There is a lot to like about Andor – but maybe best of all is the simply terrific cast turning in simply terrific performances everywhere you look.
Among them is Stellan Skarsgard as Luthen Rael, a brand new character created for the series but who immediately became compelling to fans. Luthen represents a kind of contrast to Mon Mothma (Genevieve O’Reilly), not in what they stand for – as they both detest the Empire and fight against it – but in how they rebel. Luthen is not afraid to use the tools of his enemy to fight his enemy, as he said in that wonderful monologue that has become famous. He knows he’s damned to spend his life fighting for a better future that he himself won’t get to experience.
Luthen represents a radical side of rebellion – in some ways, much like Saw Gerrera. It’s no coincidence that Mothma will be the one to ultimately pull together the independent rebel cells into something organized, but that’s not because Luthen’s views are without merit.
Entering the second and final season of the show, there’s a lot we still don’t know about him – like what happens to him, since he’s nowhere to be found in the later rebellion. But we also don’t really know what is his past, either. And it seems like the second season will address both his past and his future.
Speaking recently in the YouTube Q&A to promote the series, as transcribed by Gizmodo, showrunner Tony Gilroy explained that we will learn more about who Luthen was before we met him.
“There’s a lot of things about Luthen that I did not know until we started writing season two. So those things we’ll learn about Luthen, [like] who he was before in season two. You’re gonna see a guy who built a startup company in his garage and in Aldhani, he goes public. It’s gonna be the stress of how do you take your little revolution and all the work you’ve done for 15 years—how do you go public with that and how do you go large? That’s really the stress [he’ll be under] so we’re gonna watch him under a great deal of stress.”
Gilroy’s comments make it sound like the events on Aldhani in season one are Luthen’s big moment, so probably what came before was more minor rebellion and building something. But it’s something that had happened really since the fall of the Republic, which means there’s still plenty for us to learn about his background. Just how much we’ll learn, though, remains to be seen. I actually kind of like the fact that Luthen’s story is lesser known, but I trust that Gilroy will fill in important details in a way that furthers the story of season two rather than just providing an exposition dump telling us about him. And I’ll be excited to learn more about this character who has become quite compelling and polarizing.
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