We’re still basking in the aftermath of Andor, one of the best sci-fi series in who knows how long. The show is so good, we almost can’t believe it exists. We spent four whole weeks getting into every nook and cranny of season two as part of our Laser Focus podcast. (You can watch each of those here.) But all of that was prologue for what ended up being the main event. Series creator Tony Gilroy joined us to talk about season two, the biggest character arcs, and his legacy within the greater Star Wars saga.
You can listen to the full conversation here:
We spent a lot of time speaking about the final three episodes and the end of Luthen Rael’s storyline. While all of us knew before the show even premiered that Stellan Skarsgard would kill it, none of us expected Kleya, as played by Elizabeth Dulau, would end up one of the series’ MVPs. Gilroy let us in on something we probably never picked up on. Kleya, not Luthen, was in charge the whole time.
“I didn’t want anybody to think there was anything romantic [about Kleya and Luthen’s relationship],” Gilroy said. “I didn’t want anybody to think she was his daughter or his lover. And I wanted the relationship to be absolutely as antiseptic as it is. But that required really explaining its provenance [in the flashback]. Then when you get into the provenance, you have this girl and the potential problem; oh my God, is he manipulating her into this life?
“And when you try to build against that, you realize it’s really cool. She’s actually been in charge of the thing from day one, from the moment they met. Kleya’s been in charge of everything. She really has been the boss. He’s afraid of her all the way through. If you go back and look at the whole show, she really is the navigator all the way through, from the time they met. And that’s a really cool thing to play with.”
Gilroy also said, one of his favorite moments from the final episode, gives Kleya at last a tiny bit of satisfaction. “The moment where she’s on Yavin at the end,” Gilroy explained, “and she’s seen Vel, during the final montage, [Elizabeth Dulau] gave just the little slightest Mona Lisa, kind of bit of pleasure that she realizes what her contribution has been. She sees what they’ve built. As much as she’s been against Yavin and against the establishment and felt like an outsider. There’s just this, oh my God, it’s shaded so beautifully! You just almost see this, just the beginning of a little bit of satisfaction with what they’ve done.”
Mr. Gilroy should have more than a little bit of satisfaction with what he’s done. Andor is, for my money, the best Star Wars has ever been.
Kyle Anderson is the Senior Editor for Nerdist. He hosts the weekly pop culture deep-dive podcast Laser Focus. You can find his film and TV reviews here. Follow him on Letterboxd.
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