Diego Luna teams up with Disney for his own 'Star Wars' series
It seems everything Mexican actor Diego Luna touches is gold. His Netflix show, Narcos: Mexico, has been picked up for a second season. He’s also received a Critics’ Choice nomination for Best Actor in a Drama Series for his role as drug lord Miguel Ángel Félix Gallardo. Not bad for a guy who started acting in telenovelas when he was just 8 years old. “We have a great tool in our hands,” Luna said during a red carpet interview. “We tell stories, and there’s so many stories these days that have to be told.”
He’s told quite a few stories: Luna has been in more than 32 movies. One of his first roles was opposite his best pal, producing partner and fellow Mexican actor Gael García Bernal. The two teamed up for the 2001 film Y Tu Mamá También, directed by Alfonso Cuarón.
One of Luna’s biggest hits to date was as Cassian Andor in the 2016 movie Rogue One: A Star Wars Story, the 27th highest-grossing film of all time — which earned more than $532 million in the United States and grossed a billion worldwide. For Luna, being in the movie was a dream come true: “This is it, this is it. I’m in ‘Star Wars,’” he said. “I had to remind myself I’m an actor here, I’m getting paid to do my job. I have to concentrate, because it was spectacular what I was going through.”
Playing Cassian Andor has opened another door for Luna: his own prequel series, which will go into production next year and air on Disney+, Disney’s new streaming service. The series will follow Luna’s character in the early days of the Rebellion, before the events portrayed in Rogue One. “We have a fantastic adventure ahead of us, and this new exciting format will give us the chance to explore this character more deeply,” he told the Hollywood Reporter.
Besides his high-profile acting roles, Luna made his directorial debut in 2014, with the movie Cesar Chavez (with Michael Peña in the title role). Four years later, he and Peña came together again as the stars of Narcos. “I got to work with amazing people that I admire, that I’ve been following, that inspire me,” Luna told Variety. “And knowing that they’re going to be part of this show with this reach, that’s exciting.”
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