‘Star Wars’ projects’ costumes weren’t used in ‘Andor,’ reasons

• He talked about how they were able to explore the Star Wars costuming language.
• Each of the eleven live-action Star Wars films, three specials.
• Three television series each had their own unique aesthetics.

With a show like Andor, its showrunner Tony Gilroy and collaborators like production designer Luke Hull and costume designer Michael Wilkinson have very carefully built a visual language.

While many viewers might not be conscious of the influence that visuals have on a series with the depth and scope of Andor, everything serves a purpose and has a place in terms of meaning-delivery and moving the plot along.

Wilkinson discussed his excitement to explore the Star Wars costuming language, which was first established in 1977, in an interview with Collider’s own Maggie Lovitt.

He also discussed why Gilroy’s vision for the series meant they couldn’t simply dress background actors from the warehouse.

The eleven live-action Star Wars films, three specials, and three television series that came out prior to the release of Andor each had their own unique aesthetics.

Gilroy had a very specific idea of how he wanted his part of the galaxy to look, so it was obvious that his ideas wouldn’t necessarily mesh with those of the previous franchise creators.

Even though Star Wars has never really been known for using vivid colours or glitzy materials, Andor still has a very unique appearance and atmosphere.

To ensure that audiences were presented with images that revealed distinct locations throughout the galaxy, Wilkinson made extensive use of very specific palettes and textures.

In order for the audience to understand the information clearly, he explained, “When you cut from Ferrix to Aldhani, from Coruscant to Narkina 5, they’re all really carefully curated pallets of textures and colors and things so that the information will be really clear for the audience.”

Wilkinson was unable to draw inspiration from the costumes from earlier films in the franchise because of these films’ very different colour schemes and fabric choices.

He revealed:

“When you sign on as a costume designer, there is a back catalog of costumes from previous productions that are available to be viewed and to be inspired by. It was a challenge because we wanted to show Tony’s vision for this series [which] was very specific. He didn’t want it to feel like a space opera, over the top, very bold design choices. He wanted to be very subtle in nuances and a more detailed, authentic approach to the story of the costumes. So a lot of the costumes that were available as background costumes weren’t exactly right for our field.”

If you’ve ever worked in costuming or watched any labor-intensive behind-the-scenes featurettes or specials, you know that many people put in countless hours to create the exquisite costumes that the background actors wear (and sometimes aren’t even aware they’re wearing).

Wilkinson briefly discussed the procedure and revealed how extensive the construction of Andor was, saying, “We made lots of prototypes. We had hundreds and hundreds of costumes made in lots of, I think [there were] about five different workrooms, both here in the UK and in Europe. So we created our own stock for all of the different planets. But it was fun, as I say, to have the inspiration and the starting point of a language of costuming that was available to us from the previous productions.”

He continued by providing a more in-depth analysis of the impressive level of attention to detail that was put into each costume, saying:

“A lot of the background costumes were made in different workrooms around the UK and Europe. Then even the stuff that was made outside was brought back to the studio. Everything goes through a very elaborate process of aging and distressing. Nothing is worn just like straight off the workroom floor. It’s all given interesting patinas and age. So it really has a lovely, authentic, worn quality to it.”

In our interview with Wilkinson, he revealed that he would be coming back for the second season, which had already been approved before Season 1 of the show on Disney+ debuted.

Filming will start on November 21 according to Gilroy, who told Collider that things are picking up. In addition, Gilroy revealed that his brother Dan Gilroy, Beau Willimon, and newcomer Tom Bissell will be returning to write Season 2 along with Ariel Kleiman, Janus Metz, and Alonso Ruizpalacios.

In addition to Cassian Andor (Diego Luna), the series has already reintroduced viewers to characters who appeared in Rogue One, including Mon Mothma (Genevieve O’Reilly), Saw Gerrera (Forest Whitaker), and Melshi (Duncan Pow).

The futures of Adria Arjona, Fiona Shaw, Kyle Soller, Denise Gough, Elizabeth Dulau, Faye Marsay, and Varada Sethu are unknown, despite the appearance that Stellan Skarsgrd will probably return for Season 2.

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