#andor film location

[robthepensioner]

Part of the mural in Cleveleys Bus Station. The "galaxy" reference is to the fact that the cafe and prom appeared in the Star Wars tv series, "Andor". The big wave appears to be coming across the prom from Jubilee Gardens.

[hegodamask]

“Ah isn’t this nice, Dedra? Just you and me and….Cassian Andor?!”

(thank you @supervisormeero for my new awkward roommates 🫶)

[colleybri]

Niamos on a quiet summer evening.

Vandals must have taken the pay phones. Hope the Shoretroopers are aware.

Arkie’s is under new management. No greeny-green revnog though. Only slightly green food was pistachio ice cream.

Some ne’er-do-well ignoring the No Running sign…

… scene of his subsequent arrest

Empire-approved public art on the beach

Official seating area (no running obviously)

Arkie’s interior. Oh look, there’s that ne’er-do-well.

[filmap]

Andor Tony Gilroy. 2022

Seaside North Promenade, Cleveleys, Thornton-Cleveleys FY5 1LW, UK See in map

See in imdb

[dougielombax]

Oh look. Rocks!

Winspit Quarry in Dorset.

Used as a filming location for Blake’s 7, Doctor Who (for both The Underwater Menace (couldn’t get any pics), and Destiny of the Daleks) and more recently for Star Wars: Andor.

I love seeing all these different filming locations popping up in different series and media.

[jadelotusflower]

Ah, we’ve made it the space!Scotland I see.

[woahpip]

ANDOR IS THE BEST STAR WARS

[tonyebikemejr]

The New Elizabeth Line stations interiors are like something out of star wars. I can definitely see them using one of the new stations for a sci-fi movie

[kanansdume]

I've recently been watching these very interesting Star Wars video essays on YouTube (yeah I know, a rare breed) and it brings up these comments Lucas has made about how he views Star Wars as almost like a silent film in terms of how important the visuals are to him in comparison to the dialogue. But this essay also points out how important Lucas finds all of the "rhyming" moments in his trilogies and the way he utilizes them to remind you of something else for emotional or thematic reasons. And there's so many of them, both in visuals and in dialogue, and it's interesting to consider how important this is to him, the repetition for a purpose as well as the storytelling through visuals above everything else and then to look at Star Wars since the Prequels came out and realize how little has really been able to match up to those ideals since then.

The ONLY thing that's come out since the Prequels that I think really hits these two things the same way is, in fact, Andor. One of the things I noticed about the way people discussed Andor as it was airing in a way I haven't really seen for any of the other shows or films was the visual SYMBOLOGY. So many times I saw people noticing the Imperial cog everywhere, from the aerial shot of Narkina 5 as the prisoners escape to the architecture of Mon Mothma's house. There were people picking up on the use of items in Luthen's shop that are familiar from other things to give this idea that Luthen is from another time, he's attempting to preserve this world he lost, that if you're not looking closely enough you won't notice what he's really saying or doing with this shop. The color choices for the different locations and people got analyzed because the people involved spoke about how they intentionally utilized color to SEND A MESSAGE about the characters and the world. We know that the people who made the costumes and sets really worked hard to treat Star Wars almost like a period drama and study the history of the franchise as if it were a real place so that the things they came up with felt like they belonged in this world everyone knows so well even if it's completely new. And of course there were all of the myriad references to things from Rogue One, the constant repetition of "climb", the sunset on the beach, etc.

Nearly EVERY SHOT in this show was created with so much intention behind it in order to say something meaningful about the characters, the world, this specific story they're in, and the overall saga of Star Wars itself. It's insane how much greater impact this show was able to achieve through the incredibly careful usage of visual symbols and thematic repetitions, much like Lucas did before them. It feels like they didn't just study the history of the galaxy far far away, but they studied the history of STAR WARS and what Lucas was trying to do and say with this story. They peeled back his onion a bit more and were able to create something that really has that same visual feel even when it's not created for a child audience. It also is experimenting with its narrative style through its structure and through Cassian's character being allowed to be somewhat more reactive than proactive, and while that didn't work for everyone, it does feel like it's following in Lucas's footsteps of experimentation through Star Wars. Push the boundaries of what Star Wars is and can be and what you can say with it.

But this only works because they peeled the onion back enough to TRULY understand all of the messages Lucas was sending with it. They got the heart of Star Wars and despite its lack of space wizards, despite the lack of most major characters in the Saga, this was a show that honestly got the message more than just about anything else Star Wars has put out since the Prequels. The choices between selflessness and selfishness, the themes about how you always HAVE to make a choice even when it feels like you don't have any (sometimes ESPECIALLY when it feels like you don't have any), and how important it is to make sure to choose the path of compassion above everything else. The themes of connection to others, the symbiotic circle and the impact even the smallest person can have on world around them, it's RIGHT THERE and it's CENTRAL to Andor's storyline.

So yes, it experiments a little with narrative structure, but it's possibly the most Star Wars thing to exist Revenge of the Sith because it honestly truly GETS what Star Wars was about, both in its themes and in its filmmaking. A lot of people said that Andor didn't feel like Star Wars to them, usually because of the lack of space wizards and the fact that it's not a story aimed at children. But to me, Andor is EXACTLY what Star Wars is and has always been. They're stretching the boundaries of what Star Wars can be, but it's saying the exact same things Star Wars has always said, it's just saying it slightly differently. This doesn't feel like fanfiction to me, not really. Unlike things like the Mandoverse or the books, Andor isn't just taking some of the toys out of the sandbox and going to play with them somewhere else. Andor is IN that sandbox. It's building a slightly different sandcastle, but it's still within the sandbox, using the same sand that Lucas did.

[bluntblade]

Realised that this never posted, but I stand by it:

It's really weird that Rogue One's aesthetic, which was specifically developed for a Star Wars film which had minimal space wizards and was instead about much more subdued characters and murkier moral themes, has now become the aesthetic which gets slathered over all new live-action Star Wars whether it fits or not.

If you step back, Rogue One isn't just very different to the Saga movies either side of it, it's pretty damn different to what came back, what with the modern war movie influences. It's working to portray how the Galaxy often feels outside the saga, and the visuals are part of that.

Mando mostly works with the same look because while there are some big personalities, they're almost all side characters, while the mains are stoic and reserved except for Grogu (who's the only wizard regular). Andor looks downright great, not least as much of it is shot on actual locations and on full sets.

But apply this to Ahsoka and Kenobi, and it rather cuts against the vibe they're going for. Space wizards, with their operatic cosmic conflicts and connection to a mystic energy, tend to want something a bit more heightened (which I think is an under-discussed problem in the PT which is very muted much of the time, and a major strength in the more stylised Empire and TLJ). The colours are muted, the angles mostly flat, and it ends up being at odds with the story being told.

To extend Kenobi some goodwill, lots of the latter seems to have come from the Volume. You keep seeing where the cinematographer wanted to crank a shot of Vader to be sharper and more impactful, but couldn't because the Volume doesn't permit that. Although I do think there are some baffling bits of blocking like in the chase and the first duel, the floaty shaky-cam is a generally poor look and really, Lucasfilm shouldn't lean so hard on the Volume (I mean, seriously guys, look at Monarch. That looks miles better than anything you've done on TV except for Andor.) But point is, they tried and ran into constraints.

Meanwhile Ahsoka seems exceedingly comfortable with both feet in Gordon Willis' metaphorical bucket of cement. The characters' energy levels are tamped way down from Rebels to match the muted presentation, and things often feel low-energy even just within the context of these shows. Even when the show steps into the World Between Worlds, an explicitly supernatural plane (or goes into Ahsoka's coma dream) there's no real change in look. Contrast the way that Empire employs that low shutter speed in the dark cave, while TLJ steps into something surreal complete with voiceover and an impossible CG camera move. In Ahsoka, though, there's little attempt to make the place feel otherworldly beyond how the scenery looks.

And these are largely missing a vital part of Rogue One's look, which is scale. Both Gareth Edwards and cinematographer Greig Fraser are great at portraying large-scale things in interesting ways, and that's something which will tend to get lost with a move to the small screen and the massive use of the Volume, without shots from locations or physical sets to balance it out and make spaces feel more real. Without that, the Mandoverse keeps feeling... rather pokey.

[hegodamask]

My pictures from last weekend in London seeing People, Places & Things one last time and visiting some Andor* filming locations.

I had the best time with @supervisormeero, @lighttailoring (and a surprise @karnpuffs!). I think getting to hang out with you all at the ISB boardwalk and freak out about the D23 trailer together has rewired my brain 🥴 You are all super super super super cool irl and I hope we get to do it again someday 🫶

*Pictures 4, 5 and 6 were used for Season 2 when they filmed at the Barbican in February 2023. The last picture is Canary Wharf station which was used in Rogue One!

[colleybri]

What’s in the bag??

Official Andor merchandising is really terrible. I want my set of Eedy Karn motivational messages mugs! But maybe that’s all about change …

Going by some of the leaked Season 2 photos from last year , we’re going to get some great opportunities for Andor themed … tote bags!! Yaaay!!! Because it looks like they’re going to be playing a major role in the plot.

S2 Spoilers below!

Bespin Bulletin spies observed the shooting of this scene in London. It seems that Cassian and Bix are undercover (yay, rebel Bix!) and heading for a meeting in Samo’s deli. No idea if that’s the same Sam(m)o character from Ferrix as to my memory he didn’t make it out. Unless Pegla and some others took off in a second ship.?! More Ferrix survivors?! 🙏

Anyway, the report says:

“It begins with Cassian Andor, who’s got his hood up to keep a low profile, and Bix Caleen, who’s carrying two grey bags, walking towards Samo’s Deli Grocery store. Cassian and Bix are deep in a tense conversation before Cassian suddenly stops and grabs Bix by the arm – stopping her in her tracks. Cassian, seemingly paranoid and untrusting, begins to rifle through the bags she is carrying. Bix seems surprised and visibly upset by Cassian’s actions. After the short pause and Cassian assumably being satisfied with his search, the two link arms and carry on walking towards their location and enter Samo’s store.

“Due to Cassian’s apparent paranoia, I assume he and Bix are possibly meeting a contact of some kind inside of Samo’s store, perhaps even Samo himself is the contact. Given the history between Andor and Caleen you’d assume he has trust in Bix, and why Cassian was searching for in her bags was maybe to make sure something they needed to take to the contact, perhaps credits, was there. However this is merely speculation on my behalf.”

So there we have a tiny nugget of possible plot detail. Filmed at the Barbican, which was used for Coruscant in season 1. Not sure I agree with his speculation… from Cassian’s actions and Bix’s reaction it sounds more like he might be checking that nobody has put something undesirable in the bags?! or maybe he thinks her torture has made her absent-minded or something? Can’t believe this fuss would just be for checking she’s remembered her purse! Cassian’s own bag looks like a spy camera type number, but maybe that’s a bit obvious. Anyway, we know that every little detail will have story importance so I’m very intrigued.

So I n the absence of any other S2 information I now have a new question to drive me nuts…

What’s in the fucking baaags??

Set build for Samo’s deli ^

Full report and other photos here:

[filmap]

Andor Tony Gilroy. 2022

Apartment Brunswick Centre, Unit 57, Bernard St, London WC1N 1BS, UK See in map

See in imdb

Bonus: also in this location

[markantonys]

thinking more about the garden scene, rereading it has just made me want even more for the show to do a "rand and egwene trespassing in the caemlyn palace and meeting gawyn, galad, morgase, and elaida" version of it in early s3! because gawyn is adorable in the book version, but mostly exists as an extension of elayne and a helpful infodumper to explain to rand and the reader what's going on while the other 4 caemlyn characters are carrying the scene.

so in a version of the scene where elayne is not there (as i'd imagine she'd go straight from falme to tanchico, which is pretty nearby, while the rest of the gang could pass through caemlyn in their longer travels), that automatically brings gawyn more into the spotlight and makes him an independent and more noticeable character during that whole sequence. now gawyn alone is defending rand (and egwene) from galad, morgase, and elaida, which would be a strong and memorable first introduction to him as a character. (it would also be a great meetcute for gawene <3 and i'd love to keep the book vibe of gawyn being so kind and friendly to rand and having a huge crush on him when they first meet bc it makes the forthcoming events all the more angsty.)

and in general, the book version of course has elayne as the focal point of the caemlyn sequence, so in the show where the audience already knows and loves elayne from other scenes, an elayne-less caemlyn sequence would be a great opportunity to let the other 4 caemlyn characters shine more. seeing gawyn, galad, morgase, and elaida argue over what to do with these trespassers, without elayne present, would do a lot to shed light on all 4 of them as characters and on the various relationship dynamics between them, which would be really good because the gawyn-elaida dynamic will be key to understanding his role in the coup later in the season (maybe we see him being willing to stand up to galad for the trespassers, but then being kinda cowed and backing down once elaida gets involved), and both gawyn's and galad's relationships with morgase are very central to their individual storylines and motivate a lot of their behavior down the road (more so than elayne, who ofc loves morgase and mourns her death, but doesn't really have those feelings as a main motivator for her behavior).

also, i've gone back to reread the wotseries articles about the shohreh aghdashloo (elaida) and olivia williams (morgase) casting leaks, and uncovered a couple interesting tidbits about the caemlyn filming!

both actresses were spotted on a set that is almost certainly the caemlyn palace (filmed inside a real-life castle with andor's banner hanging up)

wotseries believes that since this set is a location shoot 200 km away from jordan studios, not too much time will be spent there in s3 as frequent shoots there would be inconvenient

this filming occurred in late may 2023 and was for sometime in the first 2 episodes of the season

this all supports my theory of a one-time caemlyn trespassing sequence in approx 3x02! however, wotseries didn't report anything about josha or madeleine being spotted on this set, or about galad's actor or any potential gawyn actors being spotted. but that definitely doesn't mean none of them were there, maybe some or all were but just weren't leaked. on the other hand, i could also imagine maybe there's just one brief caemlyn-set scene of morgase telling elaida to go to the white tower and ask about elayne, and then G&G are introduced later when tagging along on elaida's trip and none of them meet our main characters during this season (or even just gawyn tags along with elaida while galad is instead introduced as a whitecloak in perrin's storyline, though personally i think it's important to galad's story for him to NOT be a whitecloak at first and then become radicalized out of worry for elayne). or it could be that there are multiple scenes in the caemlyn palace but some were filmed on a studio set and this location shoot was only used for a particularly grand room like the throne room or something. many possibilities and such little concrete info to go off of yet!

anyway, overall, i think that first introducing the rest of the caemlyn crew to the audience via their interactions with main characters we already know could potentially be more interesting than introducing them in a vacuum as a totally separate storyline (and indeed, most of the new characters in s2 were introduced via preexisting characters meeting them, iirc). and i think that it would be really great for rand and egwene to get a chance to meet the caemlyn crew before they get tied up in other storylines for the foreseeable future, since elaida and gawyn, in particular, are quite important to both rand and egwene later on (or rather, rand is important to gawyn but not vice versa djkfjg poor gawyn). but only time will tell if i'm onto something here or if i'm way off base!

[randomthefox]

Eggman and Gerald - Known for their outlandish creations. Especially the space stations they've made.

The paramount films: we're gonna ignore that lol

It's ironic that trashy Sonic adaptations who completely discount the Setting of the video games always want to adapt SA2. Because SA2 is the game that really exemplifies the kind of setting that Sonic has.

It's a setting that has representatives of real life locations, City Escape is directly modeled after San Fransisco. Neighboring such outlandish and yet naturally occurring locals like Pumpkin Hill. It's a setting where a fully functional and inhabitable Space Colony was constructed and staffed 50+ years in the past. Sonics world has things that resemble our world, but it also has fantastical locations straight out of our imagination and technology that is beyond our wildest dreams. And all of those things have been the case since day 1 (Sonics home is Christmas Island after all) but SA2 is the game that really puts it all on the forefront and makes it an integrated part of the narrative it wants to tell.

That's why assertions like Pariah's that he can't consider SA2 to take place in the same setting as the classic games is so ridiculous. The city in City Escape, Pumpkin Hill, Eggmans Pyramid base, and the ARK would fit in perfectly in the genesis games. Hell, the classic games DID have locations like that as levels.

I fail to see how Starlight Zone, Casino Nights Zone, and The Death Egg are all acceptable as part of Sonic's world. But the contents of Sonic Adventure 2 are such a departure that they cannot be considered part of the same series in anything but a titular sense. As Pariah insinuated.

And adaptations like Sonic X and the Sonic Movies try to countenance the "incongruities" of Sonic's world by trying to act like the "human world" and "Sonic's world" are two different locations. But then they try and adapt Sonic Adventure 2s story and it all falls apart. You can't say that Sonic (andor Eggman) are from another dimension or planet, and yet also have Gerald Robotnik creating Shadow the hedgehog. You can't act like the world that Green Hill Zone exists in and the world that San Fransisco exists in are two different places, when SA2 had motherfucking Pumpkin Hill located a sewer jaunts distance away from SanFran.

It's a cognitive dissonance. They want the "dark mature" story of SA2, they want to reap the acclaim and popularity that game enjoys from the fan base, but they also want to reject so much of what the Sonic series is and needs to be for SA2s story to make sense. They turn Sonic into "aliens" because "having animal people and humans together doesn't make sense" but then they still wanna reap the sweet sweet drama of Shadow and Maria's relationship.

They betray their intentions. They want Sonic's popularity, but they don't want what MADE Sonic so popular. They want the cake without the sugar. And it's never ever going to work out because sugarless cakes are fucking disgusting.

[e-the-village-cryptid]

Hey, I was curious if you knew anything about the Yuuzhan Vong from Star Wars legends? I'm currently writing a fanfic that includes them, but the wiki was slightly confusing about their descriptions. Also anything you know about Mgnaa-Mgnaa or whatever its name is. If you want to answer, of course.

Also, just to have something that includes the interest from your description, what about Andor sets it apart from other Star Wars properties? I've heard it being talked about as one of the best currently out, but don't quite understand the hype (I haven't watched it yet).

sorry anon I don't really know star wars besides andor lol. I watched andor having only seen the original trilogy once when I was very young, and having read a detailed (spoilery) synopsis of rogue one for context. I don't know how you found this blog in a non-andor star wars context haha because I really don't know anything more than I've absorbed by having andor friends who also know other star wars (pssst @chipthekeeper mayhaps you know the answer to anon's question here?)

as for why I love andor. well. I can and will talk about this for hours so I will hold myself to just three bullet points:

the writing has such a depth to it. sci-fi can sometimes struggle to get through exposition in an engaging way, but andor ensures that every single conversation forwarding the plot/worldbuilding also carries a lot of weight as far as characterization and implied history of the characters and their relationships to each other goes, too. a lot is left unsaid but very much present in the implications of the way characters speak to each other. I notice something new every rewatch and it's delicious. in relation to this, the acting is also brilliant for just. every. single. character

visually it's STUNNING. most of the sets and effects were practical and it SHOWS. the droid is an elaborate puppet and so his body language and everything just feels so full of life. they built 8 full city blocks of ferrix, including many detailed interiors as well as exteriors. it's just GORGEOUS it feels SO REAL. they're attentive to what the extras are doing and actually making them part of the city, not just people wandering around. you could just reach out and touch it. they filmed on location in the scottish highlands they jumped off an actual dam they just. it's beautiful.

the MUSIC. it's brilliant. again, there was a vision and there was a heart to it and it SHOWS. the composer was on board from the very very beginning and so the music is beautifully woven into the diagetic soundscape of the show (klaxon alarms, clanging of metal, actual diagetic music, and more) in a way that is just so emotionally impactful and makes my little band kid heart dance around in glee. I won't spoil the show for you but there is a moment towards the end of the season that made every single former band kid jump out of their chairs losing their entire goddamn minds

*shuts mouth with visible effort* like i said i could talk forever but. i love it. i love the characters i love the story i love the visuals i love the music i love the way it makes you think and the questions it poses and the way it rewards digging deeper into motivations and implications i love the endless things there are to discover. i hope you decide to watch it :)