Diego Luna on ‘Andor: ‘It is the story behind the sacrifice’

There’s a famous quote from Shakespeare’s “Twelfth Night”: “Be not afraid of greatness. Some are born great, some achieve greatness, and others have greatness thrust upon them.”

And greatness was certainly thrust upon Rebel Alliance fighter Cassian Andor (Diego Luna) who goes so far as to risk his life to save a galaxy far, far away in 2016’s “Star Wars’ story “Rogue One.” Set five years before “Rogue One,” the lauded Disney + series “Andor’ explores how our hero went from a woeful existence as cynical and manipulative thief to revolutionary to Rebellion fighter.

The multiple Emmy contender earned praise from critics as “the most complex, mature story in ‘Star Wars’ lore.” The New York Times review felt the “people who made it like a lot of things: ‘Blade Runner,’ ‘Casablanca,’ Vietnam War metaphors-better than they like ‘Star Wars.’”

The bleak, gritty series boasts an award-winning creative team: Creator and showrunner Tony Gilroy, who shared writing credit with Chris Weitz on “Rogue One,” is an Oscar-nominee for writing and directing 2007’s ‘Michael Clayton.” Other “Andor” writers include Dan Gilroy, the writer/director of 2014’s ‘Nightcrawler” and Beau Willimon, an Oscar (“Ides of March”) and Emmy (“House of Cards’)  nominee. And bringing Gilroy’s vision to life is production designer Luke Hull won an Emmy in 2019 for “Chernobyl.”

Recently Luna and fellow executive producer Sanne Wohlenberg, also an Emmy winner for “Chernobyl,” participated in a Zoom conversation with Deadline about the series, which will be returning for a second season.

Luna noted that ‘”for me ‘Rogue One’ is a film about an event. And now with ‘Andor,’ we can tell a story about the characters behind the event and the story behind the sacrifice. It’s a story of “someone who has been migrating, a refugee and that was a very important part of ‘Rogue One’ for me. And clearly, here we are, telling that story.”

And that story isn’t just for ‘Star Wars” fans. “’Rogue One’ was meant to be different and this show comes out of that,” said Luna. “You have to forget you are in a galaxy far, far away . This has to feel personal; this has to feel about you.”

“The beauty is that it’s so universal and a story about sacrifice, political turmoil and suppression,” said Wohlenberg. “Why wouldn’t we reach an audience that isn’t only already embedded within ‘Star Wars.’” .

Luna believes “Andor” is different from the other “Star Wars” series such as “The Mandalorian” and “Obi Wan,” because it’s inhabited by “regular” people. “Regular people don’t get to be in the center of a science fiction show ever. These are characters who are always in the background and here they matter because the show is about a revolution. I think we took that very seriously and we reminded ourselves every day to be true to what we were doing and the story we were telling. I think that comes across.”

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