Diego Luna Premieres Disney+ Series Andor for Fans in Tokyo

Thousands of devoted fans at Star Wars Celebration in Tokyo were treated to an advanced screening of the season two premiere of Andor, the highly-anticipated return of Lucasfilm’s most acclaimed Disney+ show.

Ahead of the episode presentation, dozens upon dozens of fans dressed as prisoners from Narkina 5 performed a fun, and certainly less stressful, procession around the conference arena in a nod to the Andor season one episode “One Way Out.”

Andor stars Diego Luna, Kyle Soller, Adria Arjona, Genevieve O’Reilly, Alan Tudyk and Denise Gough as well as creator Tony Gilroy and executive producer Sanne Wohlenberg then sat down for a brief Q&A before the screening.

“It’s so big in every possible way,” said Luna, who plays the titular Cassian Andor. “There’s more adventure, action and drama. We’re getting close to Rogue One, so everything matters so much. It’s emotionally charged. It’s going to be intense. And when you finish watching this second and last season, go straight to Rogue One, because you’re going to see a different film.”

Gilroy explained that the time span covered within the show by the first season amounted to about one year, but for the coming second season will stretch over a four-year period. “So every three episodes will represent one year, and we’re going to drop them three a week. So, it’s basically, like dropping a whole movie every week,” explained of the release plans for the show. Gilroy added, “We find the most important three days to land on.”

“We feel like we’ve been sitting on a diamond, and we can’t wait to share it with you,” said series favorite O’Reilly, who plays Mon Mothma.

“We find out where Dedra comes from in this season —a little bit about what makes her who she is —and things get real strange,” said Gough, who plays Imperial official Dedra Meero. “I don’t want to give too much away about it, but, yeah, Dedra really shows herself. It was much darker this season. It wasn’t so girl boss, it was much more fascist, which is very unlike me, so it was serious acting I was doing.”

“Bix really went through it in season one,” added Arjona who plays Bix Caleen. “When we first meet her in season two, you know, she’s away from home and really trying to reconstruct herself and how she’s going to cope with everything that happened with Dr Gorst. And then you get to kind of get a sneak peek into this beautiful relationship that starts forming in season one.”

“Everyone was like, what are you guys? Are you guys together?” Arjona said of her character’s relationship with Cassian Andor. “Well, I think this season, you’ll really get to see these two characters come together, which is really beautiful. It’s probably one of my favorite parts.”

“London was the first [Star Wars] convention we went to, and I learned you don’t go with your hands empty,” said Luna, introducing the first episode. “We wanted to bring something very special, something that we’ve never done — and obviously, we will never do again. So we need you to put your phones down, because this is going to be for your eyes only.”

Andor centers on Cassian Andor, a former thief whose outrage against the fascist Empire turns him into a formidable if reluctant rebel. The character first appeared in the feature Rogue One: A Star Wars Story, but then headlined his own series that debuted on Disney+ in 2022.

The first season was set five years before the events of the movie and earned unparalleled praise from critics (it received eight Emmy nominations, including best drama series) and fans. The upcoming second season of the show comprises 12 episodes divided into four story blocks, each one bringing the story one year successively closer to Rogue One.  

Season two of Andor debuts on Disney+ on April 22.

Star Wars Celebration, the mostly biennial convention that assembles the faithful followers of the George Lucas-created sci-fi fantasy, is currently underway in Tokyo, Japan. At the event, Disney has revealed the title and release date of Shawn Levy and Ryan Gosling’s standalone Star Wars film, announced a Darth Maul animated series and shown off the first trailer for The Mandalorian & Grogu.