You've never seen Star Wars like this.
In Andor, which premieres Sept. 21 on Disney+, Diego Luna reprises his role as Cassius Andor from 2016's Rogue One: A Star Wars Story. The series is, in fact, a prequel and leads up to the events of the film.
When Tony Gilroy—who co-wrote Rogue One—was approached by LucasFilm in 2018 with their early plans for the prequel series, he disagreed with their vision and submitted his own concept...even though nobody really asked for it.
"It was such a crazy idea," he told Variety. "It was so radical, so out there."
Well, as it turns out, Lucasfilm loved it.
"I wanted to do it about real people," Gilroy explained. "They've made all this IP about the royal family, in essence. It's been great. But there's a billion, billion, billion other beings in the galaxy. There's plumbers and cosmeticians. Journalists! What are their lives like? The revolution is affecting them just as much as anybody else."
Specifically, the series traces the early steps of Andor's heroic journey, and that of the ecosystem around him, as the battle against the Empire starts to rage. It was Gilroy's precise vision that convinced Luna to sign on again.
"It's the articulation of a rebellion," Luna told Variety. "It's not about one character saving everyone. It's about community."
Gilroy was motivated to make a show not just for Star Wars die-hards, but for everybody.
"You should be able to watch the show and not give a s--t about Star Wars ever, or [have ever] seen any Star Wars," Gilroy said.. "This show should work on its own. The hope, the dream, is that the really hardcore Star Wars community will embrace the show in a new way—that they'll be thrilled to have someone come in and completely uncynically get down molecularly in their world and treat it like a real thing."
Andor has already been confirmed for two seasons, which will span a total of five years—the first of which will be depicted during the show's first season, while the second season will cover the other four. Each season contains 12 episodes.
The series also stars Stellan Skarsgård, Forest Whitaker, Genevieve O'Reilly, Denise Gough and Kyle Soller.
Andor's first season premieres Sept. 21 on Disney+.