‘Andor’: Fan-favorite actor talks about returning to ‘Star Wars’ as a different character

The hits keep coming Andor. This week’s episode 8 picked up the threads from last week, which saw Cassian sentenced to six years in Imperial prison. When he got there, he was finally greeted by a surprising face, with a fan-favorite actor returning to the franchise, but in a new role. Before we go any further, this is your spoiler warning if you haven’t seen this week’s episode.

*** ANDOR EPISODE 8 SPOILERS AHEAD ***

Andy Serkis is back star wars! After first playing Supreme Leader Snoke of the First Order in the sequel trilogy, Serkis is back in Andor. He plays a brand new character known as Kino Loy, the warden of the section of the prison Cassian has been placed in. The character is just trying to show goodwill for the rest of his sentence, which is a year away.

vanity lounge spoke with Serkis about returning to star wars in a whole new role. Of course, he can’t escape the question about the Internet and a new batch of Snoke theories. On the decision to return to star wars despite this, he said:

“It’s difficult because I’m sure it’s exactlywhat people will think. And why would they think otherwise? I was a little confused as to whether I should do this or not, but that was only because I likeA thug. I absolutely loved how grounded this movie was in a world that was both real and epic. Also, I’m playing a character on the opposite end of the spectrum of a very powerful overlord. [Kino Loy] is someone who is a real person in this world.

The conversation immediately shifted to Kino Loy. Serkis mentioned that he never saw the character as a villain, more just a guy trying to get through the day.

What I imagined about Kino’s story, before he was in prison, was that he was a union leader. He used to work as a foreman. I wanted him to come from a place where he was put in jail for, maybe, standing up for workers’ rights and then put in a position of authority because that’s what he does. He is a natural leader. But he really just wants to do his time. He has a family. He wants out and back, and assumes that will happen after he is incarcerated.

It becomes clear throughout the episode that the prison he and Cassian are in isn’t the best of places. It has a reward-based system that if you do well, you might get tastier “food”. Hurt for the day and you will be lightly tortured with electrocution. Serkis said his character, Loy, used it as motivation, but he explained that there was something else that Loy forgot that Cassian was bringing out when he arrived. He said:

“He has been brainwashed into believing that even though he probably knows deep down that he has been imprisoned unfairly. He kind of cut off that part of himself. He just wants to hang out and hang out. They almost act like robots. Andor questions this. Obviously he wants to escape, he wants to get out as fast as possible, so these two are opposing forces.

Serkis then talked about what it was like to shoot and how it felt like the actors were in their own prison:

“When you were on that set for weeks and weeks, everyone started thinking as one and you could feel people losing their will. Once inside, there was no more comfort. And it left you at the end of the day thinking, Oh my God, get me out of here. [Laughs.] It was really intense. We were literally barefoot. And it’s such an interesting choice from Tony [Gilroy’s]… Taking your shoes off, having your feet bare, it’s a really weird feeling. Your feet on metal plates for days and days and days and days does something for your energy. It just undermines you.

Prison seems to be an integral part of this three episode arc (8-10), so there will likely be at least two more episodes with Andy Serkis to come. Head to vanity lounge for the full conversation.

Don’t forget to read our written review of the episode and check Emission resistanceDiscussion on TRB Live.