Disney+ Star Wars: Andor with Diego Luna (1 Viewer)

[Jake Lipson]

Bob Iger announced today that the Disney streaming service will be called Disney+. I'm really surprised they couldn't come up with a better name than that. How long do you think it took somebody to come up with that name?

But anyway, also in the announcement is a second live-action Star Wars series. This one is a spinoff of Rogue One, featuring Diego Luna reprising his role from that film as Cassian Andor.

The series will follow the adventures of Rebel spy Cassian Andor during the formative years of the Rebellion and prior to the events of Rogue One: A Star Wars Story. Diego Luna will reprise the role of Andor, which he originated in the 2016 film. “Going back to the Star Wars universe is very special for me,” said Luna. “I have so many memories of the great work we did together and the relationships I made throughout the journey. We have a fantastic adventure ahead of us, and this new exciting format will give us the chance to explore this character more deeply.” The rousing spy thriller will explore tales filled with espionage and daring missions to restore hope to a galaxy in the grip of a ruthless Empire. A release date for the series will be announced at a later date.

More at the link.

https://www.thewaltdisneycompany.co...eries-announced-for-disney-streaming-service/

 

[joshEH]

I want a K-2SO show.

But will they let Diego Luna touch Jabba?

 

[Sam Favate]

Sounds like a great idea. I like the character and the actor. Disney is really making their service a must-have.

I read that Iger also confirmed Tom Hiddleston for the Loki show.

 

[Adam Lenhardt]

Ugh.

I understand why they want to build a show around a name actor and one of the central characters from the third highest grossing Star Wars movie of all time.

But they're basically boxed into telling a prequel to a prequel/offshoot. Cassian Andor can't have a fully resolved arc over the course of the series, because we know exactly how his character ends. The Rebel Alliance can't have any great major victories, because the Battle of Yavin is their first major victory, and Andor isn't around for that.

I would have been far more interested in a series picking up where Solo left off, a decade before the Battle of Yavin, centered around Enfys Nest and the founding of the Rebel Alliance.

 

[Josh Steinberg]

Bob Iger announced today that the Disney streaming service will be called Disney+. I'm really surprised they couldn't come up with a better name than that. How long do you think it took somebody to come up with that name?

I think it's a smart choice. "Disney" is arguably the most well known, well loved and most embraced name in popular entertainment - why not leverage it? Why try to be too creatAs for the "+" sign, that's the way that Disney brands their streaming apps already (for instance, "ESPN+" is the name of the ESPN streaming app). So they're using their studio name and the previously established nomenclature for their digital platforms.

Ugh

I could have written that entire post and was on my way to do just that.

I’m worried that this idea is from the same place that “Solo” came from - doubling and tripling down on showing us things we already know, from the perspective of characters that are fully locked into their paths because we already know how their story must end.

I would love to see a Star Wars story, or multiple Star Wars stories, that move the universe forward and that explore characters and situations that are new to us as an audience.

I have less interest in the backstory for a character who wasn’t all that exciting to begin with.

 

[TravisR]

I love that they've got Diego Luna back but what's really cool about this to me is that you'll get to see the nascent Rebellion.

 

[joshEH]

Variety's Justin Kroll:

"Hate losing a scoop to an earnings call. Little context, Diego has to shoot another season of NARCOS first before CASSIAN, so will be a little bit before we see this series."

https://twitter.com/krolljvar/status/1060651685536653313

I love that they've got Diego Luna back but what's really cool about this to me is that you'll get to see the nascent Rebellion.

Also, Cassian's family started out as Separatists fighting the Republic. He isn't the biggest fan of the Jedi. There could be some very interesting Clone Wars-era flashbacks coming.

 

[TravisR]

Variety's Justin Kroll:



https://twitter.com/krolljvar/status/1060651685536653313


Also, Cassian's family started out as Separatists fighting the Republic. He isn't the biggest fan of the Jedi. There could be some very interesting Clone Wars-era flashbacks coming.

Digging really deep into nerd-dom, he was also a Fulcrum with the Rebellion so they could go nuts and cast a live action Ahsoka or Kallus.

 

[Simon Massey]

I suspect Disney are desperate to have a Rebellion/Empire era live action show given the possibilities for some characters to appear but without needing the core Han/Luke/Leia trio. This would appear to be what they settled on.

 

[Adam Lenhardt]

I suspect Disney are desperate to have a Rebellion/Empire era live action show given the possibilities for some characters to appear but without needing the core Han/Luke/Leia trio. This would appear to be what they settled on.

Let's say they set this a few years after Solo, six or seven years before Rogue One/A New Hope. Princess Leia would only be 12 or 13, which would give them room to recast with a child actress. Jimmy Smits could of course reprise his role as Bail Organa.

While it would be pushing it to have Diego Luna play a 20-year-old, that would be quite a bit more exciting than a series set a year or two before Rogue One.

 

[tempest21]

I don't think that it should be called a Rogue One spinoff series since the series will predate Rogue One. It's just simply a new Star Wars live-action TV series. But, I'm curious why Lucasfilm is busy making all of these announcements. Didn't they learn their lesson by putting too many Star Wars movies into pre-production? They should have just started with one live action TV series before announcing a second one. There's going to end up being a glut of Star Wars TV shows and I'm afraid that it's going to suffer.

But, I was flabbergasted when they announced that episodes of The Mandalorians will cost $10 million per episode. Ten episode seasons at the cost of $100 mission per season. I'm hoping the shows do well and I'll definitely turn out to catch the first few episodes to see if it's worth watching. But, judging from Star Wars: Resistance, which has been a letdown for me, after how much I enjoyed Star Wars: Rebels, Lucasfilm is going to find they have a strike or miss strategy with these various TV shows for this franchise.

 

[Jake Lipson]

Stephen Schiff, who previously worked as an executive producer on The Americans for FX, has been hired as showrunner:

https://deadline.com/2018/11/star-w...-showrunner-disney-plus-streaming-1202511875/

 

[Jake Lipson]

I don't think that it should be called a Rogue One spinoff series since the series will predate Rogue One.

It is a spinoff of Rogue One because it focuses on a character introduced in that movie. Disney is counting on people's familiarity with Cassian and Diego Luna to fuel interest in this project. The fact that it takes place chronologically before Rogue One doesn't change that fact.

But, I'm curious why Lucasfilm is busy making all of these announcements.

Because Disney wants to make it known that they have premium content in place for their streaming service. They want us to talk about it and they want us to be excited enough about it to sign up at launch knowing that this stuff is going to be available. The whole reason they are making shows for the streaming service is to drive signups, obviously.

 

[tempest21]

I don't know if people are going to want to sign up for a new streaming service. There are just too many services as it is. What will probably happen is that people will wait until the whole series is available and then just pay for one month of service before watching it. Staggering these episodes out once per week will force people to wait until the final episode is released. This is a hard lesson that CBS All Access discovered when they release Star Trek: Discovery and why CBS is up in arms about the low turnout in subscribers. One of the main reasons for that is from putting "Star Trek" behind a paywall and not on broadcast TV. Even Netflix is mad as hell that CBS All Access did not live up to th3eir contract agreement with Netflix when they failed to produce those "Star Trek shorts" that they were contractually obligated to provide to Netflix.

 

[Sam Favate]

Not sure where you are getting this. CBS has said AA is a great success and they're happy with it. Netflix is happy too, since they carry Star Trek Discovery everywhere except North America. I've read nothing about a contractual obligation between CBS and Netflix. Do you have a source?

 

[Neil Middlemiss]

I don't know if people are going to want to sign up for a new streaming service. There are just too many services as it is. What will probably happen is that people will wait until the whole series is available and then just pay for one month of service before watching it. Staggering these episodes out once per week will force people to wait until the final episode is released. This is a hard lesson that CBS All Access discovered when they release Star Trek: Discovery and why CBS is up in arms about the low turnout in subscribers. One of the main reasons for that is from putting "Star Trek" behind a paywall and not on broadcast TV. Even Netflix is mad as hell that CBS All Access did not live up to th3eir contract agreement with Netflix when they failed to produce those "Star Trek shorts" that they were contractually obligated to provide to Netflix.

Again, you post nonsense. A simple google search provides accounts of how Netflix opted not to pick up the Star Trek shorts.

 

[Jake Lipson]

Tony Gilroy is joining the series as a writer and will also direct multiple episodes. He of course rewrote Rogue One and took over directing reshoots after Gareth Edwards was unofficially sidelined, so he already knows this character.

https://variety.com/2019/tv/news/cassian-andor-series-tony-gilroy-diego-luna-disney-plus-1203370479/

 

[Sam Favate]

That's the best thing I've heard all day. Gilroy helped Rogue One be the great film it is, so his involvement (with a credit this time!) can only be a good thing.

 

[joshEH]

Tony Gilroy saved this show just like he saved Rogue One. Hearing from my friend at the company that Disney was planning on canceling it until Gilroy stepped in and pitched his take.

 

[Josh Steinberg]

On the surface, it seems like a pretty dead end idea to me, so I’m curious to see what they do with it to make it feel worthwhile.