Warning: There are spoilers ahead for Andor episode 10!
Aside from the action-packed prison break, Andor episode 10 also gave fans fresh insight into one of the series’ most enigmatic supporting characters: Stellan Skarsgård’s Luthen Rael. Luthen has been a welcome addition to the Star Wars universe since his introduction. But this week, fans got a better idea of how far he’s willing to go to keep the Rebellion alive. During an interview with The Hollywood Reporter, showrunner Tony Gilroy spoke at length about the latest shift in Luthen’s plans, which may have stunned a few viewers.
In one of the episode’s final scenes, Luthen met with Lonni (Robert Emms), his mole inside the Imperial Security Bureau. During their rendezvous, Lonni revealed the Empire’s plot to ambush another Rebel, Anto Kreegyr, at his raid on an Imperial power station. But surprisingly, Luthen chose to protect Lonni’s identity over helping Kreegyr, leading to one of Andor’s best monologues yet. Previously, Luthen had spoken with Saw Gerrera about joining forces with Kreegyr’s own Rebel faction. However, Gilroy says it’s just another example of how Skarsgård’s character always takes the long view.
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“He’s a chess player, man,” said Gilroy. “He’s sacrificing a castle to protect his queen. So I don’t think the Kreegyr story is over yet. Luthen is in a very tough spot, and his position over the next five years is only going to get more complicated. Because how do you build this network? Earlier on, he says that he’s been building it for 10 or 12 years. But all of a sudden, with Aldhani, they’re going loud. All of a sudden, they’re going to expose themselves. And in a classic political sense, he’s an accelerationist. He believes in the fact that you have to make it hurt really bad in order to bring people to change.”
Gilroy says the concept of accelerationism (essentially, provoking the opposition into making things worse as a recruitment tool for your own side) is key to Andor’s first season, because it’s embraced by both the Empire and the Rebellion. And in the Rebels’ case, it sounds like things are going to get worse before they get better. Especially in the lead-up to season 2.
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“Once you make that announcement [via the Aldhani heist in episode six], once you do that, you’re no longer in charge of the thing that you’ve put out there,” continued Gilroy. “So how do you juggle your paranoia? How do you maintain your secrecy? How do you go big and stay small and tight? How do you expand while expansion makes you more vulnerable? Those are going to be issues. You’re seeing the beginning of those issues in episode ten and in this tranche. That’s also one of the major food groups that we’ll be dealing with in the second season.”
The next episode of Andor hits Disney+ on Wednesday, November 16.
Were you surprised by Luthen’s actions in this week’s episode? Let us know in the comment section below!
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