During a live watchalong with Chris Weitz and Gary Whitta, the Rogue One writers explain how the Cassian Andor character was originally written as a secret Imperial spy before becoming the cynical Rebel agent from the finished film. Released in 2016, Rogue One took a break from the Skywalker-led space opera of Jedi versus Sith and instead told a stand-alone tale about the powerful Galactic Empire and the scrappy Rebels who oppose their fascist regime. Though it tied strongly into the original 1977 Star Wars film, Rogue One was praised for being an accessible gateway to the storied franchise while still incorporating plenty of nods to the bottomless well of Star Wars lore.

One of the stronger elements of Rogue One comes from its cast of heroes, a ragtag group of misfits with varied backgrounds who come together over a shared thirst for freedom from the evil Empire. Rogue One shows off more of the Rebel Alliance than previous Star Wars films, and Diego Luna's Cassian Andor emerged as one of the film's breakout characters; a Rebel agent who has seen and done horrible things in the name of freedom, Andor's questionable morality in the midst of a violent war proved to be one of Rogue One's most tantalizing elements.

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In a livestreamed watchalong with writers Chris Weitz and Gary Whitta, the two Rogue One filmmakers explained how Cassian Andor evolved as the movie was being written. Originally, rather than a morally conflicted Rebel agent, Cassian started out as secret Imperial spy who would be exposed before ultimately turning against the Empire to aid the Rebellion at its most desperate hour.

Star Wars Cassian Andor

Virtually all movies change as they're being developed. Character motivations are sorted out, allegiances are established, and fates are written and rewritten multiple times before a movie is shown to audiences. Of Cassian's early iterations, Whitta stated: "Cassian was a Rebel soldier secretly working for Krennic, but then as he grew closer to Jyn and realized that the Empire had built this weapon, he says "I never signed up for this. I didn't sign up for killing planets." He has a change of heart and flips to the Rebel side."

According to Chris Weitz, Cassian was originally driven by a thirst for vengeance against Saw Gerrera (Forest Whitaker). As he explains in the watchalong: "For a long time he was working for the Empire. I think a rationale that I added in was that he had lost people who had been killed by Saw Gerrera. And all he wanted from the Empire was the go ahead and the ability to kill Saw Gerrera rather than Galen Erso."

Ultimately, it's hard to argue with the writers' decision to make Cassian a devoted Rebel, since his loyalty to their cause is undermined by his broken ideals and leads to his redemption during a righteous battle for the Death Star plans, a battle that would eventually lead to the fall of the Sith, as shown in the original Star Wars trilogy. Had he been a secret Imperial spy, the conflict and drama would have still been present, but would have likely been bogged down by extra exposition scenes that could have impacted the pace of Rogue One's exciting second half.

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Source: CineFix