When manufacturing designer Luke Hull was first approached about engaged on Andor, he felt some trepidation. He was simply coming off HBO’s Chernobyl collection and was fearful that working inside the well-established Star Wars universe might be stifling. “My greatest concern when taking this undertaking on was that I’d have to suit inside some sense of a field, or a field I didn’t perceive, or there’d be a degree of studio involvement that might preserve us in a sure aesthetic,” he tells The Verge. “Nevertheless it really hasn’t been like that. They’ve been very supportive and really enthusiastic about doing one thing totally different.”

There are a variety of issues which have helped Andor stand out because it debuted in September, together with its extra grounded tone and steadfast concentrate on politics. The present, which is a prequel to Rogue One, additionally seems in contrast to every other Star Wars present on the market, with a method that’s gritty and darkish and but nonetheless recognizably from a galaxy far, far-off. Hull says that the objective was to “have the nostalgia of Star Wars but in addition a way of modernity that may compete with different exhibits which can be on the market in the meanwhile, so it doesn’t really feel like a bit of historical past itself.”

Hull says that he approached the present as if he had been engaged on a interval drama. That meant researching the time interval and placement to learn how issues ought to look. The distinction, in fact, is that the time and place in Andor are each solely fictional. “It’s important to analysis this entire galactic universe, and what’s come earlier than, what’s canon and what’s not,” he explains. “And select what you suppose is true for our present.” This led to every kind of fascinating sensible questions when designing the world. “We might discuss temperatures and climates,” says Hull. “What the hell does a heater appear to be in Star Wars? What do blinds appear to be?”

He additionally was very clear on what he didn’t need the present to be like. “I didn’t need any scene to really feel such as you stepped into a bit of idea artwork,” Hull explains. “It’s not about exhibiting off. It’s not about being Star Wars. It’s about being delicate and extra nuanced than that. And I believe that’s what makes this present very fascinating.”

On a big scale, this meant a unique strategy to constructing the units. Whereas latest exhibits like The Mandalorian utilized digital units, a lot of Andor was shot on location. Within the case of Ferrix, the small working-class city the place the present begins, that meant really constructing out a small a part of town, full with actual streets and buildings. “Ferrix ought to really feel like a working city with a small neighborhood,” Hull says. “And the entire logic of how we determined to construct that as one huge composite set on the again lot was based mostly on that concept. You will get misplaced in it; once you’re filming, you’re not having to chop between units.”

Filling in that massive set meant discovering methods to inform tales utilizing the precise world. For instance, Hull cites the house of Maarva, a easy dwelling that nonetheless was rigorously crafted to assist clarify her character. “[She’s] a girl on the finish of her life: can’t sustain along with her home anymore, her enterprise is gone, and her husband died,” he says. “Her life is now just about this chair. That is very darkish for instance, however everybody can relate to that, and but it must have one thing that feels different. That’s right down to so many choices: the chair she sits in, the little charging unit for B2, the hydroponics within the window.”

Whereas Hull was initially uncertain about working within the established world of Star Wars, costume designer Michael Wilkinson — who beforehand labored on every little thing from Zack Snyder’s Justice League to the 2010 reboot of Tron — had the alternative feeling. “I fairly like beginning with one thing,” he explains. “Possibly I’ve a concern of the clean canvas. I’ve performed it earlier than, like after I’m engaged on superhero movies, I fairly like there being seven different iterations of a batsuit and determining what’s our story, what batsuit does this movie want.”

For instance, when it got here to the background characters, Wilkinson was in a position to make use of costumes from earlier Star Wars tasks and choose and select which match Andor with a purpose to greatest inform the story of the place. “I fairly just like the richness that’s doable once you’re beginning with iconography and also you supply your individual tackle that world,” he says.

One other method for the present’s design is merging the Star Wars universe with the actual world. There are a number of examples of this, however maybe probably the most putting is the present’s tackle a go well with and tie. We’ve seen loads of navy uniforms and the garb of royal elites and spiritual devotees over the course of many motion pictures and exhibits. However Star Wars has by no means actually delved into the visible aspect of its sprawling forms. Wilkinson says that the go well with and tie from Andor had been impressed partially by Jacques Tati movies and company design from the Nineteen Sixties.

“We got here up with this concept of a band of cloth with a particular piece of {hardware} that’s thread by means of to offer a tie-like impact however has a way more trendy vibe to it,” he explains. “There are little moments like that the place you may reference issues from the actual world however give it a Star Wars spin. I believe it’s all the time useful to offer the viewers visible clues from our world that we all know after which leap off from that. It makes it rather more relatable and significant for audiences.”

That focus to element has paid off and helped Andor differentiate itself from the various different live-action Star Wars collection and movies. It’s the sort of factor that rewards repeat viewings — at one level throughout a key sequence, the crew even had to think about what a toilet ought to appear to be — as you discover new particulars that additional flesh out the world.

“It’s an enormous galaxy on the market,” says Hull. “And that’s all the time a great way to justify most of our decisions.”