The star power was truly brought to Birmingham over Starfury: Invasion weekend and the team brought out the heavy hitters early on with Denise Gough and Diego Luna. This was a special moment; while Denise has been hitting the panels and cons fairly regularly over this year, this was Diego’s first panel away from the promotion of Andor Season 2 back in April.
The panel kicked off with a question regarding the current political climate and how it seemed to transcend into the world of Andor. While the cast were tactile in their answers, there was no denying – they said – between the parallels of the politics of Andor and the real world. The writing wasn’t done that way though. The second season was written years before any of today’s events, and it was simply uncanny how things had panned out.
Diego noted that thanks to the success of Rogue One, audiences and fans were ready for a more ‘mature’ take on Star Wars and without that film, a show like Andor might never have existed.
The pair talked frequently about the vision of series show runner Tony Gilroy and his unwavering commitment to the story and overall quality. Diego noted how this had been a full six years of everyone’s lives to bring together and how the main reason for closing the show out from five season down to two was a mixture of COVID, time and cost. No one would have been able to work on any other project in it had been five seasons.
Denise told a story about one thing that was lost along the way when the decision was made to cut the seasons. Though no scripts were written fully for five seasons, Denise was told by Tony that a whole episode featuring a young Dedra would have been realised to really get into her back story. That, she felt, would have added an even more complex layer to her character.
A slight segway, but funny story, came from Diego who told us that, like most Lucasfilm projects, a large layer of secrecy was needed for the show. The fact that they were filming on location did not help matters when it came to trying to keep things quiet. It came to Diego’s attention that a café in the north of the UK had heard he was in town and superimposed his head onto a body to make it look like he’d visited the café. He was afraid that explaining the situation to Lucasfilm would draw more attention and simply let it slide.
A brilliant question from the crowd came when the pair were asked about the most impactful moment of filming. Denise launched, without hesitation, into the now famous ‘The Monster Will Come For Us’ speech in the senate delivered by Mon Mothma. Denise, like all of us who witnessed it, felt that this was something truly special delivered by a wonderfully talented performer. This for her was the stand-out moment of the entire series. For Deigo, it was too difficult to name a singular moment. Very understandable.
On the more philosophical side of things, Diego spoke about the humanity at the heart of Andor. What this show is truly about, he feels, is a group of people who continue to push forward in life when everything around them is pulling them back. That’s what makes this story so relatable and great.
He also spoke about Dan Gilroy and how he feels that Cassian Andor is a true believer in the Force by the end of Rogue One and seeing that spiritual journey that Andor takes was something he was particularly keen to observe subtly. By the time Cassian meets his end on the beach at the end of Rogue One, he is a believer in something more than just himself.
Denise was able to talk about the nuances of her character and told us that Dedra believes she’s genuinely doing the right thing throughout the whole show. She does not believe she has done anything wrong by the time we see her locked up in the closing moments of season 2. Andor is truly a show where everyone, heroes and villains on both sides, are tainted by shades of grey and complexity.
Denise also spoke about how she was worried that that the writers would take her character down a true ‘love story’ angle at the end of the first season and that Dedra would lose her edge. When she spoke to Tony Gilroy about this concern he told her in no uncertain terms – who the hell do you think I am? I’d never do that to Dedra.
By the time the panel came to its end, there was a final question about favourite lines from the show. For Denise, it was obvious. “Turn out the lights” has become her signature phrase that she’s asked to sign and repeat at conventions.
For Diego, again it was obvious but no less poignant. ‘Rebellions are built on hope’ remains his standout phrase. Something that means a lot to the actor. He couldn’t finish, however, without saying his second favourite. “I have friends everywhere.” With that the panel ended and I thought – so this is how a panel ends? With thunderous applause.
Stay tuned next week for a recap of the Ahsoka panel from Starfury: Invasion 2025.
