Andor cast on Season 2: 'It's weirder than you think'

Beloved Star Wars series Andor will draw to a close with its second and final season in 2024.

Meaning that when it ends, the show will have aired across 24 episodes for just two seasons. The news, you might say, caused a great disturbance in the Force, as if millions of voices suddenly cried out in terror.

However, such is its brilliance, it’s a dead cert that the spin-off of a spin-off (Rogue One) will go down as one of the greatest chapters in the Star Wars franchise.

A presentation celebrating Andor kicked off the Lucasfilm Showcase panel which opened this year’s Star Wars Celebration event in London, with creator Tony Gilroy and the cast present to celebrate the show and tease Season 2. Gilroy revealed that the series will continue shooting through to August this year, with plans to premiere the series in August 2024 following post-production, colour, and VFX work.

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Gilroy’s incredible writing has been a hallmark of this deeply affecting and wonderfully woven series, and everyone is now eager to see how Cassian Andor’s prequel story finishes in the run-up to the events of Rogue One.

Yahoo UK caught up with Gilroy and the cast during Star Wars Celebration for their insights into Season 2 – and it seems fans are in for a complicated and unexpected ride.

Dedra Meero actor Denise Gough is “super excited” for her character to go “full-on fascist”. We’ve seen Meero, a lieutenant and supervisor for the Imperial Security Bureau, throw herself into torture with gusto in Season 1, so what precisely can we expect in Season 2?

“Oh, just more,” said Gough. “In Season One, I had to lay down the Dedra that maybe people would kind of like and think, ‘Sister, you're the woman in a man's world.’ And then you go, ‘No, I'm a fascist’. So now [Dedra is] just full-on fascist. Now, I don't have to pretend I'm a woman in a man's world or anything like that. I just do full Dedra.”

Read more: How the Andor finale set up S2

And what of that thing with Kyle Soller’s Syril Karn? Is there a romantic spark that could ignite?

“What I will say is that there's a version of all of these characters that Tony has written that could go a really obvious way,” said Gough. “But our show is not written by people who write ‘obvious’. So whatever happens with Syril and Dedra, it's going to be weirder than you think.”

Soller added, “There's a huge question mark over that meeting in that little cupboard in the riot, in episode 12.

"I think they both understand that they need each other, and they need something from each other. And that they may be stronger together, in terms of they share an objective, which is Andor. And yet, this is the Star Wars universe where... nothing is easy. And everything is fractious, there's friction in every single relationship, and there's already an imbalance of power.

"That's what Tony does, writes these beautiful characters – they're so multifaceted – that are all based around an imbalance of power. That gets explored pretty deeply between Syril and Dedra.”

Syril is a quirky character that has become a firm favourite among fans. As with a certain high-profile Star Wars character, you might even sense some good in him – even if he does come across at times like textbook serial killer material.

“He hasn't known who he is for so long. And I think in Season 2, he finally starts to feel like he knows who he is,” said Soller. “He individuates his own experience. Part of me wants to go back to his childhood. Part of me wants to see what he could accomplish once he just actually grows up and gets out of his own way; does some healing on himself.”

Is there good in him?

Read more: Andor brings grit and politics to Star Wars

“This is the question, Where does he lie? It might get answered in Season 2.”

He’s got to break away from his domineering mother first, though, right?

“One of the questions I wanted to know before filming Season 2 was does he move out of his mother's apartment? That question gets fully answered,” said Soller. “But his relationship with his mum gets explored in — I didn't even know Tony can do this — in a completely different way. And in a way that is incredibly relatable to modern life … In Season 2, Syril grows up. So that relationship with his mother needs to shift. And it does in an interesting way.”

We know where Cassian’s story ultimately goes. But all of these complex characters with whom he has crossed paths on his journey are open books. In particular, given Cassian’s closeness to her, Bix is something of a conundrum. She’s had a heck of time in Season 1 at the hands of Dedra Meero but what fans want to know, fuelled by footage shown at Star Wars Celebration, is whether Bix and Cassian are poised to get even closer.

“These are two characters that have been through so much together, that have grown up together since they were children,” said Adria Arjona who plays Bix Caleen in the series. “So I think there's a lot of love, and there will forever be a lot of love. But I think if there's one thing that everyone should learn from Season 1 is that Tony Gilroy's writing is incredibly complex and complicated. It won't be simple.”

Read more: How costumes helped Andor stars find their characters

Of course, there’s a lot of “reconstruction”, as Arjona calls it, for Bix to do in Season 2 following the trauma she’s suffered in Season 1.

“She's left at such a dark place – and psychologically she's not there, physically she's not there,” said Arjona. “What does she have to do? And how does she do it? I think that will be the beginning of her journey.”

For Mon Mothma, much of the audience will be hoping she ditches that husband of hers. Genevieve O’Reilly, who plays the Chandrilan politician, said, “What Season 1 did was set up beautifully for each of the characters what their ideals are; what they're passionate about; how they are involved with Empire, or moving towards — or fighting for, or ekeing out — rebellion.

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"I think with Mon Mothma, we know what she's passionate about. We know that she meets Empire not just at work but at home. So she's navigating Empire all the time. She's having to hold so many secrets... there’s one scene where she says to Luthen if this is exposed to Empire I am the person with the furthest to fall.

"If it falls apart, it will cost her a lot. That's not to say that she doesn't make choices. She will make choices in Season 2 that really expose what it costs not to stand up against oppression.”

While creator Tony Gilroy seems to be feeling the pressure to “stick the landing”, he’s also excited for fans to see the experimental approach they’ve taken with Season 2.

“I think it will be really intriguing to watch how audiences [take] this ‘I’ll just cover four years and do these year-long gaps’ [approach],” said Gilroy.

“Because there’s year-long gaps between the episodes and it’s been very exciting to work on. It was an experiment at the beginning and it’s an experiment that we think is working out pretty well.

"So, from a writing point of view it’s really exciting. And the actors like it as well.”

Andor Season 2 lands on Disney+ next August.