New live-action Star Wars action won't be coming around until The Mandalorian Season 2 debuts in October, and even the news cycle has been pretty slow for the blockbuster franchise (beyond Ahsoka Tano casting). However, this week brought a pretty fantastic update in the form of casting additions for the in-development Rogue One prequel that will be focused on Diego Luna's Cassian Andor. These are the first new cast members that have been announced since Luna and and Alan Tudyk were announced as Andor and his K-2SO droid, respectively.
While the casting additions haven't been 100% confirmed by Disney+, as it usually goes, Star Wars' Rogue One prequel is reportedly in the final contract negotiations with Chernobyl and future Dune star Stellan Skarsgard and Poldark vet Kyle Soller to join the spinoff project's first season. It would be the first time either actor got involved with the Star Wars franchise, though Skarsgard has some history with parent company Disney (as well as Marvel).
At this point, the basic storyline for the Rogue One prequel takes place during the early days of the Rebels taking action against the Empire, and features Rebel badass Cassian Andor as its central hero. (Hey, at least we know he won't die in this one, right?) It's been described as a spy thriller that will presumably delve more into the intrigue side of the Star Wars universe as opposed to massive space battles.
To be expected, Variety's news report isn't exactly flush with details about the characters that Stellan Skarsgard and Kyle Soller are meant to be playing. As such, let's take a look at each of the actors and where else we know them from.
Having been acting professionally for over 50 years now, Stellan Skarsgard was arguably as big with American TV audiences in 2019 as he'd ever been, all thanks to the brilliantly crafted, Emmy-winning miniseries Chernobyl. (Interestingly, one of his other popular TV roles in the past 20 years was also on HBO, for the comedy Entourage.) The actor is more well-known for his theatrical work, though, and Marvel fans know him well as Erik Selvig, a role he played across the first two Thor films and in Avengers: Age of Ultron. Skarsgard will presumably play something closer to that role than to, say, his role from both of the Mamma Mia! musicals. Genre fans will be able to catch him later this year for Denis Villeneuve's star-studded Dune remake.
In slight contrast to Stellan Skarsgard's vast and expansive career, actor Kyle Soller's only been displaying his thespian talents for around a decade. The Connecticut-born actor relocated to England around his college years, and that's where a lot of his jobs have originated. He initially made his biggest waves in the U.S. with the short-lived Rob Lowe comedy You, Me and the Apocalypse and then as cousin Francis on the BBC/PBS historical drama Poldark. Most recently, Soller has already been building his relationship with Disney+ as part of the voice cast of the animated spinoff 101 Dalmatian Street.
Currently, there are no publicly stated plans for when Cassian Andor's Rogue One prequel will go into full-on production for Disney+, which is understandable. It will hopefully only be a matter of time before the project kicks into gear once Hollywood is able to start up again. In the meantime, stay tuned to CinemaBlend for more casting and behind-the-scenes news for this project, The Mandalorian Season 2, and the Obi-wan Kenobi standalone series.
