"Andor" might be a movie spinoff focused on a familiar character, but in terms of the overall "Star Wars" canon it's right out on the fringes. The first Disney+ series set in that galaxy far far away, "The Mandalorian," started out on relatively fresh and original turf, but by season 2 it had been dragged into the vortex of legacy characters. Boba Fett showed up ahead of his own Disney+ series, and even Luke Skywalker himself joined the story (via a body double for young Mark Hamill and some VFX trickery) to whisk Grogu away to space wizard school.

Many "Star Wars" fans are delighted to see so many returning characters, from Max Rebo to Ahsoka Tano, but there is such a thing as too much fan service. When Lucasfilm did step away from the Skywalkers with a bold gamble of a spinoff movie — one that introduced a cast of almost entirely new characters, and then killed them all off before the credits rolled — it paid off handsomely. "Rogue One: A Star Wars Story" grossed more than a billion dollars at the worldwide box office.

Tony Gilroy, who worked on the script for "Rogue One" and also directed the extensive reshoots, is not your typical "Star Wars" screenwriter. He's best known for crime thrillers and spy movies with complex plots, most notably "The Bourne Identity" and its sequels. But after his success hammering "Rogue One" into shape, he was invited to bring his talent for grounded action and slow-burn suspense to this prequel series, which begins five years before the events of the movie.

With "Andor" carving out its own corner of the "Star Wars" universe, chronicling the rise of the Rebel Alliance and Cassian Andor's place within it, we have a lot of new people to meet. Here's our complete guide to the cast and characters of "Andor."

Diego Luna As Cassian Andor

Introduced in "Rogue One" as a somewhat ruthless member of the Rebel Alliance with a dark and mysterious past, Cassian Andor plays a small but vital role in the war between the Empire and the Rebels. He's destined to sacrifice everything as part of the crew that secures the Death Star plans and exposes a fatal flaw in the space station's design. For now, though, we're still exploring that dark and mysterious past.

"Andor" has revealed that Cassian was originally called Kassa and was born on the planet Kenari. He was orphaned and lived as a child with a group of other youths in the forest, until the day that a Separatist Alliance ship (or was it a Galactic Republic ship?) crashed on Kenari. While exploring it, he crossed paths with Maarva Andor, a scavenger who adopted him in order to save him from retaliation for the death of one of the ship's officers. In doing so she separated Kassa from his younger sister, for whom he is still searching decades later. In flashbacks to Cassian's childhood, he is played by Antonio Viña.

Mexican actor Diego Luna is also known for his role as cartel leader Miguel Ángel Félix Gallardo in "Narcos: Mexico," and for his appearances in movies including Ana Lily Amirpour's "The Bad Batch" (not to be confused with "Star Wars: The Bad Batch"), "Y tu mamá también," "Frida," and "Elysium."

Adria Arjona As Bix Caleen

Like many citizens of Ferrix, Bix Caleen has both a legal day job and a less-than-legal side hustle. Her day job is at a salvage yard, which is convenient cover for her side hustle as a fence: acquiring valuable spare parts (without asking too many questions) and selling them to her off-world contact, Luthen Rael. Bix and Cassian go way back; Arjona told /Film, "the second you meet them, you understand that they've been through so much. There's so much history there between them two. There's trust that's been broken and rebuilt." This strong connection is particularly evident to Timm Karlo, Bix's boyfriend and the owner of the salvage yard, whose jealousy of Cassian quickly becomes a spark for trouble.

Adria Arjona is known for playing Emily in the second season of "True Detective" and Anathema Device in the TV adaptation of "Good Omens." More recently she starred in the most memed movie of the year, "Morbius," and in the recent remake of "Father of the Bride."

Stellan Skarsgård As Luthen Rael

A mysterious figure when he is first introduced, Luthen Rael is an associate of Bix Caleen who buys bundled collections of rare and useful parts from her once a month. He arrives on Ferrix to purchase one such item that Cassian hopes to sell in order to buy his way off the planet, but it soon becomes apparent that Luthen is more interested in Cassian himself than anything he has to sell. It seems that Luthen will prove to be the catalyst for Cassian's transformation from a directionless, debt-ridden mess into a ruthless weapon of the Rebel Alliance.

Swedish actor Stellan Skarsgård is the patriarch of the Skarsgård clan, which includes his actor sons Alexander Skarsgård, Bill Skarsgård, Gustaf Skarsgård, and Valter Skarsgård, and four other children (as of 2016, Stellan has taken measures to stem the flow of Skarsgårds). He is also known for his roles as Dr. Erik Selvig in the "Thor" movies and Baron Vladimir Harkonnen in Denis Villeneuve's recent adaptation of "Dune."

Kyle Soller As Syril Karn

A stickler for rules and hungry for a chance to prove himself, Deputy Inspector Syril Karn is basically the Dwight Schrute of the Pre-Mor Security Inspection team, the private security branch of the corporate conglomerate Preox-Morlana, which owns and overseas operations on Ferrix. The Pre-Mor guards don't have the authority of Imperial soldiers or officers, but some of them like to act as though they do, and Syril certainly seems to envision himself as a great military leader in the making. Unfortunately, his plan to distinguish himself by leading a team to arrest Cassian Andor for the murder of two Pre-Mor officers doesn't exactly go according to plan. According to the actor who portrays him, Syril Karn permanently has the mood of a man "chewing on a wasp."

Kyle Soller is known for playing Francis Poldark in the BBC historical drama "Poldark," Tom Porter in the psychological film "Marrowbone," and Karl Inkelaar in the monster movie sequel "Monsters: Dark Continent." His breakthrough successes as an actor came from stage performances in plays like "The Glass Menagerie" and "A Long Day's Journey Into Night."

Fiona Shaw As Maarva Andor

Maarva Andor is a scavenger who, alongside her husband Clem, crossed paths with young Kassa while scrounging for scraps in the ship that crashed on Kenari. Declaring that the wrath of the Galactic Republic would soon come down upon Kassa's village to punish them for killing one of the ship's survivors, Maarva knocked the boy unconscious and brought him onto her ship. She adopted him, giving him the name Cassian Andor, and kept his true origins (mostly) secret as she raised him. Decades later, Maarva is retired from her former life and lives with Cassian on Ferrix, also sharing their home with salvage droid B2EMO.

Fiona Shaw is best known for her roles as Petunia Dursley in the "Harry Potter" films, Carolyn Martens in "Killing Eve," and Marnie Stonebrook in "True Blood." On the stage, she is renowned for her collaborations with acclaimed theatre director Deborah Warner, including playing the male lead in a production of "Richard II" and the titular character in "Hedda Gabler" (a role she later reprised for a TV adaptation of the play).

Genevieve O'Reilly As Mon Mothma

The only legacy character from the original "Star Wars" trilogy to appear in "Andor," Mon Mothma was originally played by Caroline Blakiston when she was introduced as a leader of the Rebel Alliance in "Return of the Jedi." O'Reilly made her debut as the character in "Rogue One: A Star Wars Story," and returns in "Andor" to show Mon Mothma's own journey from a politician in the Imperial Senate to a key member of the rebellion that will ultimately bring the Empire down. O'Reilly has said that "Andor" begins with Mothma "navigating a very male-dominated empire with a very powerful Emperor Palpatine at the top of it." Unlike "Return of the Jedi" and "Rogue One," in which she was "surrounded by … like-minded Rebels," in "Andor" she finds herself "very alone, living in a world of orthodoxy and construct."

Genevieve O'Reilly also voiced Mon Mothma in the animated series "Star Wars Rebels." Outside of the "Star Wars" franchise she is known for TV dramas like "Spooks," "The Honorable Woman," and "Banished." One of her earliest roles was Officer Wirtz, a member of Zion's defense forces, in "The Matrix Reloaded" and "The Matrix Revolutions."

James McArdle As Timm Karlo

A man clearly haunted by the "you vs. the guy she told you not to worry about" meme, Timm Karlo runs the salvage yard where Bix works and is in a romantic relationship with her. Cassian's reputation as the F***boy of Ferrix precedes him, and Timm is none too happy about this scruffy Casanova hanging around his girlfriend. Not knowing that Cassian's true intention is to get out of Dodge as soon as possible, Timm takes matters into his own hands to rid himself of the perceived competition.

Scottish actor James McArdle is no stranger to the "Star Wars" franchise, having previously played X-wing pilot Niv Lek in "Star Wars: The Force Awakens." Still, he's far from the only actor to have played more than one character in this universe. McArdle also played Deacon Mark Burton in HBO's acclaimed crime drama "Mare of Easttown" and Hugh in the BBC drama "Life After Life."

Alex Ferns As Sergeant Linus Mosk

Every tinpot general needs his tinpot sergeant, and Syril Karn has exactly that in Sergeant Linus Mosk, his second-in-command during the mission to apprehend Cassian Andor. Mosk is effusive in his praise of the decision to bring the hammer down on Ferrix rather than covering up the deaths of the two Pre-Mor officers with a false report, and drops none-too-subtle hints that he would be happy to see Syril promoted to a rank with greater influence. Of course, the outcome of the attempted arrest may change his mind.

Alex Ferns recently played Commissioner Pete Savage, the ill-fated predecessor of Commissioner James Gordon, in "The Batman." He is also known for his role as Vic Collins in Netflix series "The Irregulars," and to U.K. soap opera fans he's best known for playing antagonist Trevor Morgan in "Eastenders."

The Supporting Cast And Characters Of Andor

• Dave Chapman as B2EMO — An old scavenger droid who lives with the Andors.
• Joplin Sibtain as Brasso — A friend of Cassian's who works in the mines on Ferrix.
• Rupert Vansitartt as Chief Hyne — Syril Karn's superior at Pre-Mor.
• Gary Beadle as Clem Andor — Maarva's husband and Cassian's adoptive father.
• Raymond Anum as Nurchi — One of the many people that Cassian owes money to.
• Ian Whyte as Vetch — Nurchi's hired muscle (not very effective).
• Abhin Galeya as Salman Paak — A Ferrix resident who operates a repair shop.
• Muhannad Bhaier as Wilmon — Salman's son.
• Kieran O'Brien as Pegla — A spaceship lot worker who turns a blind eye to Cassian borrowing a ship.
• Margaret Clunie as Hostess — A brothel worker who offers Cassian information.
• Zubin Varla as Xanwan — A contact of Cassian's who runs a transport business on Ferrix.
• Kiran Shah as Granik — Xanwan's business partner.
• Ron Cook as Willi — A chatty fellow passenger on Luthen's transport.
• Victor Perez as Rashi — One of Brasso's coworkers.

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