“It was a good opportunity to expand our horizons,” says TJ Falls, vice president of visual effects at Lucasfilm, about the team’s work to create a grounded aesthetic for both seasons of Andor (2022-25). After Rogue One: A Star Wars Story (2016) established the tone for the adventures of Cassian Andor (Diego Luna), the Andor production opted to utilize a number of existing locations for filming in the United Kingdom and around the world. It was a tactic previous Star Wars productions also chose (for example, 1999’s Star Wars: The Phantom Menace traveled to Italy and the Caserta Palace for the interior of the Theed Palace on Naboo), but integrating these locations to such a degree was something new for Industrial Light & Magic, a choice Falls appreciates.
“It allowed us to go out in the world and find a real base reference,” explains Falls, who was also the overall visual effects producer for Andor. “That was something the team worked hard to capture. We’re actually there in the city or in the mountains, so it was wonderful to be able to tie real-world locations into our digital work.”
The debut season of Andor leaned heavily into this physical integration. But, with a very real-world, global pandemic happening around the production, season one had its international travel wings clipped, as Falls explains…
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