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Though primarily known among genre nerds for his motion capture work as Gollum in “The Lord of the Rings,” King Kong in the Peter Jackson remake, or Caesar in the recent “Planet of the Apes” trilogy, Andy Serkis has proven himself as a supremely talented performer even without the assistance of VFX, appearing in the flesh in “Avengers: Age of Ultron” and “Black Panther” as well as in Matt Reeves’ “The Batman” as the loyal butler Alfred. “Andor” provided Serkis with yet another traditional performance for him to sink his teeth into.
Series director Toby Haynes spoke with The Hollywood Reporter to explain how this particular casting came about:
“Tony had been talking to Andy for a while. He was trying to line him up, but he was unsure whether he was going to do it or not … It all came together in a very short space of time, and he had some big ideas of what he wanted to do with the character. And now I can’t imagine it being anybody else. There was never any other option, really. It had to be Andy.”
But what about that Snoke-sized elephant in the room? Haynes goes on to reveal that Serkis’ previous role in “Star Wars” had absolutely no bearing at all, saying that, “The fact that he has ‘Star Wars’ heritage was neither here nor there for us. To us, he was Kino, and it was all about him and what he could bring to it.” The latest episode of “Andor” gave Serkis perhaps his best showcase yet and next week promises even more to come, further convincing doubters that he was simply the right person for the job.
“Andor” streams new episodes on Disney+ every Wednesday.
