Among science fiction fans, there’s plenty of passionate talk about what’s the best sci-fi series. Is it Star Trek? Does Star Wars rule supreme? Or is Doctor Who actually the top dog? Well, as heated as these debates can get (Editor: Star Trek is best, by the way), it’s lovely to hear that the cast doesn’t get bogged down in these debates.
Jodie Whittaker, who plays the Thirteenth Doctor, was more than willing to help out a new member of the Star Wars cast, offering her advice on how to prepare for the role. Whittaker told her friend Denise Gough, who’s set to star in the upcoming Star Wars series Andor, the trick to acting in science fiction.
Gough told Empire Magazine that Whittaker gave her this piece of advice, “Oh, mate, you have to imagine all those pictures in your head.” I mean, Whittaker’s not wrong. It’s not like there will really be Star Destroyers in orbit, but Andor’s actually quite unique for a Star Wars TV series.
You see, Andor isn’t being shot on a closed set with greenscreens instead of windows. It’s not even being shot on StageCraft like The Mandalorian, Kenobi, or The Book of Boba Fett. Instead, it was shot on location in England.
Speaking to IGN at Star Wars Celebration, Andor executive producer Sanne Wohlenberg explained this decision. “We haven’t been working with Stagecraft at all for our show, no,” Wohlenberg said. “It is the first Star Wars show for Disney Plus that has not been leaning into that technology.”
She added that the scripts just lent themselves to on-location shooting rather than the usual visual trickery. Something that clearly appealed to Andor star Diego Luna.
“We can be different,” Luna told IGN. “Rogue One, in a way, was kind of an homage to the original Star Wars, a New Hope, and that kind of very theatrical way of shooting where stuff is actually there, and you can interact with that. And I think we had a lot of that on this one, and it’s beautiful as an actor to react to the real stuff and to play the game with tons of actors.”
If you love Star Wars, check out our list of the best science fiction movies, or we have a Star Wars movie ranking.