'Andor' Star Discusses The Secrecy Behind The Show

Mum's The Word When It Comes To 'Star Wars' Spoilers

By Culture SlatePublished 2 years ago • Updated 2 years ago • 4 min read

It is of no surprise to anyone that a Disney property is keeping things close to the chest when it comes to spoilers. Marvel and the recent run of Star Wars movies and series have done an excellent job of keeping big reveals, character cameos, and plot points under wraps until the moment is right. Look no further than the doctoring of Marvel trailers, including Endgame and No Way Home, or the big reveal of The Child in the series premiere of The Mandalorian as examples of this secrecy.

Now it appears that we can add Andor to the list of shows with behind-the-scenes secrets. While the "Rebel spy thriller" series is still a ways out, the little information we have on the show appears promising. Set five years before Rogue One, the series will star returning Cassian Andor actor, Diego Luna, as well as Saw Gerrera, once again played in live-action by Forest Whitaker, and new comer Stellan Skarsgård in an unknown role. In a recent interview with Screen Rant, Stellan Skarsgård, a veteran of the MCU, spoke about the security protocols put in place by Disney to keep their scripts secret.

Skarsgård, like many actors before him, had to tread lightly in the interview to not reveal too much. He made note of the high security, spoiler preventing measures, as well as working with "an old friend."

"I don't know what to say because they are very secretive and you have to sign so many papers and to get the script you have to have a sort of double verification and you still can't read it. It's a very childish and weird world to enter in that sense, but I was happy to do it. First of all, because the writing is really good. It's the same writer that did 'Rogue One'. And also to work with Diego Luna, who's an old friend. So I was excited by that. And then my character is... Well, you'll see. It's fun to play because he has a lot of different faces to show."

It is understandable for Skarsgård to feel frustration about the security around the scripts and the "double verification" required to rehearse. Especially given his long and vaunted career as an actor, including credits in Good Will Hunting, portraying Bootstrap Bill Turner in Pirates of the Caribbean, and of course his role as Erik Selvig, astrophysicist extraordinaire, in Thor and The Avengers.

Despite the "childish and weird world" of keeping everything hush-hush, Skarsgård seems to be enjoying his time on set. Not only reuniting with "old friend" Diego Luna, but also portraying a character with "a lot of different faces." This could have many different implications for Skarsgård's character. Besides the obvious, of the series being classified as a "spy thriller" and Skarsgård potentially portraying a spy, there are other possible implications to this comment. Could it be that Skarsgård's character is an Imperial spy, working to mislead and confuse Alliance Intelligence from within? One minute showing a face of friendship to Cassian and his comrades, only to send the location of their hidden base to a waiting Star Destroyer.

This villainous mission could also be aided by Skarsgård's character having the ability to literally change his face, something we have already seen in the Star Wars universe. The Clawdites were a species of reptilian shape-shifters from the planet Zolan in the Mid Rim Territories. One of their race, Zam Wesell, became a bounty hunter and aided Jango Fett in his mission to assassinate Senator Amidala. The changeling was killed by Fett before she could reveal any information about the Separatist plot to her Jedi interrogators. Seeing the Clawdites, and changelings in general, return to Star Wars would provide a fun and exciting new twist to the universe, as well as being a useful variable in a series where stealth and espionage will be critical.

Regardless of what character he plays, Stellan Skarsgård is a welcome addition to the Star Wars acting family. While an official release date for Andor has not yet been set, it is one of the multiple Star Wars series expected to air in 2022, possibly in the late Summer or early Autumn. Hopefully Stellan was let through script security enough to turn in a stellar performance in Andor.

Written by Weston Erickson

Source: ScreenRant, Wookieepedia, IMDb

Syndicated from Culture Slate

Join the Team

star wars