Picture Supply: Getty / Dimitrios Kambouris, Mike Marsland, and Matt Winkelmeyer and Photograph Illustration: Keila Gonzalez

Even Star Wars superfans have been blown away by “Andor,” which mixes intrigue, politics, riot, love, and loyalty into one hanging and beautiful sequence. The present, which wrapped up its first season Nov. 23, takes its identify from Cassian Andor, performed by Diego Luna, who’s first launched as a insurgent spy in “Rogue One.”

“Andor” is a prequel, however the sequence from showrunner Tony Gilroy is not simply involved with its title hero, whose journey focuses on his path to the middle of the riot. The present is absolutely a few sprawling community of individuals unfold throughout a galaxy saved below the brutal fist of the Empire. We meet Bix, performed by Adria Arjona, Cassian’s pal who’s simply making an attempt to scrape out a easy life. She has a deep bond with Cassian and his mom, Maarva, performed by Fiona Shaw. Then there’s Senator Mon Mothma, a beloved Star Wars character. “Andor” lastly offers actor Genevieve O’Reilly an opportunity to dig into what her life as a insurgent senator is like. Then there’s the viciously methodical Dedra Meero, performed by Denise Gough, a lieutenant within the Imperial Safety Bureau who’ll cease at nothing to root out riot wherever it involves life.

Arjona, Shaw, O’Reilly, and Gough all talked to POPSUGAR to replicate on the present’s first season and their character’s journeys by means of the 12 episodes.

Fiona Shaw on Maarva’s Remaining Insurrection

Maybe no character makes a much bigger splash within the season finale than Shaw’s Maarva. At the beginning of the eleventh episode, viewers be taught Cassian’s mom has died whereas he was incarcerated. Beforehand, in episode seven, Maarva and Cassian share one in every of their final conversations, the place she tells him that she had determined to turn into a insurgent now, even when he did not agree together with her. “It is overdue and doubtless doomed, and I am too outdated, and I do not care anymore,” she says as her son begs her to go away the planet Ferrix with him. “Aristotle mentioned that there’s solely reality,” Shaw says of the second. Maarva cannot faux that she might depart with Cassian and every thing can be high quality. “If you realize in your bones that one thing’s improper, then you need to act on it,” Shaw says. That is how Maarva lives her life. “And that is a really admirable trait.”

And whereas Maarva is clear-eyed concerning the want for riot, Cassian is not. “Taking part in that relationship was superb as a result of she loves Cassian . . . and he, in fact, lets her down as all of the individuals we all know and love allow us to down,” Shaw says.

“Most individuals can be extra cautious in outdated age, and she or he’s the other in that she opts to incite one thing,” Shaw says of Maarva’s flip towards riot. She factors out we consider outdated individuals as caught of their methods, however Maarva is proof that older individuals should not be written off, that they’ll nonetheless be the thriving coronary heart of their communities. “The knowledge of Maarva is a knowledge that’s value listening to, that truly is value her being courageous. And it is as a result of she is aware of that there is no different possibility. She has sufficient expertise to know that,” she says.

Picture Supply: Disney

Throughout episode 12, Maarva’s funeral turns into her largest act of riot. With all of the neighborhood gathered to honor her and the Imperials expecting any signal of Cassian, B2 performs a hologram message Maarva recorded. She indicts her neighborhood for trying away from the Empire’s atrocities. She urges them to combat, launching a large blowout between the residents and the Imperials proper there on the street.

To create the hologram impact within the scene, Shaw needed to be utterly alone within the studio with cameras pointing at her from each aspect. “It was a really lonely factor to do, however in fact . . . it is precisely what Maarva needed to do.” She calls the speech itself “probably the most astonishing factor” and that she spent “months” studying and mastering it. “You very not often get a bit that lengthy in tv to do by yourself.”

Shaw is impressed with how Maarva is ready to suppose previous her personal lifetime. “As a personality, she has no thought the impact that [her speech] could have, that it’s going to incite one thing that she won’t see,” she says. “[She’s] someone who’s very a lot come to phrases with their very own place of their world and their lifespan, and I do not suppose we’re superb at that on this planet.” It seems Cassian is on the funeral in secret to listen to his mom’s parting phrases, however Shaw says she does not suppose Maarva was desirous about him in any respect when she recorded her phrases. However Cassian is Maarva’s little one to the tip, and it evokes him anyway.

Adria Arjona on Bix’s Sacrifice

Maarva’s relationship with Bix means loads to each Shaw and Arjona. “Andor” was truly a reunion for the pair, who additionally labored collectively on NBC’s 2017 sequence “Emerald Metropolis.” “I like Adria. . . . It was very good to see her once more, as a result of the stunning factor about working with someone once more is you will have this shared historical past and you’ve got belief,” Shaw says.

Arjona says that Maarva is Bix’s “largest idol.” Bix is extraordinarily loyal, and Arjona calls her a “robust cookie.” “What she inevitably finally ends up going by means of all through this whole season is fairly horrific,” she says, and whereas Bix did not know precisely what the implications of her actions can be for herself, “she knew that it was for larger trigger, and that exhibits simply how selfless Bix is.”

In episode 9, Dedra and the Imperials crack down on Cassian’s neighborhood to attempt to discover him. She makes use of audio torture on Bix to attempt to get the data out of her. As viewers, we do not hear the noise they play for Bix — we solely hear Arjona’s horrifying scream.

“My vocal cords actually, actually took a toll on that scene,” Arjona says. She explains that she, the administrators, and Gilroy all wished to do a sort of torture that hadn’t been seen on display earlier than. Arjona was impressed partially by individuals who’ve developed tinnitus on account of COVID-19 infections. “It affected so many individuals psychologically,” she says. “And should you put that to a unique diploma and also you hear all this stuff, how loopy can it actually drive you? And the way horrific is that first second?” she says.

Picture Supply: Disney

Dedra grinds Bix down, however she’s not damaged. Through the funeral scene, an imprisoned Bix hears Maarva’s voice, and Arjona says it is “heartbreaking” as a result of Bix truthfully does not absolutely perceive that Maarva’s lifeless and gone. However listening to the combating on the street, she feels her satisfaction in Ferrix. “She feels that every thing she’s gone by means of wasn’t in useless,” she says.

By the tip of the episode, Cassian saves her and places her on a ship headed to security. “One in every of my favourite traces on the finish is the road that Bix tells all people on that ship,” Arjona says. “She’s like, ‘Cassian will discover us,’ after which she seems at him and goes, ‘He’ll discover us.’ And it is that belief of their friendship and their love and the loyalty that they’ve as pals that saved her afloat your complete time.”

For Bix, rebelling is a “easy choice. “It is both you’re taking a step again and keep quiet, otherwise you take a step ahead and also you converse out for what you suppose is correct and what you imagine in,” Arjona says. As a girl of colour residing in an ever-changing world, Arjona recognized emotionally with Bix’s journey. “I’ve felt this earlier than. I do know what that is, even when I won’t be within the entrance position of all of it, however I have to be part of it,” she says.

Genevieve O’Reilly on the Loneliness of Mon Mothma

O’Reilly sees her character Mon Mothma’s journey as all about decisions — particularly those the character wasn’t allowed to make as a younger girl. As we be taught in “Andor,” at 15 she had an organized marriage, and at 16 she joined the Galactic Senate. “She basically is married to the Empire now,” O’Reilly says. “I do not suppose she had a lot of a alternative in that. Numerous her personal decisions are harmful. . . . She is working in a glass cage.”

O’Reilly notes that Mon Mothma has been “iconic” on this planet of Star Wars for a very long time; the character made her first look in 1983’s “Return of the Jedi,” performed then by Caroline Blakiston. “What I discover so helpful about this model of Mon Mothma is that we’re seeing her not simply as that icon, that pillar, that statue, that chief, however we’re seeing the girl that it takes to be that, the load that it’s to hold that, how troublesome it’s to be a voice of diplomacy in a world of aggression and incarceration and brutality,” O’Reilly says. She values phrases and diplomacy in a world that is dominated by conflict and violence. “One thing else that I like about what they’re permitting time to discover is simply how lonely that’s.”

Mon Mothma’s loneliness is without doubt one of the largest costs she pays for the riot. She has only one second of respite when her cousin Vel (Faye Marsay), one other insurgent, visits in episode 9. O’Reilly was so comfortable that Gilroy added that connection between the characters. “It was such a aid that she has at the very least one ally,” she says. “That was actually maybe the one moments you see her actually weak.”

Nevertheless, O’Reilly does suppose there’s one place the place Mon Mothma lets a few of her persona shine by means of: her garments. O’Reilly thinks of them because the senator’s “armor.” “It is fascinating as a result of it is a costume, nevertheless it additionally feels, for me inside her, fairly genuine,” she says. “It is a good place to cover.”

Denise Gough on Taking part in a Meticulous Fascist

Gough’s Dedra additionally takes nice satisfaction within the costume she wears — her Imperial uniform. However the actor says you would not be capable of inform Dedra she was the villain on this story. “Dedra’s just like the hero of her personal story,” Gough says. “She’s additionally fairly rebellious in her strategies and meticulous.” She does not suppose Dedra is especially bold or sadistic; her pleasure out of torturing Bix is not due to the violence however as a result of she’s executing her plan. “She’s a perfectionist,” Gough says. “She simply additionally occurs to be a fascist.”

Numerous viewers took a couple of episodes to imagine that Dedra was actually, actually the unhealthy man. “Possibly it is simply in our nature to need individuals, particularly girls, to ultimately soften up or one thing,” Gough guesses about their response. She admits she does not know what Gilroy has deliberate for the second season, however she feels “it will be a disservice” to alter her path at this level.

Picture Supply: Disney

However she thinks by the point the finale premiered, viewers had been gained over by her character. “I do not sense that individuals need her to alter now,” she says. However she admits she was additionally a bit fearful that Dedra can be “softened” or — even worse — fall in love. So at first, she was involved when she learn the script for the finale. After Maarva’s rousing speech, chaos breaks out, and Dedra’s nearly carried away by a bunch of residents turned rebels. She’s saved by a mysterious particular person, solely to comprehend it is Syril Karn (Kyle Soller), who’s obsessed together with her. However for Gough, it is not likely about Dedra getting saved.

“What occurs to her in a room with the person who hasn’t given up on her,” she wonders. “I do not think about Dedra to have had many intimate relationships. . . . And likewise we made certain that she wasn’t comfortable about it.” Dedra is extra in shock than something; she grabs a random piece of equipment to assault him with, and solely watching the scene again did Gough notice she was actually shaking whereas filming it.

Gough likes the best way Dedra’s plot line subverts our expectations for tales about girls. “She began out as someone, we had been all like, ‘Yay, go on,'” she says. She’s a girl in a men-dominated office. Gough says it is easy for viewers to root for Dedra to inform her lazy coworkers off. “And you then’re like, ‘Oh my god, no, do not do this, although. That is horrible. That is a horrible factor to do.'” It is a critique of that girl-boss mindset “with out sort of punching you within the face about this.”

Gough loves that when Dedra proves she’s a maverick, she strikes up the chain of command. “[Her superiors] are similar to, ‘That loopy lunatic will go to any lengths to guard this Empire,'” she says. “However you possibly can’t belief anybody within the Empire. Everyone’s afraid on a regular basis of being shafted.” The Empire is “dysfunctional and poisonous,” she provides, “so for her to outlive and thrive in it, I believe you do should be a sure sort of particular person to have the ability to do this.”

On Season 1’s Legacy and The place They’re Headed For Season 2

Every of the 4 actors interpret the politics of “Andor” otherwise, however they are saying you possibly can’t keep away from how political the textual content is. Arjona notes that she’s from Puerto Rico, the place there have been “so many variations” of protest actions. Shaw, O’Reilly, and Gough are all Irish, and Shaw lived by means of years of Irish unrest. “Our world and our historical past is intricately woven with colonialism, and ‘Andor’ actually leans into that, the impacts of colonialism,” O’Reilly says. “Politicians and rebellions coming collectively to search out frequent floor to entry peace is inside my lifetime, inside my nation. So it is honest, and it’s taking place all world wide now.”

Picture Supply: Disney

Gough could not be extra effusive about how a lot she loves being a part of “Andor.” “I’ve by no means been extra happy with something I’ve carried out on display ever,” she says. O’Reilly loves what number of totally different girls are contained within the present. “We’ve got to thank girls like Geena Davis and the Institute for Gender Illustration in Media who’ve actually advocated for feminine illustration inside narrative and inside our movies and our tv,” she says. “And we’re not there but. We’re nowhere close to parity.” However she notes that even between the opposite instances she’s performed Mon Mothma and now, “we have made vital progress for girls and gender range inside our storytelling.”

“I am grateful that I am having the chance to genuinely discover her,” she says. “Now, as a girl, she’s way more than a power for exposition or a mouthpiece or a statue for a riot. I believe even in season two, they may go even additional with this. . . . We’re studying what it prices to be a feminine insurgent.”

Gough, O’Reilly, and Arjona all drop hints about season two, which is getting ready for filming proper now. They’ve all talked to Gilroy at the very least a bit about their characters’ journeys. Season two is about to cowl the final 4 years earlier than “Rogue One” takes place, and O’Reilly notes that the present “Andor” model of her character nonetheless is not within the place she is originally of “Rogue One,” a frontrunner within the Insurgent Alliance. “I am hopeful that will probably be actually gritty and dextrous and dramatic and simply thrilling. I am excited to return to this, [which is] not all the time the case,” she says.

Gough solely says, “I’ve obtained some actually tough stuff to handle subsequent season.” Arjona says she has numerous concepts for the place Bix’s story might go however jokes, “I belief Tony Gilroy’s mind greater than I belief my very own.”

However for now, there are numerous Star Wars followers to satisfy. Gough did her first occasion at October’s Lucca Comics & Video games Conference in Italy on the finish of October. She obtained emotional seeing so many ladies dressed like her character.

Arjona says the impression of being a Latin American actor in Star Wars did not actually hit her till she began to satisfy followers. “I had this lovely second with this girl on the crimson carpet of our premiere in LA, and she or he was already dressed up as Bix,” she recollects. “The one factor that had come out was the trailer. She was in full costume. And I simply obtained so moved by that, and she or he was Latin American. She simply began crying and telling me how wonderful and the way essential it’s for her as a Star Wars fan to see herself on this present.”

“I hold having little moments like that,” Arjona says. “As every episode airs, I will have an increasing number of. And it is simply actually, actually particular, and it is actually gratifying. I do not suppose I’ve felt that earlier than.”

All 12 episodes of “Andor” season one are streaming now on Disney+.