When you watch all of the Star Wars movies in order, you will learn that there’s something special about the bond shared between a Star Wars actor and their droid. We even went so far as to rank all of the Star Wars droids, from best to worst. This chemistry dates all the way back to Luke Skywalker and R2-D2 in the original Star Wars: Episode IV – A New Hope. If not for that plucky sidekick, Luke might not have survived the aerial dogfight in the film's conclusion long enough to shoot the shot that blew up the Death Star. But those relationships have expanded over the years, looping in Rey (Daisy Ridley) and BB-8, IG-11 and The Mandalorian, and Cassian Andor (Diego Luna) with K-2SO in the winning prequel, Rogue One: A Star Wars Story.
Now that he is on the verge of returning to the character of Cassian in the Disney+ series Andor, Diego Luna will establish a relationship with another important droid named B2EMO… which also sounds like the name of a band who will be playing on The Warped Tour next summer. So when we got a few minutes to speak with Luna and the Andor cast, I asked the Star Wars veteran if he had any tips for actors who needed to interact with droids on screen. How can you make it look convincing? Luna told CinemaBlend:
This droid made it so easy! And I have to tell you that the work behind the droid, it’s incredible. It’s not one or two people. It’s a whole team. From the moment they decided how expressive it is, I saw the process. I saw the drawings. Then I saw the first models. Then I saw the thing moving. And then I saw the whole team giving life to that thing. Because it’s not just a voice. It’s two people operating. And how many people were needed to construct that, I don’t know. But it’s a whole team. And B2 just follows you everywhere and it’s there, it’s real. It’s, in fact, very easy to interact with these droids because they exist! They are there with you. And they are not as demanding as other actors, you know? They just can do one take after another.
Can you imagine the diva that is B2EMO staying in his or her trailer for hours, refusing to come to set and complete the necessary dialogue for a key Andor scene? I kinda want to see that in a behind-the-scenes clip. In case you don’t know anything about Andor, this is a prequel story to the prequel that is Rogue One, explaining how Cassian Andor became an integral component of the Rebel Alliance. This would have to be a prequel, given the ending of Rogue One. But we also know, going into the first few episodes, that there is enough story to tell here to last two seasons. Now we just need to see where Cassian’s journey begins.
Star Wars seems very content to explore new worlds through Disney+ series like Obi-Wan Kenobi, Andor, and the upcoming Ahsoka with Rosario Dawson. So make sure that you are getting the most out of your Disney+ subscription by sampling all of the content at your disposal, from Marvel and Pixar to Disney and Star Wars.
