If you’re the leading actor in a Star Wars TV show, you should be allowed to hang onto a prop from the production, right? Well, Diego Luna was fortunate enough to be able to keep blaster prop after completing work on Andor Season 2, which is set to premiere next week on the 2025 TV schedule for those with a Disney+ subscription. However, no one said it was going to be easy for him to bring that blaster home. Case in point, the actor told a wild story about how he was stopped by airport security for having the prop, and this happened as he was hungover.
Luna, who first played Cassian Andor in 2016’s Rogue One, recounted this harrowing tale while appearing on Jimmy Kimmel Live! to promote Andor’s second and final season. After sharing that he was given the blaster at the Star Wars series’ wrap party, he said:
I went to the airport, and I said, ‘I’m gonna take it with me because if I send it down…’ And the work is so realistic. It’s so meticulously real, real from a galaxy far, far away. I was stopped in security in Heathrow, and the guys unwrapped the [blaster] and they were like, ‘Whoa, what is that!?’ And I was trying to grab it to say, ‘No, it’s just a prop!’ And everyone [went], ‘No, no, no! Don’t touch it!’
I don’t blame the Heathrow security for immediately going on alert after noticing the blaster. It is, after all, a firearm, albeit one from a popular science fiction franchise that doesn’t work. Still, you can’t assume that one of those agents is a Star Wars fan and will instantly realize there’s no actual danger. Diego Luna continued:
And one guy recognizes me, but from Narcos, not from Star Wars. He’s like, ‘Whoa, wait a second!’ It was a mess, and I was hungover from the party, so I did look kind of broken, let’s put it that way.
How’s that for unfortunately-timed irony? Between the blaster, recovering from the alcohol-fueled night before and being recognized for playing Miguel Ángel Félix Gallardo on the Netflix subscription-exclusive series Narcos: Mexico, Luna was not in an ideal situation. Fortunately, he was able to prove his connection to Star Wars and make this mess go away. He concluded:
They asked me to go out, sign a letter, I had to show them in my phone pictures of the character, myself, grabbing the blaster. There’s even toys. They got it at the end, but…
I imagine that this will rank as one of Diego Luna’s most stressful times at the airport for the rest of his life, if not rest comfortably in the #1 position. It probably would have been wiser for him to send the blaster back home, but I also understand his implied rationale that it could have ended up being damaged.
And here’s the hilarious cherry on top of this narrative sundae: rather than that blaster occupying a prime place in the Luna household after all the trouble he went to bring it back, it’s instead just been tucked into his closet.
You can see Diego Luna wield a blaster onscreen for the final time when Andor Season 2 kicks off on Tuesday, April 22. Three episodes will be released weekly, bringing the show to a close on May 13. But not to worry, as there are plenty of other upcoming Star Wars movies and TV shows to look forward to afterwards.
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