Diego Luna has finished filming his final season as Cassian Andor. Speaking at the Andor Season 2 premiere in Los Angeles, the actor reflected on what it meant to leave the role he’s played since Rogue One: A Star Wars Story in 2016.
“I said goodbye to this character when we wrapped,” Luna said. “I had a beautiful opportunity to talk to the crew, to talk to the cast. [Creator] Tony Gilroy gave these beautiful words, we had a drink, we hugged, we cried. I’m going to miss this family.”
Set to premiere April 22 on Disney+, the second season picks up a year after the uprising on Ferrix. Cassian is now working directly with Luthen Rael. According to Luna, the character is no longer uncertain about his role. “He’s working for Luthen’s team and he’s been quite successful. He’s been given a lot of responsibilities now, so it’s far from that guy that was difficult to trust.”
The season will unfold over twelve episodes, with the story divided into four arcs. Each arc will represent a jump forward in time, covering the years between Andor Season 1 and Rogue One.
Adria Arjona returns as Bix Caleen, who is still recovering from her imprisonment and interrogation by the Empire. “She wants to be strong and she wants to be tough,” Arjona said. “It makes her rebellion internal and self-destructive.” Bix is on the run, along with Brasso and Wilmon Paak, after fleeing Ferrix in the Season 1 finale.
Genevieve O’Reilly’s Mon Mothma continues to face personal and political pressures as she rises within the Rebel Alliance. Season 1 ended with her orchestrating a marriage arrangement to shield her financial activity from the Empire. In the upcoming season, her arc will track the consequences of those choices. “There are times in the season where I was surprised at the genuine weight of rebellion and the pain of that,” O’Reilly said.
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Stellan Skarsgård reprises his role as Luthen Rael, who operates under a false identity as a gallery owner. His real work involves coordinating rebel cells and keeping his true intentions hidden. “He says at one point, ‘I’m condemned to use the tools of my enemy to defeat them.’ And the tools of the enemy are pretty brutal,” Skarsgård said.
Denise Gough returns as Supervisor Dedra Meero, who remains focused on identifying and eliminating threats to the Empire. Her search for the figure known as Axis — Luthen’s codename — continues. “She will never stop looking for Axis. Ever,” Gough said.
Kyle Soller’s Syril Karn is still drawn to Dedra’s mission and remains obsessed with Cassian. Now stationed on Coruscant, Syril has found a new purpose in Imperial service. “He has expanded into this version of himself that I think he’s always wanted to be,” Soller said.
Ben Mendelsohn reappears as Director Orson Krennic, last seen in Rogue One. The series will explore Krennic’s earlier role in the Empire’s hierarchy. “Once you have that cape on and you are in the world of Star Wars…it tells you a lot about what to do,” Mendelsohn said.
Alan Tudyk returns as K-2SO, the reprogrammed Imperial droid who first appeared in Rogue One. Tudyk performed the role using motion capture and custom stilts. “When he is reprogrammed, his personality comes out, which is a bit odd,” he said.
Returning characters include Brasso (Joplin Sibtain), Wilmon Paak (Muhannad Bhaier), Vel Sartha (Faye Marsay), and Cinta Kaz (Varada Sethu). Each character faces their own conflicts as the rebellion expands. Marsay said Vel continues to wrestle with her past. Sethu described Cinta as someone fully committed to the cause, even when personal attachments complicate her focus.
Forest Whitaker is back as Saw Gerrera, a rebel leader whose methods are viewed with suspicion by others in the movement. “He’s fighting by the only means that he has to fight against this giant machine,” Whitaker said.
Genevieve O’Reilly noted that the season’s time-jump structure gives space to examine how these characters change under pressure. “Each jump we make…[the Empire got] more smothering. More electric. More dramatic.”
Luna acknowledged that the end of Andor is personal after spending nearly a decade with the character. “It’s sad, it’s painful, but also I know how lucky I am that I had this opportunity,” he said.
