‘Andor’s’ Diego Luna on changing the landscape of ‘Star Wars’: Now ‘that universe represents me too’

For Diego Luna, getting to the finish line of Andor’s second season wasn't merely the completion of his own years-long trek to tell a story of how Rogue One’s Cassian Andor became a hero of the Rebellion. It was part of a greater, game-changing transformation of the overall Star Wars universe, one that allowed room not only for richer, more complex, and vitally relevant storytelling in a territory better known for its more mythic connotations, but also space for an array of multicultural faces that looked a lot more like his own.

Speaking with Gold Derby at an FYC event for the Disney+ series at the Writers Guild Theater in Beverly Hills amid the whirlwind of critical and audience adoration for the Andor’s epic conclusion, Luna took a beat to reflect on the overall achievement and what it all means to him after nearly a decade of carrying Cassian with him. That, and his somewhat curtailed reunion with K-2SO.

Gold Derby: You knew from the jump what a huge undertaking this was going to be, and now you've been absorbing the reaction. How did you feel now that people have gotten to see Andor in its entirety? 

Diego Luna: I'm very pleased. This has been a very long journey for us, but I wouldn't change anything. I think the challenges we went through, the complexity of the production and the executing of this — we went through COVID, we went through strikes, shooting far away from home — all of that paid off because this is a show that represents me as an artist, and as audience too. It's something I would like to see as audience, and I am proud to be part of something that is connecting like the show is connecting with audiences.

The beauty of these long-format pieces and the streaming services is that it's there now for audiences to go to whenever they're ready. It was quite fascinating to realize how many people went to Season 1 because of the success of Season 2, because they read about it, because they saw the reaction of audiences, because of all the reviews. And then people said, like, "OK, let's go see the first season." That didn't happen with film. Yes, it stays there, but it doesn't really. You have a short window, and here we don't.

My daughter is going to grow a few years and she's going to find these and connect with it whenever she's ready. And that is beautiful because of the work of all these amazing people, not just the crew and cast, but really everyone working in the show, and I'm talking about thousands of people, you know? Everyone working in the show gave everything and came back for the second season, and it's paying off.

Star Wars has been largely set in more of a mythic, fairytale realm, and you guys have moved it nicely into an allegorical way of telling the stories, using Star Wars as that kind of vehicle. What did that mean to you to shift the paradigm on how to tell a Star Wars story and see it hit with the audience the way it has?

Well, it's just that the audience keeps changing, keeps growing and keeps growing in diversity. It's interesting that today there's room to do things in the Star Wars universe that probably 20 years ago were not even possible. I mean, having a character like Cassian, for myself as an actor, to be involved in a Star Wars show, I grew up watching Star Wars and no one looked like me. There was no way I could picture myself as part of that universe. And today it's different. If you are young and you have a Latino background, you see Star Wars and you go like, "Wow, that universe represents me too." And that's kind of cool.

And again, the complexity of this show, the tone of this show is very specific, and I'm pleased I'm living this time when we can do something like this. I think about what Rogue One represented for the films. We were meant to be different. We were given the freedom to do something different, and the audience reacted. We owe Rogue One a lot. We are here because of Rogue One, because of how Rogue One played. And I think it's because a big chunk of the Star Wars audience, it's been part of these for decades and there's room today for this complexity, for this more politically charged and complex story for these characters that are full of contrast for a show that lives so much in the gray areas. And I am pleased I can be part.

If there was anything I would've wanted more from Andor, one little thing, it was more Cassian and K-2SO. Were you hoping you get some more time with your droid sidekick?

[Laughs] I mean, when we planned this at the very beginning, there was going to be five seasons. So that thing that happens in that last block was going to be a full season. Every year of these four years before Rogue One was going to be a full season, but then that was impossible. Impossible to execute the way we execute this show. Each season has two years and a half of work behind, so it would've been impossible.

But again, yes, of course I'm always going to want to be around Alan [Tudyk]. He's such a wonderful collaborator, and it's so fun and our connection and our chemistry. It's so special that I'm always going to want to be working with him. But I'm glad it was this way. I'm glad also because we paid to every detail. We worked in this show with so much rigor and we paid so attention to specificity and detail just in a very special way, I would say. And I wouldn't change that at all.

So no, I'm pleased, I'm pleased. I mean, But I'm going to miss Alan and I'm going to miss Genevieve [O’Reilly] and I'm going to miss Adria [Arjona]. I'm going to miss working with material as complex as this one, but that's the way to end, right? You want to end it on the peak. You want to end enjoying every step. You want to be sad at the end, and not just pleased you got there.