The latest Star Wars series Andor, has around 30 major Star Wars characters who important to the plot. That’s a whopping number for the new series, but why is it so big?
Andor, which made its debut on streaming service Disney Plus earlier in the week, follows some characters who have already been introduced by the Star Wars movies like Cassian Andor and Mon Mothma for example. However, it also brings plenty of new faces to the galaxy far, far away.
As we noted in our Andor review, the series feels very different from other Star Wars movies and recent series. Partly, this is due to the fact that the series plays out at a larger scale, and this means that there is space for a huge cast of characters.
Now, Andor’s creator and writer has shared how huge that cast of characters actually is. Speaking to NME, Tony Gilroy revealed that there are up to 30 major roles in the series, and another 160 speaking characters.
Gilroy said “[With Andor] you get a chance to go down the back alleys and the side streets. I always start with too many characters and wind up whittling them down. This time I don’t have to.” He continued “We have 25-30 characters that [are central to the plot] and we have 190 speaking parts in the show.”
Those are mind boggling numbers, and reflect the ambition of the sci-fi series. The number of actors with major roles is also indicative of the complexity that can be found in Andor, which tackles broader themes and concepts than previous Star Wars series. Thanks to this, the series has been praised for breaking out of the typical Star Wars mould.
If you prefer the exploration of Strange New Worlds to Star Wars adventures, check out our guide to the Star Trek movies ranked.