Elizabeth Dulau was not the first actor to play Kleya - Andor Showrunner reveals why she was cast

Acclaimed Disney+ Star Wars series Andor has several fan-favorite characters, but one character who recently joined the list is Kleya Marki, played by Elizabeth Dulau. That's because of the scene from the third episode of season 2 in which Stellan Skarsgård's antique dealer and her boss, Luthen Rael, and her character have to visit a party organized by Davo Sculdun.

Luthen and Kleya have an important reason for attending the party in this episode of Andor Season 2, though. In one of last week's episodes, Davo is outraged to learn that one of the pieces in his antiques collection turned out to be fake, and he wants to reassess the legitimacy of every other piece in the room to be cautious. One of the antiques in the collection is sold to Sculdun by Luthen, which is bugged.

But this week, Tony Gilroy made some shocking revelations in an Entertainment Weekly interview published on May 5, 2025. Andor showrunner revealed key details pertaining to Elizabeth Dulau's character, Kleya.

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What did Andor showrunner Tony Gilroy say?

Kleya suddenly became every viewer's fan-favorite after witnessing her trying to remove the hearing device that she and Luthen had placed inside it. Turns out, taking that device out is easier said than done, as it seems stuck. But she finally manages to remove the device.

Throughout the entirety of this scene, Dulau has to act like she is just interacting with an imperial officer (fellow rebel Lonni) while trying her best to remove a stuck device, something she manages to do convincingly.

Entertainment Weekly sat down for an interview with actress and showrunner Tony Gilroy, who made some shocking behind-the-scenes factoids from Andor:

“We had two other actors who had come on and they both got bigger jobs so begged be released. So we needed a Kleya, and Nina Gold [in casting] put up Elizabeth Dulau in front of us and said, 'She has no credit. She just graduated from RADA like 15 minutes ago. She's never done anything.'"

Here's how the showrunner of Andor described meeting a newly graduated Elizabeth Dulau:

“Oh my Lord, just from the first minute!”

Then the showrunner described Stellan Skarsgård's impression of Dulau as a scene partner:

“He's just in awe of her. She never gave him an inch, not from the very first audition. I don't know how she has that kind of courage or that kind of spine. She came into the audition, and she was just a wall to him all the way through. Holy cow!”

Finally, it was Gilroy's time to appreciate the actress, which he did by saying:

“She's bulletproof. We do not have one bad minute of film on her anywhere. She's like a Meryl Streep, natural, mind-blowing actor. So you start to write into her as we go through season 1, and then more and more and more and more and more. She can do anything.”

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Elizabeth Dulau also addresses the pivotal Andor Season 2 episode 3 scene

Elizabeth Dulau was also present in the same Entertainment Weekly interview. The interview touched upon the same scene, for which the actress said this:

"I love Robert so much. We had a lot of fun working on this scene, and he was just so encouraging the whole time as well. Luckily, the lines for that scene did not change very much at all. And when I first read the script, for that two months before we shot it, I remember thinking, “This is such a technical scene, all the different components of it. I need to be off-book so early so that on the day I am not thinking about the lines.”"

Then, touching upon her Andor character's state of mind, the actress continued:

"I didn't want to do that thing that some actors talk about where they learn the lines that morning to keep it fresh. I'm so glad I didn't do that because I would just ruin it. I wouldn't remember a thing because I think the key for that scene is that Kleya’s mind is in four different places. She's thinking about the bug that's hidden underneath the piece, and she's focusing on that, trying to get it out. She's thinking about seeming as though she's not trying to do that at all, as though she's just flirting with Lonni. She's also thinking about Lonni and making sure he doesn't run away and blow her cover. And then she's also thinking about the other group in the room and keeping track of where they are. So my brain explodes just thinking about that."

Dulau went on to speak about the day when they shot the tense scene:

"And on the day working with Ariel Kleiman, the director, we realized that what we need to do is pick each moment and decide: Okay, in this moment, am I playing it to Luthen across the room? Am I playing it to Lonni? Do you see Kleya thinking about the bug underneath the piece? Do you see her putting on a front? Pick. You can't play all four of them all at once all of the time. It wouldn't work. So you've got to pick one and keep switching between them. It was a whole lot, but I'm really glad with how it's come out. I think you see her switch between just, like, an innocent shop girl to deadly ruthless Kleya, and that was really fun."

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Six episodes of Andor Season 2 are currently available to stream on Disney+, with the next three releasing on Tuesday, May 6, 2025.