His Inspiration, Design, and Voice

Andor may have just wrapped its first season on Disney+, but the Star Wars series is still very much on the minds of viewers who couldn’t get enough of its exciting plot and its memorable characters. One of the most endearing was droid B2EMO, faithful companion to Cassian Andor’s mother, Maarva.

In a new interview with StarWars.com, showrunner Tony Gilroy talked about how the droid, an instant fan-favorite, was created—including the inspiration behind his stubbornly loyal, somewhat doddering manner: “The idea was that it was a dog, an older dog,” he said. Gilroy praised credits creature effects supervisor Neal Scanlan and his team for the design, which came together quickly—and met with instant success. “We were all smiling,” Gilroy remembered of the moment the prototype was revealed.

And in case you were wondering about B2EMO’s voice, it came from a source both surprising and not-so-surprising at the same time: Dave Chapman, a veteran Star Wars puppeteer who operated the droid on-set. “I remember having a list of audition pieces and watching a bunch of them,” Gilroy said. “My brother John was over there one day, and he goes, ‘I’m not hearing anything here I like as much as [Dave].’ He goes, ‘This guy’s really good.’ And we went back and were like, ‘Man, let’s just keep him.’ So that’s his voice, and that was a great phone call to make—to call him up and go, ‘It’s yours. You’re gonna be the voice of this thing.’” Gilroy noted that Chapman, who has provided many on-set vocals in his career, only to see the final product swap in an actor for the dialogue, was “overwhelmed” by his inclusion in Andor—as many Andor fans were in turn by his poignant performance.

Season one of Andor is now streaming on Disney+.

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