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Star Wars has struggled over the last few years, but there’s one radiant beam of hope in it all: Tony Gilroy’s Andor, generally considered the best Star Wars TV show of all time. An unexpected prequel to Rogue One: A Star Wars Story, Andor has a stunning 96% Rotten Tomatoes score. Other shows focus on continuity and lore, but Andor centered itself on deep character work – even as it wove some surprising Easter eggs and references in. Now, Lucasfilm’s new book The Art of Star Wars: Andor celebrates the complete series.
is proud to exclusively present a stunning new look at The Art of Star Wars: Andor, with these pages focusing in on the Death Star construction plant at the prison on Narkina 5. The book is available now from retailers such as Amazon.
Narkina 5 was one of the smartest parts of Andor Season 1, because it concealed the Death Star in plain sight; the prisoners had no idea they were working on components for the Death Star (and neither did viewers). Artists created some incredibly complicated sketches, and every individual piece had to be mapped out and put together. “We knew what the end look of the device needed to be and broke it down into all its individual parts,” Lucasfilm’s Tim Wildgoose explains. “All in all we built a couple of thousand pieces: ‘device’ components, tool sets, assembly tables, repulsor sleds, as well as everything else required for dressing the set.”
Andor’s Death Star Scene Was a Genius Twist
Andor‘s Death Star connection was hidden until Season 1’s post-credits scene, which finally revealed the prisoners of Narkina 5 (and other complexes) had been working on an Imperial superweapon all along. In narrative terms, it was one of the show’s smartest decisions; it meant Cassian Andor’s entire life was unknowingly dictated by the Death Star. He was, after all, one of the small group of rebel operatives who’d ultimately get the superweapon’s plans to the Rebel Alliance, leading directly to the first Star Wars film.
The reveal is functional, too, because it underscores the sheer scale of the Death Star project. This consumed massive resources, and required an incredible amount of labor; the challenge facing the Empire was how to conceal it. In terms of labor, the Empire combined use of slaves (such as the Wookiees) with prison camps like Narkina 5. The ultimate irony, of course, is that even Cassian Andor – such a key player in the Death Star’s destruction – never uncovered this particular link.
The Art of Star Wars: Andor is a stunning behind-the-scenes look at the making of Star Wars’ best TV show. These art books have always been essential reading, and this is no exception; it reveals just how much care and attention were put into every single detail. Andor deserves every plaudit it has been given.
Interior spread from the upcoming book The Art of Star Wars: Andor (The Complete Series) (Abrams) by Phillip Szostak, on-sale June 30
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