00:00Diego, this is honestly, I think, the strongest thing that Star Wars has done since Disney
00:04has acquired it.
00:05It is blowing me away.
00:08And I'm so happy for you.
00:10I hope you're proud of the work you guys have done.
00:12Oh, man, you almost make me cry.
00:16It's incredible.
00:17Thank you for those words.
00:27When you wrapped Rogue One, did you have any indication that Andor was a possibility or
00:31did you say goodbye to the character at that time?
00:34I said goodbye to the character, to the universe, to the experience, to everything, man.
00:39You know, one thing that made sense to me is that I was coming to do a film in the universe
00:47of Star Wars, but a film that had a beginning and an end.
00:51It was pitched as a standalone to me.
00:55This is it.
00:56You come, you do this, you're in and out.
00:59You're allowed to be different.
01:01You're supposed to be different.
01:03But this is it.
01:04This is it.
01:05You know, and in fact, it was easy to digest.
01:09You know, I was like, everyone was asking me, like, oh, so you're going to be there
01:14forever.
01:15Is that?
01:16And I was like, no, no, no, I'm doing this.
01:19That's it.
01:20Right.
01:21My character has a pretty dramatic and definitive end, you know, that's it.
01:29It's the end in its most pure form, basically, you know.
01:36And then a year later, I got this phone call saying, would you be willing to explore the
01:41possibility of doing a show in this new long format that we're doing now of the background
01:49of Cassian and to see where he comes from and what happened, what needed to happen for
01:54him to become that person that was willing to sacrifice everything for the cause, you
01:58know.
01:59And I was like, wow, that's a bold idea.
02:02I mean, it's interesting, you know, as it was when I got the offer for Rogue One, you
02:08know, because it's again, it's another standalone in the world of series.
02:13This one has to end.
02:15We know the ending.
02:16Right.
02:17I mean, they could change the name if they wanted to keep going because Ander is, I mean,
02:22that's it.
02:23It's these five years and there's nowhere to go.
02:26What really bleeds through for me as part of this production is the enormous practicality
02:30of the universe.
02:31It feels so much more lived in and just like it's been extremely established.
02:37And I'm wondering if that felt that way to you on set as well, too, as you're working
02:42on this.
02:43Absolutely.
02:44I'm an actor.
02:46We love a space to play in and I love a tactile space to play in.
02:52We had it in Rogue One and now in Luke Hull's design in Andor.
02:57We have these dexterous, intricate, beautiful sets to inhabit.
03:05You know, the first time you meet Mon Mothma in episode four, you meet her in Luthen's
03:10gallery.
03:12That set was jaw-droppingly beautiful.
03:16Stalin and I were like kids in a playground.
03:19We were like, look at this.
03:21Look at this.
03:22We're like, don't touch that one.
03:23That looks breakable.
03:24Oh, what about this one?
03:25Can I sit in this?
03:26Like it was a joy to play in Luke's sets.
03:31I sort of assumed because it's science fiction, I sort of assumed there's a lot of green screen.
03:35It will all be, you know.
03:37And then I got to like, one of my first days was on this, in this like town that they built.
03:44And I was walking around thinking, oh my God, this is amazing.
03:47The attention to detail.
03:48And there was like a little, it looked like Yo Sushi, but in space, you know?
03:53And I thought, okay, well, let me have a look in the cupboards.
03:55I mean, I'm sure in the cupboards there'll be like lighting and all of that.
03:59And actually you open the cupboards and there's, you know, bowls and bowls full of blue noodles.
04:06You go into the bar area and it's all built.
04:09It's like when you're a kid and you have to use your imagination to build these things.
04:14And then you get to be, you know, 40 and walking around dressed up in an imperial officer's uniform
04:21on a set that has been built for you to play on.
04:23I mean, it was absolutely, it's mind-blowing what they did.
04:28The attention to detail and the intricacy of the sets, the props, the costumes were like
04:34nothing I or you had ever experienced.
04:37It was incredible.
04:38I need to sing the praises of Toby Haynes.
04:40I just want to give him all of the Star Wars going forward.
04:44Can you tell me what he's like as a collaborator?
04:45He's blowing me away with what he's doing.
04:47Oh, he's incredible.
04:50Yeah, he was amazing to work with.
04:52He was so much fun.
04:55He had this really intriguing energy about him, which was really infectious and contagious.
05:03He is himself a fan.
05:05So he would get really excited about the props.
05:08And I mean, we all did because the second you walk into a Star Wars set,
05:11your stomach sort of drops and you're like, oh my God, I'm in Star Wars.
05:18And you know that you're being a part of something so much bigger than you.
05:20And Toby had that every single day.
05:23Like there wasn't a day that he wasn't, oh my God, this is amazing.
05:26This is so cool.
05:26And I think you could see in his approach to every scene.
05:30I think he approaches every scene with fresh eyes.
05:33And I think he really just wants to do a great job for the fans because he is a fan.
05:41And I think he pushes every time a little bit.
05:45I mean, as a collaborator, he's beautiful to work with.
05:47He's really inspiring.
05:49He said this wonderful thing when there was another character who was trying to
05:54do things in a different way.
05:56And Toby was just kind of feeding him different ways of doing it,
05:58just keeping the camera rolling.
06:00The guy was kind of like, OK, OK, OK.
06:02And they cut it.
06:03He's like, don't worry about it.
06:04We're just trying to capture smoke here.
06:05That's all we're trying to do.
06:07And I was like, that's so beautiful.
06:08And he has this playfulness and...
06:11He's like a kid.
06:12Real, yeah, yeah.
06:13Artistry, real artistry.
06:14Directing something like this.
06:15Mostly it's the same with Ben Caron, who I did my early stuff with.
06:19And I remember thinking, oh my God, he's having such a good time.
06:23He's like, are you kidding me?
06:24Look what I get to play with.
06:27Really, we were very lucky.
06:28We are meant to be different.
06:30We are meant to be our own.
06:33And that I love, you know, because then the writing of someone like Tony Gilroy
06:39becomes so pertinent, you know.
06:44You need someone like him.
06:46You need someone like...
06:47He's not a writer that likes to write in terms of right and wrong and black and white.
06:53He lives in the gray areas, you know.
06:56He spends his time there.
06:59Building layers and layers of contradictions.
07:03And I think that's, yeah, interesting and comes in the right time
07:09into this universe of Star Wars, I think, too.
07:12I love that I got the opportunity to come and investigate this woman, to explore this woman.
07:20I love that Tony Gilroy and Disney have invested time and narrative space in this woman.
07:29I think where we meet her in Andor is very different to where we've ever seen her before.
07:35You know, we usually see her in a bunker, you know, with senators in a war zone.
07:43Where we meet her in Andor, she is navigating a political society, the imperial senate.
07:53She's steeped in empire.
07:55I think what's exciting for audiences, hopefully, is that we start somewhere
07:59so very different to where we know we have to end up.
08:03What were some of the questions that you might have had about Bix's backstory?
08:07And were they answered?
08:09I sat down with Diego and we had so many ideas and what sort of our backgrounds were
08:15and specifically how we met and stuff.
08:17And those were all ideas that we had with Tony.
08:20Again, not in the show, but it was incredibly important for us to know,
08:23especially for someone like Diego, who's lived in this character for years now
08:29and is so aware of where he comes from and sort of his background,
08:34hence why they're doing a show about it.
08:38So it was really interesting to have him on set.
08:40And I just felt like I could ask him sort of everything and anything.
08:44And he was incredibly helpful and collaborative in that.
08:49Kyle, I sort of view your character and Diego's as two sides of a very similar coin.
08:55And I'm really enjoying seeing the parallels between their journeys.
08:59And I'm kind of wondering if you think that maybe Karn could have easily committed to
09:03the rebellion had fate almost sent him down a different path.
09:07Definitely.
09:08That's one of the things that I was thinking about while developing the character with
09:12Tony is that there was clearly a point, and I think it exists for everybody, right?
09:17But clearly a point for Cyril where there was a choice to be made.
09:20And he leant over onto the left side.
09:24And we think it's because both Deja and Cyril have an aversion to dirt.
09:29And like, they need everything to be perfect and clean.
09:32And the rebels just simply it's too dirty.
09:34Yeah, yeah.
09:35Not tidy.
09:36Not tidy enough.
09:37I can understand that.
09:38So within, you know, Cyril's journey, he becomes so fixated and obsessed with Cassian
09:45because he recognizes that that is, that potential could exist within himself.
09:51And that this guy who's so free to just do what he wants.
09:55And Cyril lives within the confines of his own structure and the structure of the bureaucratic
10:01corporate system that he lives in and is striving to ascend up to the highest echelons of.
10:07He sees this person just like making up the rules as he goes along.
10:10And he just can't stand it.
10:13Yeah.
10:14But it's because, as you say, it's the other side of his coin.
10:17And that's, yeah, can't deal with it.
10:20I just want to know your pro tip for acting opposite a droid.
10:23Because you do it very well.
10:26This droid made it so easily.
10:28And I have to tell you that the work behind the droid, it's incredible.
10:33It's not one or two people.
10:35It's a whole team, you know, from the moment they design it to the how expressive it is,
10:40you know, like I saw the process.
10:42I saw the drawings.
10:43Then I saw the first models.
10:45Then I saw the thing moving.
10:47And then I saw the whole team giving life to that thing, you know, because it's not
10:51just a voice.
10:53It's two people operating, you know, and how many people were needed to build that.
10:59I don't know.
11:00But it's a whole team.
11:02And V2 just follows you everywhere.
11:06And it's there.
11:07It's real, you know.
11:09It's in fact very easy to interact with these droids because they exist, you know.
11:16They're there with you.
11:18And they're not as demanding as other actors, you know.
11:20They can do one take after another.
11:24Do you know what?
11:24I love Star Wars fans because they are so passionate.
11:28They are so lived in in regard to this experience.
11:33So I let them do all the thinking and the speculating.
11:37And I leave that up to them because they do it much better than I do.
11:41And I will just step in as the actor because in the end, I feel like Star Wars fans know
11:47much more than I do.
11:49I just hope that my excavation of Mon Mothma can live up to their high standards.
11:58That's what a reckoning sounds like.
12:07you
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