Andor’s designers approached him like a Star Wars period drama

When production designer Luke Hull was first contacted about working on it Andor, He felt some fear. He was just getting out of HBO Chernobyl Series and were worried that the work within the well-established star Wars The universe can be stifling. “My biggest fear when doing this project was that I would have to fit in some kind of box, or a box I didn’t understand, or to have a level of studio involvement that would keep us in the aesthetic,” he says. the edge. “But actually it wasn’t. They were so supportive and so excited to do something different.”

There are a number of things that helped Andor It stands out since its September debut, including for its more coherent tone and unwavering focus on politics. Show which prequel is for rogue oneIt also looks different than anything else star Wars She appears there, in a gritty and dark style yet still recognizable from a galaxy far, far away. Hall says the goal was to “get nostalgia star Wars But also a sense of modernity that can rival other shows currently out there, so it doesn’t seem to be a piece of history per se.”

Hal says he approached the show as if he were working on period dramas. This means researching the time period and location to see what things should look like. The difference, of course, is that time and space are in them Andor Both are completely imaginary. “You have to research this entire galactic universe, what happened before that, what is canonical and what is not,” he explains. “And choose what you think is appropriate for our offer.” This led to all kinds of interesting practical questions when designing the world. “We were talking about temperatures and climate,” Hull says. What does the fireplace look like? star Wars? How do the curtains look? “

He was also very clear about what he didn’t want the show to be. “I didn’t want any scene to feel like you stepped into a conceptual piece of art,” Hull explains. “It’s not about showing off. It’s not about being there star Wars. It’s about being precise and more than that. And I think that’s what makes this show so interesting.”

On a large scale, this has meant a different approach to group building. While recent shows like The Mandalorian Uses virtual groups, a lot of Andor He was shot on site. In the case of Ferix, the small working-class town where the show began, this actually meant building a small part of the city, complete with real streets and buildings. “Verix should feel like a working town with a small community,” Hull says. “And the whole logic of how we decided to build that as one big compound in the back was based on that idea. You can get lost in it; when you shoot, you don’t have to break between sets.”

Filling this huge collection means finding ways to tell stories using the actual world. As an example, Hal cites Maarva’s house, a simple yet carefully designed dwelling to help explain her personality. “[She’s] A woman at the end of her life: she can’t keep up with her house anymore, her work is over, and her husband has passed away. “Her life is now pretty much this chair. That’s too dark as an example, but everyone can relate to that, and yet he needs something to feel about.” else. This is due to several decisions: the chair you are sitting on, the small cargo unit of B2, the hydroponics in the window. “

While Hal was initially unsure about working in an established world star Warsfashion designer Michael Wilkinson – who previously worked on everything from Justice League Zack Snyder To restart 2010 from you can see – He had the opposite feeling. “I love starting something,” he explains. “Maybe I have a fear of blank canvas. I’ve done it before, like when I’m working on superhero movies, I absolutely love having seven more iterations of the pumice suit and finding out what our story is, and what this movie needs.”

For example, when it comes to background characters, Wilkinson was able to use costumes from the previous star Wars Projects and choose and choose what suits Andor In order to better tell the story of the place. “I love the richness that can be achieved when you start with icons and give you your own view of the world,” he says.

Another display design technique is integrating star Wars The universe with the real world. There are a few examples of this, but perhaps the most striking one is wearing a suit and tie. We’ve seen a lot of military uniforms and the uniforms of royal and religious elites over the course of many films and shows. But star Wars He never delved into the visible side of a sprawling bureaucracy. Wilkinson says the suit and tie are from Andor Inspired in part by the Jack Tate films and corporate design from the 1960s.

“We came up with this idea of ​​having a strip of fabric with a particular piece of hardware that is threaded through it to give an effect similar to lace but has a more modern look,” he explains. “There are little moments like this where you can point out things from the real world but you can give them. star Wars yarn. I think it’s always helpful to give the audience visual clues from our world that we know and then jump out of that. It makes it more relevant and meaningful to audiences.”

This attention to detail has paid off and helped Andor distinguishes itself from many other live events star Wars Series and movies. It’s the kind of thing that rewards repeated views – at some point during the key sequence, the team even had to think about what a pigeon should look like – as I noticed new details that further fleshed out the world.

“It’s a big galaxy out there,” Hull says. “And that’s always a good way to justify most of our choices.”