Stellan Skarsgård

Stellan John Skarsgård is a Swedish actor who portrayed Luthen Rael in Andor.

Biography

Stellan Skarsgård as Luthen Rael in his character poster

Stellan Skarsgård as Luthen Rael in his character poster

Stellan Skarsgård loved the film Rogue One: A Star Wars Story because of its portrayal of human conditions and conflicts. There was a very short list of potential actors for the role of Luthen Rael in the Andor television series. From the beginning, writer Beau Willimon insisted on having Skarsgård play Rael. Creator and executive producer Tony Gilroy then called Skarsgård to tell him he had a role for him. When the actor spoke with Gilroy, he showed what he had written about the character but did not reveal everything about him. Skarsgård was attracted to Rael's complexity and ambiguity, and he found his inner conflict interesting. When Skarsgård first put his costume on, he immediately inhabited the role. Gilroy had a hard time figuring out Rael's two personas. When this was being developed, Skarsgård explained that natural Rael and Coruscant Rael have different hand mannerisms. Skarsgård was very playful normally that it surprised the crew when he inhabited the character.

Scenes on Ferrix were filmed in an intricate set in Little Marlow, Buckinghamshire. According to Gilroy, everything on Ferrix was filmed first. Scenes on Aldhani were filmed at the Cruachan Dam and the surrounding mountains in the Scottish Highlands. According to Faye Marsay, who played Vel Sartha, the scenes were filmed during the middle of the COVID-19 pandemic. Scenes in Rael's gallery were filmed in a set designed by production designer Luke Hull. To prepare for the scene of Rael and Saw Gerrera arguing in the episode "Narkina 5," Skarsgård and Forest Whitaker, who played Gerrera, had a rehearsal in which they read the scene for the first time and went at each other. According to director Toby Haynes, when that scene was filmed for real, the actors almost deconstructed what they did in a way that was spontaneous and natural. They then rebuilt the scene from the beginning, but it was difficult to get to the same pitch.

Sources

Appearances