Returning ‘Andor’ star only landed a bigger ‘Rogue One’ role during reshoots

Rogue One: A Star Wars Story was already regarded as one of the best entries in the Disney era, but Andor is retroactively making it even better by fleshing out the title hero, and showing us how the Rebel Alliance came to be. However, the show has played its cards relatively close to its chest by limiting the amount of Rogue One characters in it to Cassian Andor, Saw Gerrara and Ruescott Melshi.

Melshi, as played by Duncan Pow, is a relatively minor character in the 2017 movie, though was a member of the “Rogue One” squad that assaulted Scarif and successfully transmitted the Death Star plans. In Andor, we met him as an inmate on Narkina 5, eventually busting free alongside Cassian and vowing to spread the word on what’s going on in the facility.

But it’s now been revealed that Pow was essentially an extra in Rogue One until a chance conversation with Tony Gilroy saw him promoted to a named character, as he revealed in an interview with The Playlist.

“I had a part in Rogue One originally as a fighter pilot. I was involved with the original production in various capacities early on, and then I came in for the reshoots, and all of a sudden, after having a conversation with Tony—about Buddhism, funnily enough—I found that the character of Melshi had been written into some of the stuff in Rogue One and that’s how it came about initially… I really came on board [in a more significant way] in the reshoots. Sometimes in life, you’re in the right place at the right time.”

By the time of Rogue One, Andor and Melshi are clearly good friends and act like they’ve worked together on multiple occasions, so we’re optimistic about Pow returning for season two.

That shoot is set to begin in the U.K. on November 21, just two days before the season one finale airs. Tension is high as Cassian attending Maarva’s funeral means he’s walking into a trap, with both the ISB and Luthen’s Rebels eager to capture him. Andor has a very unpredictable show, so we don’t know how it’s going to shake out, though we’re quietly hopeful that the season ends with Cassian fully committing to the Rebel cause.

Andor airs Wednesdays on Disney Plus.