Snoke via motion capture in 2015’s Star Wars: The Force Awakens and 2017’s Star Wars: The Last Jedi. His antagonist’s origin was the subject of heavy debate before being killed off in The Last Jedi and was ultimately revealed as a failed clone of Ian McDiarmid‘s Emperor Palpatine in 2019’s Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker. No such debate will be present here, in Serkis‘ first live-action appearance in the Star Wars galaxy.
Source: Collider
