Welcome to Pour One Out! In this series, IndieWire celebrates some of our favorite characters on TV that have come to the end of their run this season, with the stars who played them.
[Editor’s note: The following interview contains spoilers for “Andor” Season 2.]
As a longtime Star Wars fan, Adria Arjona is still in awe of her role in “Andor.”
The “Rogue One” prequel series may be named for Diego Luna’s rebellion leader, but after two seasons, it’s undeniable that he wouldn’t become who he did without Arjona’s Bix Caleen.
“When [showrunner Tony Gilroy] told me how I was going to part ways with this character, I did not take it lightly,” Arjona told IndieWire. “It really shook my heart, the fact that I was gonna send off on this journey one of my favorite characters and then have an impact in ‘A New Hope.’ I just couldn’t believe that I was going to form a part of that, that I was going to have such an impact in the rebellion.”
The sendoff in question is her character’s final speaking scene of the series, in Season 2, Episode 9. After lying low and staying together for years, Bix and Cassian (Luna) finally feel safe on the rebellion home base of Yavin 4 — so much so that he seems at risk of giving up the fight just to protect and stay with her. At one point, another character tells Bix, “Maybe you’re the place he needs to be.” With that realization, Cassian wakes up one day to find Bix gone and a video message she left for him — never saying goodbye, but pushing him to continue the fight so they can meet again.
“All Bix says is, ‘Cassian will be back, Cassian will be back, Cassian will find me’ — she has no doubt,” Arjona said. “In the back of her mind, she’s like, ‘Wherever he is, he’s OK, and he’ll be back.’ There’s a lot of hope in that, which is heartbreaking because you know the ending — but she doesn’t.”
The scene was a unique opportunity not only for Bix to say goodbye to Cassian, but for Arjona to do the same for the audience — directly into camera.
“The first three takes that I did were unusable. I could not stop crying,” she recalled. “You can understand conceptually what the arc is going to be like, but reading it and then having to perform was something else.”
“I get paid to deal with my emotions. I get paid to be able to control the way that I feel,” she added. “I got in the way of my own job for the first time at work, because I cared so much about Bix and because I care so much about the journey that Cassian has to go on. I wanted to do such a good job, and I wanted to nail it, not only for me, but also for the fans, because it really takes off onto something else.”
But even those initial takes strengthened Arjona’s connection to the scene and the character, who she said probably also cried through and deleted a few takes before finalizing the footage for Cassian. After that, and as the responsibility of what she was doing began to fade, Arjona said she tapped into “a moment of tranquility.”
“Star Wars” projects come with heavy security, but Adrona said Gilroy was “gracious enough” to let her read three episodes once she got cast. “I just decided to trust Tony, and I’m so happy I did, because everything he promised is there on the page,” she said. “I like the fact that she had a huge arc to go through. I love her strength. I love that she’s not a victim. She holds herself really high up and believes in dignity. She’s one tough cookie.”
Season 2 of “Andor” picks up one year after the end of Season 1, with Bix and Cassian separated as they avoid detection from the Empire. The latter’s visible certainty and purpose juxtapose Bix and the nightmares of her torture, her daily fight to ward off a predator on the planet Mina-Rau, and the trauma that she collects even as the rebellion grows stronger.
“I cannot believe what these characters go through this season,” Arjona said, noting how huge it is that after her assault in Episode 3, Bix explicitly says, “He tried to rape me.” She spoke with survivors to prepare for the scene and its effects on the character — “I held them with me that day,” she said of the shoot.
“You cannot tell a human story without touching on abuse,” Arjona said. “Abuse has existed in our history forever. The abuse of power is just a part of us, unfortunately. To tell a story about a rebellion, a story about people coming together and the complexities of that — abuse is a part of that, and to not touch it would have been not telling the whole scope of it truthfully.”
In the years that follow, Bix struggles with substance abuse and with her own role in the rebellion, even as Cassian grows stronger in his. “Even from the end of Season 1, all she really wants to do is be a part of the rebellion,” Arjona said. “All she wants to do is be better so she could help and be a part of this great cause, but she can’t. And there’s a lot of shame in that.”
With production and the release in her rearview, Arjona still looks back at Bix and “Andor” with nothing but admiration. She remains in awe of the character’s “courage, bravery, selflessness,” and capacity for sacrifice. She has ideas about where the character goes after “Andor” — Cassian’s fate is known, but Bix could be out there fighting during the events of “A New Hope,” “Empire Strikes Back,” “Return of the Jedi,” and beyond — but nothing she wants to say out loud and put in the universe. “Andor” is all we have of her, even as her legacy ripples through the galaxy.
“When people come together and they trust and everyone has their lane and beats at their own drum within their lane, it fucking works,” Arjona said. “That’s what making the show is, and it’s what the show is about. It’s about people coming together — and it’s beautiful when art mimics life in that way.”
“Andor” is now streaming on Disney+.
