Fiona Shaw Talks “Andor” in Interview with “Empire”

Andor is the latest Star Wars story spin-off coming to Disney+. As a prequel to the film Rouge One: A Star Wars Story, Andor is expected to focus its themes around “the political machinations of the Empire” during its height of power in the fictional Star Wars landscape.

Creator Tony Gilroy has a reputation in Hollywood for writing and producing popular shows and movies in the political drama and thriller genres like House of Cards and the Bourne trilogy. You’ll also find his name in the credits for Rouge One as the film’s screenwriter. With a little sci-fi mixed in, Andor might actually provide a fresh take on the Star Wars we all know and love.

Fiona Shaw, known in the Harry Potter universe for playing Aunt Petunia, appears as Maarva Andor in the series. She recently sat down with Empire to discuss the new show, explaining in her interview what she finds so intriguing about this new chapter of the Star Wars story.

Tony has written a great, scurrilous [take] on the Trumpian world. Our world is exploding in different places right now, people’s rights are disappearing, and Andor reflects that. [In the show,] the Empire is taking over, and it feels like the same thing is happening in reality, too.

Andor is set five years before the events of Rouge One. To put that time frame into the perspective of the original trilogy, that’s five years before Star Wars: Episode IV – A New Hope. The Empire has gained immense power over the galaxy, and the resistance is in its infancy. Many of the themes surrounding Andor may be darker than old-school Star Wars fans are used to, but it also provides what Shaw calls “a whole new morality.”

It’s very deep and humane – there is grief, mourning, hope, [and] fear. It’s not just primary colours here.

Andor is streaming on Disney+ starting September 21.