Cinematographer Christophe Nuyens on capturing the final season of 'Andor'

The final season of Disney+’s Andor is an end-but-not-an-end. It dovetails with the film Rogue One, which also stars Andor’s lead Diego Luna. This narrative arc made the final season that much more high stakes, something Emmy nominated cinematographer Christophe Nuyens spent a lot of time preparing to capture.  

“This was the longest prep I’ve ever had on a show,” Nuyens says. Prep and production at UK’s Pinewood Studios took place from mid-July 2022 until the beginning of August 2023, and then again after the SAG strike in December 2023 through February 2024. They were also housed at UK’s Longcross Studios from December 2022 through August 2023.

“[Disney] understood how important it is for [cinematographers] to prep with the directors and production designer [Luke Hull].” In addition to Nuyens, Mark Patten and Damián García also served as DoPs to complete the 12-episode arc.

Andor creator and executive producer Tony Gilroy had initially planned for the rest of the show to be four seasons, each telling one year of story. In the end, Gilroy decided to condense four years into one season – the show’s final. Nuyens filmed the first six of twelve episodes. Filming took place out of order, and Nuyens worked on the first three episodes last.  

Diego Luna in 'Andor'; Source: Disney+/Lucasfilm

The reason for the irregular schedule? “The production planted wheat.” They simply had to wait for mother nature. It would be the right colour by the end of August, at the end of their shoot on the episode for which Nuyens would secure his Emmy nomination.

However, the SAG Strike halted filming. The wheat had to be cut, attached to foam boards, and transported to Pinewood so that when production could eventually resume, Nuyens could match what he had already filmed on location.  

But there was a problem. 

"We were shooting in summer [at first] and it was a really beautiful blue sky with some clouds flying over the fields making those sunny and shadowy patches.” It wasn’t something they could replicate on a backlot in February, when production did resume. 

“That was the biggest challenge, making those shots match.” Nuyens suggested filming in a soundstage, so he could “light it and we can control the sky to make the shoot match [the seasons],” he explains. Soundstages V and W at Pinewood offered him an entire ceiling of lights to play with, down to minute moving of clouds.

If you build it, they will come 

Filming in the soundstage offered Nuyens not only a level of control, but extra collaboration. “The sets were being built and pre-lit while we were working in the office. Very often in the afternoon, I did a walk with my rigging gaffer Jason Martin, and we could look at the sets and they’d switch on the lights, and we could adjust it. That's a luxury. It was lovely that we could refine stuff to perfection.” 

Genevieve O'Reilly in 'Andor'; Source: Disney+/Lucasfilm

Then, they could meet with other departments – also housed at Pinewood. 

“The first floor was me, the director, assistant director, my team. The second floor was the art department, and the floor above it was ILM [Industrial Light and Magic].” Meetings became easier, as did the ability to get spontaneous technical questions answered. 

“Everybody was really working together as a close team. It was a big crew, but we were working really closely.” 

Being in a studio has its plusses, but it isn’t something Nuyens would choose over on-location shooting necessarily.  

“On location you're tied to restrictions, but you can use those. It's totally different.” Having gone form Andor to a feature film that also relied heavily on VFX, “I need those restrictions – it sometimes makes you more creative. I need a change,” he laughs.  

The universe is vast

Joplin Sibtain in Andor; Source: Disney+/Lucasfilm

The Star Wars universe is unwieldy and large and very confusing - but it also has a visual language that links all Star Wars output together. For Nuyens, he “didn't really worry” about nailing that look broadly across the entire franchise – how could he – instead focussing on Andor season one and Rogue One, understandably, to create cohesion.  

As the sets were built, and as his team did recces on location, Nuyens was able to make use of the extensive prep time to find the visual through-line. “You’re totally in the world of Andor. You find the angles where you want to shoot, you imagine the incredible work of ILM – how they extend real locations... We saw the world coming together,” Nuyens says. 

“I love the world of Star Wars, it's really beautiful and really cinematic,” Nuyens enthuses. “The best Star Wars film for me was Rogue One, so I was so happy that I could do this show.”