Andor star Adria Arjona has spoken out about filming a particularly difficult scene in the second season of the hit Star Wars show.
In Andor season two, the first three episodes of which dropped on Disney+ today (April 23), Arjona’s character Bix Caleen is an undocumented refugee hiding out on a planet in the outer rim after escaping from the riots on Ferrix in the season one finale.
In episode three, after Imperial forces land nearby and start an ‘audit’, one officer, Lieutenant Krole (Alex Waldmann) takes an interest in Bix, offering to keep her illegal status to himself in exchange for sex. When Bix declines, Krole attacks her, attempting to rape her, before Bix manages to defend herself with a wrench in a scrappy, brutal fight between the pair.
Adria Arjona as Bix Caleen and Diego Luna as Cassian Andor in ‘Andor’ season two. CREDIT: Lucasfilm/Disney
It’s the first time sexual assault has been depicted so explicity in the Star Wars universe, and the weight of that was not lost on Arjona. Speaking to Entertainment Weekly, she said: “It was challenging because everyone involved in the creation of that scene felt the importance of what this scene meant, not only for the show, but for Star Wars.
“But I also felt incredibly safe and cushioned in the process of doing it. It’s something [Andor showrunner] Tony Gilroy does. He brings this mirror effect that [shows] the things that happen in our world can also happen in a galaxy far, far away.”
Arjona credits the episode’s director Ariel Kleiman with helping shooting the scene go as smoothly as possible. She said: “We had an amazing stunt team and partner in Ari as a director, who shot that scene scientifically and in such a precise way so as to save us from doing a million takes.”
Adria Arjona as Bix Caleen in ‘Andor’ season two. CREDIT: Lucasfilm/Disney
Throughout the new season of Andor, Bix is still processing the trauma of being tortured at the hands of Denise Gough’s Dedra Meero in season one. Arjona recalled learning about real-life accounts of survivors of that and rape in preparation for that part of Bix’s arc.
She said: “The research was heavier. I’ve read so many interviews and I saw so many videos of people that have actually gone through this.
“That process was the most draining. And it stayed with me. By the time that I was doing the scenes, it felt like I was telling a little part of the story of the five individuals who I really honed in on their stories. [People] that no one really knows about. It felt like I was making them proud. They have no idea who I am, but it was a little homage that I was carrying through.”
Diego Luna as Cassian Andor in ‘Andor’. CREDIT: Lucasfilm/Disney+
Andor season two received a glowing five-star review from NME, with Paul Bradshaw writing: “Does it cover a bit too much ground? Maybe. Does it dip a bit in the middle? Perhaps. Is Forest Whitaker having a bit too much fun chewing the scenery as brash rebel leader Saw Gerrera? Definitely. But Andor season 2 wears a level of polish that nothing else in the galaxy comes close to matching.
“Confident, mature and exciting from the off, the last four or five episodes hit the same highs as Rogue One – enriching the bigger story arc instead of ever just feeling like an add-on.”
In other Star Wars news, it was confirmed last week that Ryan Gosling will star in new film Star Wars: Starfighter, directed by Deadpool & Wolverine’s Shawn Levy and set to release in 2027.
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