In a show packed with highlights, one of the most impressive has been the emergence of Elizabeth Dulau. From playing an important role in season one to filling a vital role in season two, the development of her character Kleya Marki has felt totally organic, but it was Tony Gilroy (along with the rest of the producers and writers) who realised they were watching a star emerge right in front of their eyes. Speaking with EW, Elizabeth looks at the all-important background to her character, one who was a keystone in the formation of the rebellion.
EW: How did that help you inform everything you did in season 2?
ED: I love a backstory. Who doesn’t? Even if I’m not given one, I will invent one to help flesh out a character. So it really helped me do that really because I think I avoided doing that entirely on season 1 because I didn’t want to make choices based off of that. That would be problems later down the line. So I finally got to really invest in all of that stuff.
It helped me prep because I work a lot with daydreaming. It’s something that I do naturally, almost to a fault. I’m a terrible daydreamer, but with my acting, I like to focus it on something and imagine a scene from my character’s previous life. So knowing that Kleya and Luthen’s relationship started in such a terrifying and dark and painful way, I think when he first saves her, Kleya will have really hated him to begin with because he’s not like this kind man that’s innocent. We don’t see how involved he is outside of the ship, but he doesn’t stop it. At the very least, he doesn’t stop it.
I really refuse to believe that his colleagues would’ve let him just hide in the ship all day and not be useful to them. He is very guilty of erasing Kleya’s previous life and all of her loved ones, or at least assisting in that. So Kleya would’ve hated him from the start. And so I spent a lot of time daydreaming about her previous life. If she had a mom and dad, who were they? If I had brothers and sisters, if I had a best mate, what my life was?
But then I also would daydream about the day when Luthen made Kleya laugh for the very first time. And nice things that cropped up along the way that made space for love to grow between them, against both of their better judgments. Neither of them would’ve wanted that to happen, but I think it does. And so Tony telling me all of her backstory, then gave me time to daydream on all of these things and create what now feel like very real memories.
Speaking with The Hollywood Reporter, Elizabeth looked back at the stratospheric rise of her career, right out of RADA and into the hottest show in the galaxy.
ED: I walked off stage at RADA straight into the pandemic. We were literally four performances into a production of The Importance of Being Earnest; I was playing Lady Bracknell. Our artistic director said, “Tonight will be the final performance.” So we all had a big old cry, and we did the show before we all disappeared. We thought we’d be back in three weeks, but of course, we weren’t. The audition for Andor then came around in November of 2020, so I spent those six months [in between] not really sure what to do.
THR: You then discover that you’re going to be working almost exclusively with Stellan Skarsgård. How intimidated were you in those early days?
ED: I had my recall just before Christmas, the day before another lockdown. We then came back in January [2021], and my agent said, “The feedback from the recall was that they really liked you. They thought you were great. The only note was you seemed a little bit nervous. So they want to see you again, and they just want to make sure that you’ll be able to handle yourself. So walk in that room with as much confidence as you can; walk in that room like you are the dog’s bollocks.” Then she said, “Also, you’ll be reading at Pinewood Studios opposite Stellan Skarsgård, but don’t let that make you nervous.” (Laughs.) I think I just burst out laughing because that’s insane. It was just an unbelievable thing to hear.
But, because of Covid and all the restrictions, we had to wait for Stellan to be allowed to fly into the country. So there were still a few weeks in between to prep, and I prepped like hell. I learned all my lines upside down, back to front, sideways. I then met Stellan for ten minutes before that final audition, and we chatted over coffee. Stellan has this wonderful magic about him. You just forget that he’s the legend Stellan Skarsgård. He really makes you feel at ease, and after just those ten minutes with him, I really felt like I was walking in the room with a friend, with someone who had my back and was there for me. And he was that way, continuously, throughout the next three years. I was intimidated by the scale of this production and how new it all felt, but I’ve never felt intimidated by Stellan. He always felt like my pal who’s got my back.
