One would expect entering into a massive franchise commitment to yield a certain loss of creative control, but with Andor, Diego Luna has experienced the exact opposite. From the moment the Mexican actor was pitched on reprising his role of Cassian Andor, originated in the 2016 film Rogue One, as the lead of a new Star Wars TV series, he found what he’d always been looking for as an actor in Hollywood: true collaboration. Together with creator Tony Gilroy, he’s shepherded what may be Disney+’s most acclaimed offering to date, a portrait of a budding revolutionary that adds crucial weight to its cinematic universe, certainly, but also stands alone as a searing examination of oppression, collectivism, and sacrifice. 

For Luna, who broke out in Alfonso Cuarón’s Y tu mamá también and has since gone on to star in buzzy projects like Milk and Narcos, it’s the totality of the experience that resonates most. Speaking from Valencia, Spain, for this week’s Little Gold Men (listen above or read our interview below), he’s deep into production on the show’s ambitious second and final season, which will span four years as it culminates where the events of Rogue One began. But he’s also still promoting season one, as Emmy season approaches, and is still working behind the scenes too, taking full advantage of his role as executive producer. The work shows in his nuanced and tender performance, which even at its quietest is extraordinarily expressive, tracing his troubled protagonist’s journey to heroic rebel. Actually shooting the show may be done soon, but as he shares in our wide-ranging conversation, there’s still so much to do—and as he looks beyond Andor toward his future, so much to take away.  

Vanity Fair: I wanted to start by asking you where you are in the world right now, because you’ve been filming for a minute, and this show is a globe-trotting experience for all of you. So where are you right now?

Diego Luna: We’re shooting in Valencia, Spain, which is one of the locations on this season. 

How has the travel compared to season one?

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It’s great in many, many ways. One thing that has changed and I’m glad has changed is the chance we have to move. I go back and forth to where my kids are, or they come to me. The first season was shot in the worst moment of the pandemic, so we were not allowed to travel. It was really important to be able to travel this time. We come from all around the world; the team is quite diverse, so there are people from Brazil, Mexico, Argentina, Italy, Spain.

You’d expressed some anxiety upon first taking the job, given the scope of the commitment. So now that you’re approaching season two, does it feel weird that it’s kind of ending just as it’s gotten a little bit easier?

Well, the thing is, uh, it’s not ending. It’s not even close. All my life I’ve done theater and cinema, and it’s a very different rhythm—here, it seems to never end. There is no time to celebrate because when you finish something, you have to start something else right away. I actually finished the first season when episode six was already out, because I was doing all the Spanish dubbing for Latin America. It’s exhausting in the best possible way. 

The beauty of our show is that we know that it has a beginning and an end. We know this story ends when Rogue One starts. When we were shooting season one, we sat down and said like, Okay, how can we make sure we deliver? The whole show, the idea was this is five years before Rogue One, and the first season is one year. So now we are doing four blocks [for season two]—and each block covers a year. I can’t wait for people to see this second season because we learned a lot from the first one, and it would be very disappointing not to have another chance.

The dubbing is really interesting to me. I’m not sure if you’ve done it before, but how did you find essentially playing a character in two languages, and perhaps rediscovering him in Spanish?

It was tough, I have to say. You don’t have the time in Spanish that we had in English, to reflect on what was said, to have so many chances to try. What you did in a year, suddenly you have to squeeze in two weeks of work. It’s very technical because you have to match the mouth; even though it’s you, it’s not you. And even though it’s you, you’re not in the moment. I enjoy it—there’s a chance to play with it—but it’s weird because it’s also a different team. I’m working with a new team in Mexico that didn’t happen to be on set, so I become a bridge between what happened that day and how that can be done in Spanish.

The writing of Tony Gilroy is very complicated. There’s so many layers. Things can mean so many things, and there’s so much that is not said, but that is implied. When I get the scripts, I have a lot of time to reflect on them. I get to talk to Tony, then we work with the directors on how we’re gonna do them, and then we go back and fix what needs to be fixed in post. That’s the whole process in English. In Spanish, you get the script and you’re in front of the screen and the clock is running. It’s quite hectic. But I’m so glad I can do it. I wouldn’t like Latin America to see this story without my voice.

All this speaks to the level of your involvement in the show. I know Tony Gilroy pitched this to you as you and him in it together, and you’re credited as an executive producer. What kind of creative involvement do you have in the show overall? And how has it evolved from that first conversation you had with him to now filming season two?

I guess I’m allowed to do what I always wanted to do. What I normally do without anyone asking for it, this time it’s on paper. I started producing and directing many years ago, and it’s because as an actor, I’m used to theater, where you are part of the whole thing. In cinema it is a very important role that actors play, obviously, but you come in when most is decided. I got tired of getting there too late to actually have an input to feel part of it in a bigger way. I really like understanding why things get to be what they are. I love owning what I do in that way. 

Producing a show like this can mean many things, you know, because everything is happening at the same time. Sometimes I’m the eyes of the set, the eyes of Tony Gilroy, because he’s writing and I’m on set and I can call him and say “Look, this is happening. I’m feeling this. There’s a lack of clarity here.” Or like, “Man, this just happened. It’s amazing. Take a look at it because that might inspire you for what you’re writing.” I have the chance to see things from the days I have time off, like no other producer in this show. I can stay home and I can think about stuff and I can come back with ideas that, by being there every day, you couldn’t see. There’s so much to do that no one is stepping on each other’s toes. We complement each other very well. 

It’s difficult to define exactly what I do. [Laughs.] It’s about having an opinion when your opinion matters, when there’s time for that opinion, to shape things. As an actor, mostly, every time you come with an opinion or an idea, it’s a little too late.

Is there any instance from the first season that you can recall where you know that your opinion did have an impact on the storytelling?

I don’t want to be very specific because I think it ruins the magic, but I, I can tell you one thing…. This kid, this Mexican kid, does an amazing casting session with Tony. Tony really likes him and we decided we’re gonna go with him to play [Andor] when he’s a kid. I really got involved in how to make it easier for him. Not just being an actor that started as a kid, but being Mexican and understanding what this would mean for him. I talked to production about how to handle it and what could be needed for him on set. I talked to the director that was going to direct him and asked him to do a few things that I thought could make him just more comfortable and relaxed. If I wasn’t a producer, I probably would’ve never raised my hand and said, “Guys, I think this kid needs this and that.” I think it paid off. He did an amazing job in very, very hard conditions.

You and the younger Andor, Antonio Viña, have such beautiful and rich symmetry in your performances. I would imagine that all that work you were able to do there probably informed your performance as well, in terms of capturing that full breadth of this character.

Yes, yes. Because we didn’t shoot in order, so it was very important to know what that was going to be like, and what exactly Tony was looking for. It explains so many things about this character, that piece of the story matters so much for everything else. Again, that’s the beauty of being part of a show from the beginning. I talked to Luke Hull, the production designer and I understood what kind of world he was imagining. I went with Michael Wilkinson, the  costume designer, and saw the designs of everyone from the moment they were drawings. I had time to digest all of these and actually use them, and have these very specific images in my head. 

The problem of season two—or, I mean, what makes season two complicated—is that this [process] happened while we were promoting and putting season one out. But at the same time, it’s a beautiful feeling to work on season two after the experience of sharing the show and finding out that people care about it. It’s a different feeling this time. There’s not so much fear as there was before.

But if there’s one thing that you learn about being in this world, a world as big as Star Wars, it’s that secrecy is paramount until the thing is out there. So you kind of have to wait.

Yes, it’s important. But you know what? I think it’s important to remind ourselves that that’s the way it should be. I love the feeling of being in front of a screen and being surprised by what’s in front of me. I grew up going to a cinema because it was the cinema that was near my house, watching whatever was programmed there, and having to go through a story from beginning to end. Today we, in a way, get to the opening night already having an opinion. The magic of actually letting someone drive us through a story that we don’t know, really allow someone to introduce us to a world we’re not in control of, is what is amazing about cinema. I love what happens around Star Wars: You gotta wait. It feels special, makes it feel unique.

It was interesting to see you in this and Gael García Bernal, your Y tu mamá también costar, doing Werewolf by Night. They both broke new ground in their own respective universes. Both came out last fall and both obviously represent new stages for both of you and your careers. Does some reflection come with that, from that little great movie you guys made to being in the biggest cinematic universes in the world?

Yeah, definitely. I didn’t think one thing would connect with the other, but if you asked me how I got to where I am, I would blame a lot on that movie. I remember when Gareth Edwards came to me for Rogue One, and said, “I would love to work with you,” he mentioned Y tu mamá también before anything else. I was like, I really can’t believe it. But he was looking for something like that. He wanted that tone of acting, where it just happened to be part of the universe of Star Wars. I was shocked when I heard that. If you would’ve asked me back then, “Where do you think this film can take you?” I would’ve never said this. These were two different worlds, and one could not belong to the other. 

The world is changing, though, because probably I was right back then. Things are changing and audiences want to feel represented. There’s still somewhere to go, obviously, but I’m glad I’m a part of this. I’m always going to be thankful to that movie we shot in Mexico when we were 18 years old.

This interview has been edited and condensed.