‘I just thought people are going to flip out’: Andy Serkis was understandably nervous about returning to ‘Star Wars’

Every fandom has their disagreements, but the Star Wars fandom is practically built on disagreements just as much as it’s built on allegedly loving the franchise. Indeed, the fastest way to get supporters of George Lucas’ legendary mythos up in arms one way or another, is to quite simply do absolutely anything.

Andor dared to defy this rule, however, with Tony Gilroy’s political thriller launching the saga to unprecedented heights, much to the delight of the overwhelming majority of its backers. Between inch-perfect casting and an extreme amount of care in tending to storytelling fundamentals, Andor was the closest we’ve gotten to a united front in quite a while.

In fact, if not for the show’s script, Star Wars veteran Andy Serkis may not have been bold enough to join the project, and understandably so. After donning the mantle of Supreme Leader Snoke in the sequel trilogy, showing up as a different character may have caused fans to hyperfixate on the wrong thing for the wrong reasons.

In an interview with The Hollywood Reporter, Serkis reflected on his apprehension to join the cast of Andor at first, comparing his return to a minefield for the more theory-crazed fans of the franchise.

“There was such confusion about Snoke and Snoke theories, I just thought people are going to flip out and wonder what the hell is going on and assume there’s some sort of link there. I thought, ‘This is a minefield.’”

Of course, we couldn’t be happier that Serkis said yes; his performance as Kino Loy was among the most memorable in a show where most everyone could be dubbed a scene-stealer. Well worth a couple of hyperfixations on Snoke and meatless, Snoke-related theories, if you ask us.

The first season of Andor is available to stream on Disney Plus.