Diego Luna Says 'Star Wars: Andor' Has A Secret Weapon & It's Not Jedi Or Baby Yoda

How do you tell a fresh Star Wars story after 45 years of Jedi, lightsabers, Mandalorians and Baby Yoda?

You throw all of that out the window and try something else.

Star Wars: Andor lead Diego Luna recently spoke to Narcity about what makes his new Disney+ show different from everything that’s come before it, and it all comes down to the very "personal" message wrapped in this fantasy story.

Luna first played the titular Rebel hero, Cassian Andor, in the 2016 film Rogue One, which ends with pretty much everyone getting killed, including his character. Now the actor is poised to return as Cassian in a two-season, 24-episode prequel series airing on Disney+, and he’s well aware of what people have been saying about it.

“Why do we need this?”

The answer, according to Luna, is that Andor is the most human version of Star Wars yet. In a universe full of gigantic star cruisers, evil regimes and powerful Force users, Cassian Andor is the ultimate “regular man” — an underdog who helps launch a Rebellion by finding others who feel just as beat down by the system as he does.

“What’s lovely about this story is (…) it’s people like you and I,” Luna told Narcity. “Working with others is the key to finding change, and it’s a very beautiful message.”

At a time when we're all just emerging from a world-changing pandemic, and when our entire society seems to rely too much on faceless algorithms and powerful social media companies, Andor delivers a familiar hero who is absolutely sick of having the odds stacked against him.

And so he rebels.

He added that Star Wars is a great tool to “talk about reality,” and with Andor, he saw it as an opportunity to dive into big issues of race, class and immigration.

"We are sending you a message, and it's personal," he said.

He even managed to work his own Mexican accent into the story, as the show reveals that Cassian grew up in a sort of Lord Of The Flies society of children before he was adopted and introduced to the wider galaxy.

"Star Wars has always been a tool to talk about reality," he said. "That galaxy far, far away has so many similarities with the world you live in."

Star Wars: Andor premieres September 21 exclusively on Disney+, with a new episode added each Wednesday.

The show has already been renewed for a Season 2, so we'll be seeing a lot more of Cassian Andor — and Luna — in the years ahead.