Diego Luna as Cassian Andor in the Star Wars series Andor, streaming on Disney+.
"The story happens in the grey areas where we all exist," Diego Luna smiles. "That's why I think it's exciting and will be exciting for audiences."
Luna has Zoomed in from a hotel room in Madrid to chat about his new sci-fi series Andor, which sees him reviving his popular character Cassian Andor from the fan favourite 2016 film Rogue One: A Star Wars Story. That movie was a direct prequel to the original 1977 Star Wars film and centred around the rebellion's efforts to steal the plans for the Empire's Death Star. Andor rewinds the clock again, taking place long before the events of Rogue One.
"It's five years before and we get to meet this character who's really far away from being the man you meet in Rogue One," Luna explains of the enigmatic and cool-headed intelligence officer.
"There are a few hints in Rogue One of what you will see. Like when Cassian says, 'I've done terrible things for the rebellion,' so we'll get to see what that exactly means. We'll see who this guy was, and how far was he from becoming who you met in Rogue One. And not just that but you're going to see the whole build-up of a revolution, of a social reaction. In the darkest times of the galaxy, where there's no Jedis and there's no hope."
Rogue One was praised for its darker, gritty tone, which to this day sets it apart from the usual Star Wars fare. Andor follows suit, keeping its tough edge, although Luna is hesitant to call it Star Wars for adults.
"I don't like saying it's 'adult' because I tell you one thing, there are adults that don't understand film like my son does," he laughs, referencing his 14-year-old Jerónimo, whose bright red Nintendo baseball cap Luna is currently wearing. "I think it's dangerous to say, 'kids might like this and adults might like that,'. It's about audiences that are willing to be challenged and like complexity. Andor has more of a realistic type of approach. It's more about real people. People that do good and bad things, that make wrong and good decisions... the nuances are important here."
Ambitious in scope, the series is deeper and more complex than the previous Star Wars shows like the recent Obi-Wan series or The Book of Boba Fett, with much more political overtones along with its zip-bang! sci-fi adventuring. It's this that made Luna want to return to Star Wars. He says he wanted to explore the idea of what needs to happen to get someone to engage with a social movement, for a selfish person to come to the realisation that he's part of something bigger and, if he wants, can become part of the solution to society's ills.
"It's about when does a regular man find out he could do exceptional things?" Luna says. "That, to me, is a lovely thing to explore."
It's said the best science fiction stories hold up a mirror to society, using their fantastical, futurist stories to tell stories deeply relevant to right now. For Luna, Andor's reflection of our society couldn't be clearer.
"It's about the importance of getting involved. Of becoming part of the solution. The best example of this is the climate emergency. We can keep witnessing from afar or we can start to get involved. The only way to bring a solution is the day when we all believe this is important and we all believe we are the solution. If we don't think that way then we'll neither be part of a solution nor witness a solution," he explains.
"Basically, it's as simple as that, but it reflects on many things. It's a very complex writer and brings many layers, it talks about the political structures we've created and how far they are from actually serving the people. This galaxy far, far away allows us to make comparisons on the world we live in. There are many comments and there's also the amazing adventure and fun. The show can give itself the chance to go from that epic tone and scope and be like a political thriller, spy drama. It has all of that. It's cool."
While the maturity sounds like a welcome change of pace for the franchise, there is a dark side to the Star Wars fandom; the incredibly vocal minority of online trolls who get riled up and noisy about their atrociously misjudged political slights. 'Keep politics out of Star Wars' has become something of a catchphrase for these groups. As the star of the most overtly political Star Wars story yet, Luna shrugs off their complaints.
"Star Wars has always been doing comment, from the beginning. From the genesis of Star Wars, there's comment there," he says. " And, also most good films have their respective comment or point of view. Good films raise questions. And you can not ask good films to stop doing that. The beauty of everything I watch, every voice I care about and every point of view I appreciate comes with reflection. I don't like when people try to teach me stuff. That I don't like. I like stories that raise questions and let you answer them. Science fiction is a great tool for that."
Luna says that being a Latino lead in a big-budget, big-name series like Andor gives him a lot of hope for the future.
"The world is changing and it's a reaction to that. Today you find me in the city Madrid, when I come out I hear the most amount of Spanish-speaking accents and then German and then English and then others. In a tiny city that mix is all happening!"
He smiles and says, "If you want to be relevant today you have to accept that this diversity exists and makes us richer."
THE LOWDOWN
Who: Diego Luna
What: Star of the new Star Wars series Andor
Where: Streaming now on Disney+
'It is a project that was of great importance to Malcolm.'