Latest news with #Bix
Geek Tyrant
22-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Geek Tyrant
Lucasfilm Rumored to Have More in Store for Fan-Favorite ANDOR Season 2 Character — GeekTyrant
As the Andor season 2 finale closed the chapter on Cassian Andor's journey, it left a haunting imprint with that emotional scene showing Bix Caleen cradling a child, left behind to carry the quiet legacy of a man who would never get to meet his own son or daughter. Now, a new rumor suggests Lucasfilm might not be done with her story. According to inside scooper Daniel Richtman, there are whispers that Adria Arjona's Bix could be making a return in a future Star Wars project. There's no confirmation on when or where, but if true, it would mark a surprising continuation for a character who walked away from the rebellion to raise a child in peace. While Andor Season 2 spanned the final four years of Cassian's life and brought his arc full-circle into Rogue One , Bix's journey was more about survival and sacrifice. What began as a deep friendship turned into romance, only for Bix to make the painful decision to let Cassian go so he could fight unburdened by love. The finale hinted at a future shaped by hope, even as it delivered heartbreak. Tony Gilroy, the show's creator, offered insight into that ending: "It does three things for me. It does exactly what you said — I think it makes his sacrifice that much more bitter. And I think that for anybody who had any lingering doubts about Bix leaving in episode nine, it explains it for anybody who was hesitant about buying into that scene. 'And finally, ultimately, I was desperate to end on a hopeful note. 'Rebellions are built on hope' isn't just a T-shirt, it's a legit flame that a lot of people need to see. So hopefully I was ending on something that was upbeat, as it was important for me to do that." Adria Arjona has spoken about her character's fate with similar thoughtfulness, saying: "She's where she wants to be, and she's hoping that Cassian is good and well, and that one day they'll be reunited." And while she hasn't been told what comes next, Arjona's open to continuing the story if the opportunity arises: "Maybe, hopefully, a writer one day approaches me, and they're like, 'Hey, I know what happens,' but I don't want to smudge it with my imagination. But I have so much hope for [Bix and the baby]. They're going to be fine, I hope." As Lucasfilm shifts its focus to stories set after The Rise of Skywalker , there's room to speculate. If Bix's child survives into that timeline, they'd be a grown adult. There are fan theories going around like Poe Dameron could be her child, but I don't like that. Part of what made Andor resonate with fans was its grounded finality. There's something powerful about letting that last moment breathe, about not knowing what happens next. Lucasfilm doesn't really need to dive back into that. Still, if Lucasfilm has more to say about Bix, if they have another great story, and if Adria Arjona's back for the ride, maybe it could work.
Yahoo
20-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Adria Arjona discusses her ‘Andor' farewell: ‘There's so much hope in that scene'
Andor. Adria Arjona remembers how she found out that she would be in the final shot of Andor with a baby in tow. Show creator Tony Gilroy broke the news to her almost casually, considering how meticulously detailed and thought-out Andor always seems. More from GoldDerby Jeremy Allen White and Austin Butler team up for 'Enemies,' Maya Hawke joins 'Hunger Games' prequel, 'Smurfs' trailer drops, and more top news Tony Talk: Predicting the tricky musical acting categories including Audra McDonald vs. Nicole Scherzinger 'Gypsy' Tony nominee Joy Woods takes Louise from 'apologetic' to 'powerful' 'He told me in passing, because he's so cool like that,' Arjona says of Gilroy. 'He was like, 'Oh, by the way, kid, the last shot is going to be you.' I was like, 'What? What do you mean? And I'm holding what, a baby? When does Bix get pregnant? Do you see me pregnant? Do you not see me pregnant?' And he was like, 'Relax, kid. Let me write it and I'll send it to you.' So I knew that that was going to happen.' That last scene is Arjona's singular appearance as Bix Caleen in the final three episodes of Andor. When Bix broke up with her hero, Cassian Andor (Diego Luna), via a 'Dear John' video message at the end of Episode 9, it seemed like that was the last viewers would see of her (especially considering the character is not part of Rogue One: A Star Wars Story). Arjona did everything she could to make that breakup message feel emotional and final. 'We filmed it practically, like she would've filmed it,' Arjona tells Gold Derby. 'So I was alone, and Cassian was sleeping, and I would walk from the bedroom and go by the table and start recording, and the first four [takes] were not usable at all.' Arjona continues, 'I'm spilling all my tea, but they weren't usable because I was so emotional. It was the first time in my career that I allowed my emotions to get involved; I am hired because I can control my emotions, you know what I mean? But I couldn't control it. It meant so much to me and I respect and love Rogue One so much that propelling one of your favorite characters into a movie that you love so dearly was something that I couldn't get over until finally I shed that and Bix took over, and it's the scene that you see.' While the breakup message was a hard goodbye, Bix's final scene carries the promise that all the sacrifices will be worth it for the future, a long-running theme of Star Wars. 'I think there's so much hope in that scene,' Arjona says. 'There's something really beautiful that Bix always says throughout this entire season, 'He's going to come back.' She has no doubt in Cassian, and when you don't have any doubt in someone, you inflict so much confidence. That's sort of what Tony Gilroy has been for me in my life. He's never doubted me. He's only inflicted confidence in me, and that's what Bix is for Cassian.' Arjona admits it's bittersweet to say goodbye to Andor after working on it for years, but she hopes to remember everything she learned on the most acclaimed Star Wars show. 'It's going to be tough to top this one,' Arjona says. 'It's been such a beautiful creative team. I got to work with some of the best of the best, from hair and makeup to costumes to production design to directors, writers, and actors. I've learned so much in this show. I mean, it's really been one of my greatest schools. Anywhere I looked, there was a lesson there for me, and I really grew up in this show in many ways over six years. Where I was in my career to where I am now, it's a lot of thanks to the show and to Tony and to Diego who really supported me and believed in me. It is sad to realize that our last episode is coming out. You're just like, 'Oh man, this is it. We gave it our all, and it's all out there.'' Best of GoldDerby 'The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power' star Charlie Vickers breaks down Sauron's emotional reaction to killing Celebrimbor TV directors roundtable: 'Abbott Elementary,' 'Bridget Jones: Mad About the Boy,' 'Cross,' 'The Daily Show,' and 'RuPaul's Drag Race' 'RuPaul's Drag Race' director Nick Murray on the show's 'intense rehearsal time' and Season 17's 'iconic' interview with Liza Minnelli Click here to read the full article.
Los Angeles Times
17-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Los Angeles Times
‘Andor' is very Latino-coded. Here's how.
Looking back, casting Diego Luna in 'Rogue One: A Star Wars Story' may well prove to be the single most consequential decision in that storied franchise's history. Hearing Luna's Mexican accent in a galaxy far, far away was not only refreshing. It was radical. And as Season 2 of 'Andor' proved, it set the stage for what has to be the most Latino-coded of all the 'Star Wars' tales, which is fitting considering this Tony Gilroy-created series was designed not just to explore Cassian Andor's backstory but flesh out the dashing revolutionary spirit Luna had brought to the character. What better place to, pardon the pun, mine for inspiration than the vast history of resistance and revolution throughout the American continent? Here are a few ways in which 'Andor' felt particularly Latino. Warning: this article contains some spoilers. Season 2 of 'Andor' found Cassian, Bix (Adria Arjona), Brasso (Joplin Sibtain) and Wilmon (Muhannad Bhaier) relocated to the agricultural planet of Mina-Rau. It's a place that served as a safe haven for these Ferrix folks, allowing them to be housed while working for a local farmer — all without papers. Yes, our very own Cassian is an undocumented laborer (when he's not, you know, on some super-secret Luthen-guided mission, that is). 'Andor' has always focused on the way the Empire functions at a granular level, while the 'Star Wars' feature film trilogies are all about big-picture stuff. In its two-season run, this Luna-fronted project followed the day-to-day lives of those living under the thumb of the Empire. And in the scenes at Mina-Rau, the show insisted on showing what happens when those with a semblance of power (a uniform, a weapon) confront those who they think have none. When Lt. Krole (Alex Waldmann), a lowly Imperial officer carrying out a run-of-the-mill audit of the crops in Mina-Rau, comes across Bix, he sees an opportunity. She's clearly alone. And, perhaps most obviously, at a disadvantage: She has no papers. If she's caught, the secure, if precarious, life she and Cassian have built in Mina-Rau will come crumbling down — all while putting them at risk of being revealed as smugglers and rebels. Still, watching Krole escalate his slimy sexual advances into a rape attempt was a reminder of the impunity of such crimes. When those who are undocumented are seen as undeserving of our empathy, let alone the protections the law is supposed to provide — like many people in our current government seem to think — the likes of Krole are emboldened to do as they please. Such ideas about who merits our empathy are key to authoritarian regimes. Borders, after all, aren't just about keeping people out or in. It's about drawing up communities and outlining outsiders; about arguing for a strict sense of who belongs and who does not. When Cassian and Bix land in Coruscant after their escape from Mina-Rau, they struggle with whether to just lay low. You see Cassian being jumpy and constantly paranoid. He can't even handle going out shopping; or, if you follow Bix's winking joke at the grocer, he can't really handle the spice. But that's expected if you constantly feel unsafe, unable to freely move through the world, er, tellingly: If your existence is wedded to bureaucracy, it's easy to be dispensed with and disappeared. Bix knows that all too well. She's still haunted by the specter of Dr. Gorst (Joshua James), the Imperial Security Bureau officer who tortured her. He appears in her nightmares to remind her that this is a war now littered with 'desaparecidos': 'His body won't be found and his family won't know what happened to him,' his hallucination taunts her. It's not hard to read in that line an obvious reference to those tortured and disappeared under the military dictatorships of Argentina, Brazil, Chile and the like. Throughout 'Andor' Season 2, we also watched the Empire slowly rev up its border policing — especially when it came to Ghorman. At first a planet most known for its gorgeous textiles, Ghorman later became the anchor for the show's entire narrative. The best way to control a people is to surveil them, particularly because soon enough they'll start surveilling themselves. The beauty of 'Star Wars' has always been its ability to speak to its time. When the original film first premiered in 1977, echoes of the Vietnam War and anti-imperialist sentiment could be felt in its otherwise outlandish space-opera trappings. But not until 'Andor' could the politics of George Lucas' creation be so viscerally felt. This is a show, after all, that didn't shy away from using the word 'genocide' when rightly describing what happened in Ghorman. In 'Who Are You?' audiences got to see the Empire at its cruelest. Watching the Death Star destroy Alderaan from afar is one thing. But getting to watch Stormtroopers — and a slew of young, inexperienced Imperial riot police officers — shooting indiscriminately into a crowd that had just been peacefully singing in protest was brutal. It was, as Senator Mon Mothma (Genevieve O'Reilly) would later frame it, unconscionable. The chants in the crowd 'The galaxy is watching' are clearly meant to evoke the chants heard at the 1968 Democratic National Convention: 'The whole world is watching.' But the essence of the massacre harks back to another infamous 1968 event: the Tlatelolco massacre. Just like Ghorman, the Oct. 2 student protests at Mexico City's Plaza de las Tres Culturas began as a peaceful demonstration. But soon, with helicopters up above and an encroaching military presence from every which way, chaos followed and the incident has long served as a chilling example of state-sanctioned violence. The kind now best distilled into a fictional massacre in a galaxy far, far away. In the hands of Gilroy and Luna, 'Andor' billed itself over two seasons as the begrudging rise of a revolutionary. Cassian spent much of Season 1 trying to hide from who he could become. It took being sent to a grueling slave prison complex in a remote location (sound familiar?) to further radicalize the once-smug smuggler. But with every new Empire-sanctioned atrocity, he found himself unable to escape his calling as a member of the Resistance. Yes, it costs him his peaceful life with Bix, but neither would have it any other way. Cassian has a solid moral compass. And while he may not play well with others (with authority, really), he's a charming leader of sorts whose childhood in Ferrix set him up to be the kind of man who would sacrifice his life for a cause. You don't need to have Luna sport a mustache, though, to see in his rascal of a character hints of revolutionary icons from Latin America. Even if Cassian is more Emiliano Zapata than Pancho Villa (you'd never find him starring in films as himself, for instance), the revolutionary spirit of those historical Mexican figures is undeniable. Especially since Cassian has long been tied to the marginalized — not just in Ferrix and Mina-Rau but later still in Ghorman. Add the fact that his backstory grounds him in the indigenous world of Kenari and that he is quite at home in the lush jungles of Yavin IV (where he may as well be playing dominoes in his spare time) and you have a character who clearly carves out homages to resistance models seen all over Latin America. As attacks on those most disenfranchised here in the United States continue apace, 'Andor' (yes, a spinoff sci-fi series on Disney+!) reminds us that the Latin American struggles for liberation in the 20th century aren't mere historical stories. They're warnings and templates as to how to confront this moment. And yes, that message obviously works best when delivered by the devilishly handsome Luna: 'The Empire cannot win,' as his Cassian says in the first episode of the show's stellar second season. 'You'll never feel right unless you're doing what you can to stop them. You're coming home to yourself. You've become more than your fear. Let that protect you.'
Yahoo
16-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Bix Beiderbecke Museum to move to new Davenport home
The Bix Beiderbecke Museum will be moving to a new location. According to a release, the Bix Museum will be moving from the Redstone building to its new home in the City Square Building, located at 112 W. 2nd St., Davenport, IA, and plans to make their organization a long-term fixture of downtown Davenport. The museum will close June 6 to begin deconstructing the exhibits. Throughout June, the museum will move the collection and rebuild the exhibit. 'Our goal is to re-open mid-July, with our grand opening Bix weekend, July 25 and 26, to welcome the tens of thousands of people who will be downtown for the yearly race bearing his namesake,' Nathaniel Kraft, Director of the museum, said. The relocation is being made possible with the help of a Capital Campaign that has raised $90,000 of the $120,000 goal so far. This included both private donations and grants from the Regional Development Authority, the Scott County Regional Authority, and the Downtown Davenport Partnership. While historically a free museum, the Bix Museum will be moving to an admission price to help provide more stable funding for their operations. The new admission will be $8 for adults; $5 for seniors, students, and children 5-17; and FREE for museum members, military, veterans, and children under 5. The museum will have group rates and special deals with partners available. Bix Beiderbecke Museum & Archives The museum will continue to be free admission until temporarily closing June 6. After the museum settles into the new location, a project to transform the permanent exhibit with rotational exhibit space will begin. 'The museum has consistently added new artifacts to the permanent collection each year since 2020,' Kraft said. 'A rotational gallery will provide the opportunity to show artifacts that don't fit the main exhibit and better collaborate with like minded organizations on joint projects in the future. We anticipate starting the project in Spring of 2026.' For more information, click here. About the Museum The Bix Beiderbecke Museum opened to the public in 2017 in the lower level of the Common Chord building at 2nd and Main Street in downtown Davenport, Iowa. The museum is open Monday to Friday 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., Saturday 10 a.m. to 2 p.m, and by appointment on the weekends. The museum honors the life and music of Leon 'Bix' Beiderbecke and features many original artifacts related to Beiderbecke and his colleagues The museum takes the visitor chronologically through the life of Bix. His jazz music is featured throughout the museum, along with videos, interactive displays, and photos. Bix Beiderbecke Museum & Archives Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Engadget
14-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Engadget
Andor season 2 review: A Star Wars miracle worth binging
We know Cassian Andor is doomed. 2016's Rogue One makes clear he will meet an untimely death in a massive explosion. That sense of inevitable destruction lingered in the background of the first season of Andor , the prequel series that follows his journey from a low-rent criminal to a rebel spy. But his fate is even more crushing in Andor's second (and final) season, where the cost of fighting against the seemingly all-powerful Empire chips away at his soul. "Rebellions are built on hope," was an iconic line from Rogue One , first uttered by Andor and then repeated triumphantly by that film's lead, Jyn Erso. In the streaming series' second season, we see how that idea is formed and inspires many people. Rebellions aren't just about massive space battles, and Death Star trench runs. They don't rely on an untrained kid hopping into a spaceship and scoring a major victory thanks to the Force and destiny. Rebellions start with small decisions by normal people, and through collective action they evolve into something powerful enough to take down empires. Read into that what you will. Andor always seemed like an odd series for Disney, which spent the last decade milking the Star Wars franchise for all it's worth. Created by Tony Gilroy, the Bourne Identity screenwriter who reportedly swooped in to save Rogue One at the last minute, Andor has no lightsabers and minimal references to the Force. While it's filling in the gaps for a storyline that leads to A New Hope , the series also feels refreshingly free of the stifling mythology that has plagued shows like The Mandalorian and Ahsoka (and Boba Fett , and Obi-Wan Kenobi ). Andor takes its time, building up its characters and laying out complex ideas, instead of rushing between action set pieces. It's Star Wars for grownups, something I never thought we'd see for a franchise so devoted to kids. In season one, we're introduced to Andor as he's searching for his sister, who disappeared years ago. After being targeted by two local police officers, he ends up killing them both and is forced to hide out in his home planet of Ferrix. There he meets up with his friend Bix (Adria Arjona), who is working for Luthen Rael, a mysterious man who has devoted his life to taking down the Empire. It doesn't take long before Luthen sees potential in Andor, and begins to court him for his rebel cause. Minor spoilers ahead for Andor season two. Taking place over the course of a few years (and counting down to the Battle of Yavin, where the Death Star was destroyed in A New Hope ), season two follows Andor and Bix as they delve further into the rebellion. Bix is still recovering from the events of the first season, where she was imprisoned and tortured. And Andor splits his time caring for Bix and going on spy missions to help rebels on other planets. I won't say too much about what happens in the season specifically, but in general it builds on everything that made Gilroy's first stab such a refreshing Star Wars entry. We see how the heartless machinations of the Empire affect real people, and how it can push entire populations to fight against tyranny. Small moments, like a hotel bellhop revealing his true thoughts about the Empire to Andor, can lead to more profound acts of rebellion. Star Wars has always been about the battle between good and evil. But Andor breaks down what that means for ordinary people, not hyper-powerful space wizards with laser swords. An average citizen could be killed on the spot if they decide to speak up against the Empire. Or, with self-preservation in mind, they could keep their heads down or even volunteer to be a cog in the fascist machine. Not everyone can be Han Solo (though Andor himself is a bit close). But when living under an authoritarian regime, there comes a time for everyone to draw a line. Resist, or lose your soul. Andor also spends plenty of time on Senator Mon Mothma (Genevieve O'Reilly) before she eventually becomes the leader of the Rebel Alliance. We see her dealing with the difficulty of funding Luthen's rebel activities, especially as they lead to explosive outcomes. But after the Empire massacres thousands of civilians on the planet Ghorman, an event that's been referenced in recent Star Wars books, Mothma and other rebel leaders conclude that violent rebellion is the only way to fight back against the fascist Empire. "The Empire has been choking us so slowly, we're starting not to notice. The time has come to force their hand," Luthen tells Senator Mothma in Andor's first season. When she notes that people will suffer, he replies "That's the plan. You're not angry at me. I'm just saying out loud what you already know. There will be no rules going forward. If you're not willing to risk your conscience, then surrender and be done with it." Even though this is Andor's final season, I have a feeling this series will live on in viewer's minds far longer than whatever the hell happened in The Book of Boba Fett . It forces you to think about how the Empire directly affects everyone, from civilians on remote planets to the bureaucratic stooges devoting their lives to fascism. In many ways, it's practically a blueprint for rebellion. And not to put too much on a Disney TV show, but that feels like something we could use right now. Update, May 14: This review has been slightly updated since its original April 21 publish date and republished to coincide with Andor's season two finale.
