This week’s release of Andor sees the Star Wars universe change in an unexpected way. The series strongly echoes the visuals and themes of Rogue One while presenting it in a darker tone. Murphy’s Multiverse sat down with a few of Andor’s stars and asked about the show’s script and Tony Gilroy‘s vision for a grittier Star Wars.
Kyle Soller, who plays Syril Karn, said that the show’s unique tone was immediately present from the writing alone:
I definitely felt it through the writing. When the script first came to me and I was talking to Tony Gilroy, I had the same exact reaction. It was not what I expected in the best possible way. It’s grittier. It’s more human. It’s very domestic. It’s a socio-political drama while also being a Star Wars epic. It built off the promise of what Rogue One was. This writing plus Tony Gilroy plus Diego Luna, it was just, “Wow!”
The first three episodes of the series follow an intricate web of stories and complex characters. One of those characters is Cassian Andor’s close confidant Bix Caleen, a mechanic who may have ties to the Rebellion that Cassian has no clue about. Adria Arjona dished on Gilroy’s script and how it felt reading the story on the page:
I think Tony is a brilliant writer. Tonally, when you read the script you realize how grounded it is and complex each and every character is and how interesting every storyline is and how they intertwine. It’s complicated and the characters are really going through something bigger than themselves. I think Tony did something beautiful where no one in this show lives in black or white. Everyone is in a grey area. There’s no such thing as good or bad and you get to explore ‘why’ in the intimacy of the character’s homes.
