Andor Season 2 drew inspiration from this James Bond film 

Andor season two, which connected Cassian Andor's story from the first season to Rogue One: A Star Wars Story, came to an end on 13th May 2025. Other than its story and writing, the show's season two has another redeeming quality: its cinematography. The season was set in different locations across the galaxy, including Chandrilla, Coruscant, Mina Rau, and Ghorman. These locations were brought to life thanks to brilliant sets and excellent cinematography.

Christophe Nuyens, the cinematographer who was responsible for the first six episodes of the season, said in an interview with Collider that Andor season two drew inspiration from the James Bond film Skyfall.

Andor took inspiration from Skyfall

Andor spans across various planets, showing us how the rebellion was born and how Cassian went from a thief to a rebel who stole the plans to the Death Star. Season two of the show is especially crucial in showing the events that led to Rogue One, and it did a great job at that. The show has not only been praised for its story and characters but also for its sets, the way the shots are framed, the lighting, and many other aspects that give the show its unique visuals.

Christophe Nuyens was the cinematographer behind the first six episodes of season two. In an interview with Collider, when asked if the creative team took inspiration from any other Star Wars project to create mood boards for the episodes, Nuyens said,

"Not a lot from other Star Wars films. For example, for the wedding, one of the biggest references was Memoirs of a Geisha, the Japanese look, and the Japanese feel. Also, for the wedding party night scenes, the Roger Deakins’ James Bond, Skyfall — the Macao scenes in Skyfall, light-wise."

The wedding night party of Andor season two, episode three, Harvest, was set in Chandrila, and the lighting of the scenes was quite different from the rest of the season. As Nuyens also said to Pushing Pixels when asked about the practicality of capturing out-of-this-world locations,

"On some sets it was more difficult, especially the ones with a lot of green screens. You have to imagine what’s behind as you’re lighting it and trying to see through it. There are limitations when working with green screens. You can’t use too much smoke or haze. You can’t use flares. It becomes less natural for me.

"This is why for some sets we used either LED walls or painted backdrops. The wedding scene in episode 3 was time-lapsed. Every time we come back to the wedding, the light was slightly different as the Sun was getting lower and we were getting atmospheric effects. We wanted to create a feeling of an estate with the views on the mountains. Eventually we decided to not use green screens. They painted a nice backdrop of the mountains we used in Barcelona, and that was great. You see the final result in camera, and you can light it more naturally."

As Christophe Nuyens said, lightwise, Andor took inspiration from the Macau scene in Skyfall (2012) when framing and filming the wedding night scenes of season two. The Macao scene featured James Bond's entrance to a waterfront casino, and Roger Deakins, who was the film's cinematographer, talked about the scene in a 2021 interview with Entertainment Weekly, saying,

"We scouted this temple on a lake near the outskirts of Shanghai, where we thought about doing it for real,"

Deakins continues,

"and you look at it and think, 'My God, how the hell are we going to do that?' I did, anyway,"

"the complexity of doing that and going there for that one sequence was just too much."

Deakins also said that director Sam Mendes and production designer Dennis Gassner had initially thought that lion statues would be flanking the casino entrance. But Deakins, being the cinematographer, had asked,

"Where's the light coming from?"

To ensure perfect lighting without compromising the essence of the scene, the creative team decided to use two large dragon heads, which would also be the source of light. In addition, they used three hundred lanterns floating in the water and fireworks. Deakins told Entertainment Weekly,

"Dennis found these experts in China, who came over to London and made these dragons in a workshop at Pinewood. It was amazing,"

Andor is streaming on Disney+.

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