While Stellan Skarsgård, 73, might be starring in the critically acclaimed Star Wars spin-off Andor, at heart he and his children will always be fans of the original franchise.
© WireImageSpeaking exclusively to HELLO! on the red carpet at the London sneak peak of Andor’s second season, the 73-year-old reminisced about watching Star Wars with his children, who he tells us are all fans of the series.
“I watched all the films together with my kids at different ages,” he said, noting: “I was watching the old films with Alexander since he was a little boy.”
Stellan has eight children, many of whom are actors themselves. Alexander, 48, and Bill, 34, have enjoyed plenty of Hollywood acclaim, the former in Tarzan, True Blood and Big Little Lies, and the latter in It and Nosferatu.
© GettyStellan reprises his role as undercover rebel mastermind Luthen Rael in the Emmy-nominated series, but said that he did not see his character as a hero.
“I don’t see anybody as a hero because I know that people are flawed, but he’s a very pragmatic man, and he has to do what he has to do, which is prepare for a revolution,” Stellan said.
“He has to make some decisions that he doesn’t like, but that are brutal, and I’m sure he wished he could not make those decisions, but he has to.”
© Des Willie /Lucasfilm Ltd.Stellan added that his character’s placement in both the rebel and civilian worlds is becoming more untenable as the show progresses.
“His position is becoming more and more dangerous because he’s working himself into the society and the Empire is closing in. He has to burn his future.”
Fans are patiently awaiting the second and final series of Andor, which takes place before the events of Rogue One. After a climactic end to the first series, there are plenty of unanswered questions that need solving.
Cassian Andor’s character evolution
Diego Luna, who plays leading man Cassian Andor, told HELLO! that his character has to continue to evolve in the second season.
“I think in season one, when we leave Cassian, he’s living through an awakening. But that’s not enough. He has to understand the need for change, he has to make it personal, and he has to learn a lot from very important characters in his life.
“Then one other thing that is going to happen is that we are going to get to the point where Rogue One starts. So many new characters are going to join this season.”
While Diego filmed Rogue One first, Andor actually takes place before, so he filmed it out of order.
He enjoyed the chance to flesh out Cassian’s backstory: “It’s what we do as actors. You receive a script that tells you some information, and you fill in the blank spots, you create a backstory in order to play that character.
© Lucasfilm Ltd“It’s like approaching a historical event or a historical figure. Everyone knows what this person did, but not why, how and with whom, and that’s the story we’re telling here. What needed to happen for this man to get there? I think Rogue One is very mysterious about who these characters are.”
Diego added: “Rogue One, for me, is a film more about an event than about these characters. It’s about about what they managed to do together, and now we have a show that explains how someone can get there, and what is needed for that.
“Structurally, it gives us tools as actors that you normally don’t have. And everything is fully charged, because you know what’s going to happen to the character. Every decision is getting him closer to that, and it’s intense. It’s intense to watch.”
© LucasfilmAdria’s difficult character journey
Adria Arjona stars alongside Diego as Bix Caleen. Her character undergoes quite the ordeal under torture from the Empire in season one, and Adria told HELLO! she initially struggled to portray her character after the trauma.
“A year is not enough for anyone to get over what she’s experienced. I had a lot of questions for Tony [Gilroy, the producer and head writer of Andor] regarding that. I didn’t really know what kind of a person Bix was, in the sense of dealing with trauma,” Adria said.
© Lucasfilm“Is she someone who is really working on herself and trying to fix all her issues? Is she someone who’s going out for revenge? Is she someone who’s shoving things under the rug? And the reality is, it’s a little bit of both. You feel all those things, and it was a big learning experience for me for sure.”
What can fans expect from season 2?
If accounts are to be believed, there’s plenty of excitement ahead.
The official synopsis reads: “Rife with political intrigue, danger, tension, and high stakes, Andor is a prequel to Rogue One: A Star Wars Story, which portrayed a heroic band of rebels who steal the plans to the Empire’s weapon of mass destruction: The Death Star, setting the stage for the events of the original 1977 film. Andor sets the clock back five years from the events of Rogue One to tell the story of the film’s hero, Cassian Andor, and his transformation from disinterested, cynical nobody into a rebel hero on his way to an epic destiny.
© Lucasfilm“Andor Season 2 will see the characters and their relationships intensify as the horizon of war draws near and Cassian becomes a key player in the Rebel Alliance. Everyone will be tested and, as the stakes rise, the betrayals, sacrifices and conflicting agendas will become profound.”
