The upcoming Cassian Andor Rogue One prequel on Disney+ will reportedly bring back a familiar character. Grand Moff Wilhuff Tarkin, Darth Vader’s right-hand man, is set to make a reappearance, but the extent of his storyline is still unclear.
YouTube channel Kessel Run Transmissions confirmed that Tarkin would be featured in the still-untitled Cassian Andor series. The hosts of the show also said that the character would be a computer graphic image with actor Guy Henry.
Henry was the same actor who stood in for Tarkin in Rogue One since the original actor, Peter Cushing, died in 1994. He appeared as Tarkin in the very first Star Wars movie, 1977’s A New Hope.
Henry pretending to be Cushing pretending to be Tarkin
In 2017, Henry remarked that his Rogue One gig was very strange. He admitted that he was not comfortable with the computer graphic process and had to prepare for a whole month before filming his scenes.
“Normally as an actor you’re presented to be another character,” he told Business Insider. “But there’s another added complication here — it’s me pretending to be Peter Cushing pretending to be Grand Moff Tarkin.”
Henry’s decision paid off because critics hailed the movie as well as the poignant scenes with Tarkin. Some viewers did not even realize that his scenes were computer-animated.
“This has never been done before in the history of film,” Henry said.
Cassian Andor billed as a “spy thriller”
Meanwhile, Disney+ is keeping details of the Cassian Andor series under wraps, but sources said the show would be a spy thriller in the vein of Mission Impossible, per DisInsider. It will also delve on the beginnings of the Rebellion, before the events of Rogue One.
Diego Luna will return as Andor while Jimmy Smits and Alistair Petrie will also be back as Bail Organa and General Draven. Also rumored to be playing their roles again are Allan Tudyk (K-2SO) and Genevieve O’Reilly (Mon Mothma).
Luna said that he is looking forward to going back to the Star Wars universe.
“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 actor said.
Disney+ has not yet scheduled the series release date as production will still kick off in London. Some pre-production work started before the coronavirus shutdown, but as with most TV and movie sets, work on Cassian Andor will likely have to wait until 2021.
Image used courtesy of Star Wars/YouTube