‘I thought at the end he was gonna ask me for my friend Gael’s number’: Diego Luna on being offered the role of Andor

Diego Luna is the best thing to happen to Star Wars since podracing, and you can quote me. Okay, I’ll admit that the prequels are far from perfect, but with a less-than-stellar reception to Disney’s latest Sequel Trilogy (from fans and critics alike) — The Rise of Skywalker makes The Phantom Menace look kind of like The Shawshank Redemption. Search your feelings, you know it to be true.

I’ll also go on record to say that I didn’t mind certain aspects of the latest three franchise films, but we’ll save that for another article altogether. Now, despite the aforementioned uncertainty, Star Wars fans have finally agreed on something. Andor was frikken’ awesome. If you haven’t watched it yet, you have your marching orders. Quit reading, go!

Gritty, violent, and ironically down-to-Earth, the new Disney Plus origin of Cassian Andor and co. is pretty darn good. Following the show’s recent success, Diego Luna sat down with fellow Star Wars alum Hayden Christensen in a Variety|Actors on Actors to discuss their time in that galaxy far, far away.

Hearing how certain folks ended up becoming a part of the Star Wars family is always fun, especially because each new addition is always shrouded in such secrecy. How could it not be? A chance to help make Star Wars is the chance of a lifetime, it stands to reason the people behind everything would be a bit hush, hush.

When talking about how he was offered Rogue One, Diego Luna described the crazy experience.

“I remember it was the first time such secrecy happened around anything I was going to be a part of. I was asked by my agent to be in L.A. to meet someone for something, that couldn’t be said on the phone. Then I was here (in L.A.), and I went into a meeting in a restaurant that was completely empty. There was a guy sitting in the corner with a computer open, and this was Gareth (Edwards), the director. I sat down with him, and it was just us for four hours.”

It blows my mind that Luna had no clue that what he was being offered was Star Wars. Now that I think about it though, if I was offered to write a Star Wars movie, I’d probably hyperventilate and forget who I was for at least a week.

“I was sitting there and Gareth explained to me the whole film. He kept talking about a guy, and then this guy, and then this guy, and then this guy, and I thought what is he talking about? I like making the joke that I thought at the end he was going to ask for Gael’s number, you know, my friend.”

Gael being Gael García Bernal — iconic Mexican actor, close friend, and co-star alongside Diego Luna in their breakout indie film: Y tu mamá también. Frankly, I think Diego is being too modest. Gael is a great actor yes, but can you really picture anyone else as Cassian Andor? (The answer is no.)

“He (Gareth Edwards) said at the end that ‘I would really like you to play this role. I want to know if you want it, because the whole process will have to start right away. I want to work with you, but now we have to convince everyone else.’ I didn’t know what ‘everyone else’ meant and to convince them, that started a three or four month process.”

Having to wait three or four months to find out if he had secured the role of a lifetime must have been incredibly stressful, but that amount of pressure didn’t seem to phase Luna. And why should it? He’s Cassian Andor. Remaining calm under pressure is kind of his whole thing. He’s a rebel among rebels.

Star Wars, Marvel, and other big budget franchises are notorious for keeping a tight lid on things, with their hiring/audition timelines being an incredibly competitive process. Still, I for one am glad that whoever that faceless “everyone” was ended up choosing Luna. With a second, and final, season of Andor confirmed for the summer of 2024 — all we can do is wait for the conclusion of a Star Wars story unlike any ever seen.