'ANDOR': THE LEGACY OF LUTHEN RAEL...

Living on the edge, fighting tyranny: Luthen Rael, from Andor.

Though we all enjoyed the dedicated and fiery performance of Diego Luna as the series titular star, for me the absolute acting highlight of both Andor seasons had to be Stellan Skarsgard as the tough, resourceful Rebel spy and efficient fighter Luthen Rael, mostly working solo for the building Alliance cause, hiding deep within plain sight inside the upper circle elitism of the Galactic Empire (but always watching his back wherever possible), via his unique shop of rare antiquities located deep in the luxuriant quarters of Coruscant. His character in some ways reminded me, in an even tougher personal style, of Paul Darrow's classic anti-hero Kerr Avon, from the hit British Sci-Fi classic of resistance against the evil Federation, Blake's 7.

Skarsgard has always had a unique edge and simmering anger, even deep down violence restrained, to his screen performances, of which he is quite rightly regarded as one of the world's finest character actors, always in demand. And with Andor, he certainly had some great scripts and character development to enjoy realizing, especially in the latter stages of Season One and across Season Two, when he found the Empire finally closing in on him. And let's not forget those several super, now iconic, speeches given to Rael revealing his dedication to the cause, and the personal costs it will ultimately bring him, delivered with the kind of filmic intensity that only Skarsgard could truly deliver.

Personally, I'd bring Rael and Skarsgard back for a separate spin-off series within this unique TV storytelling from the Star Wars universe...

The mysterious look for the series early character posters!

Costume design for the character.

As seen in Season One.

A secret meeting with Mon Mothma (Genevieve O'Reilly).