While Andor has had no shortage of impressive action sequences—like the insane warehouse sequence in Episode 3 and the epic prison break on Narkina 5—the penultimate episode of Tony Gilroy's critically acclaimed series delivered an unexpected aerial delight in the form of Luthen Rael's (Stellan Skarsgård) haulcroft. Ahead of the Season 2 finale, Collider's own Steve Weintraub had the opportunity to chat with Gilroy about the series and more specifically how it was decided that Luthen's little haulcraft would go up against a Cantwell-class Arrestor Cruiser, which is no easy feat.
In the scene, Luthen is making his retreat from Saw Gerrera's (Forest Whitaker) hideout when he's essentially pulled over by the Imperial patrol, because they've had reports of partisan activity in the vector. Despite providing them with an Alderaanian chaincode that clears their system, they decided they were going to use him and his vessel as practice and catch him in their tractor beam, so they can unlawfully board and search the haulcraft. But his hunk-of-junk ship has a handful of unexpected features that allow for him to not just escape from custody, but deal some pretty lethal damage to the patrol and a handful of TIE-fighters.
Gilroy explained that the Fondor Haulcraft was built early on in the process and that, he and production designer Luke Hull worked with ILM and visual effects supervisor Mohen Leo to come up with the vessel. He went on to explain how they decided on the specific scene saying, "We're like, "Wow, we're not doing that much with it." And it's like, "Well we do have a place here, we could do this thing." I sketched up this drive-by traffic stop scene, and this is insight into how this tribe does work. Here's a scene, and we could do this, and it's expensive, but it's also the kind of thing that's easier to get money for than something else because it has IP in it, and it helps sell the Fondor Haulcraft, and the rest of it. It's really fun, and it's legit for a show, and it really lets us add something to Luthen's resume. " He went onto share the other factors that went into it:
"So, I sketch it up and do all that, and then Mohen Leo and TJ Falls [...] takes that over, and part of their deal is what they can afford to do and which shots are expensive. But they also come back with a storyline, and they know the lores better than anybody. When they come back, and they give us a pre-vis, and we look at it and go, "Holy, shit! Let's have something of that. I like this, just flip this around." You bounce it back and forth, but that's really, in many ways, finally articulated by the visual effects department. That's their show, and John Gilroy, and the editors coming in, and the visual effects editors. So, it's almost like a side project."
Gilroy also made sure that the praise for the sequence was shared between him and the entire team responsible for it. "It's not me, I'm in the chorus of this, but there is a pride, a community pride – because there's so many people that work on the show, we know how to do this, we should show people that we do know how to do this. So, let's just do one and show everybody, if we could do this all the time if we wanted to, I think there's a lot of people on the show that are like, "Let's show people we know how to do this." So, there's pride in that, I think."
Who Will Return for Andor Season 2?
With the events of Rogue One on the horizon, it's safe to assume that Season 2 will see the return of Diego Luna, Genevieve O'Reilly, and Duncan Pow. While it's unclear what will go down on Ferrix in the finale, Skarsgård will also likely return, especially considering the fact that he was the first to reveal that the series would return for a second season. With the season finale in mind, hopefully, most of the cast will make it out unscathed, and Adria Arjona, Kyle Soller, Denise Gough, Elizabeth Dulau, Faye Marsay, and Varada Sethu will also return. Ariel Kleiman, Janus Metz, and Alonso Ruizpalacios are set to join Season 2 to direct 3-episode blocks, with Dan Gilroy and Beau Willimon returning to write alongside newcomer Tom Bissell.
The highly-anticipated season finale of Andor arrives this week, exclusively on Disney+. For the first time ever, you can also catch the first two episodes of the series on ABC, Freeform, FX, and Hulu later this week. Check out local listings to see where you can tune in. Check back for our full interview with Tony Gilroy and in the meantime watch our interview with Andy Serkis below: