Variety recently ranked the 100 Greatest TV and Film Performances of the 21st Century, and a Star Wars performance to remember made the list of the 100 Greatest TV Performances.
Stellan Skarsgard's masterful portrayal of the enigmatic Luthen Rael in Andor Season 1 came in at 85 on the list of the best television performances of the last 25 years. Skarsgard's career includes memorable roles in Mamma Mia!, Good Will Hunting, Dune: Part One, and Dune: Part Two, among many other roles, including in Swedish language films. Before Andor, Skarsgard gave an award-winning performance as Boris Shcherbina in HBO's mini-series Chernobyl, which earned him a Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actor in a Limited Series.
Stellan Skarsgård's performance as Luthen Rael in Andor named in Variety's 100 Greatest TV Performances of the 21st Century pic.twitter.com/dJaVjXdadT
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Then came Andor, where his performance as a secret Rebel operative and part-time antique seller from Coruscant blew people away. Luthen's idealism and Shakespearean monologues were just some of the many things that impressed fans. Skarsgard's layered portrayal of a man whose only purpose in life is a fragile Rebel uprising has added a new perspective to the Rebel Alliance's efforts to topple a fascist Empire.
The season ended with a victory for Luthen after Cassian agreed to join the Rebel cause. As fans eagerly await Andor Season 2, they're curious about Luthen's fate, whose dream of a "sunrise I'll never get to see" ominously foreshadows a tragic conclusion to his story. It seems unlikely that Luthen will survive the tumultuous four years before the events of Rogue One: A Star Wars Story, but if this is it for him, he's likely to go out heroically.
Andor Season 2 also features the return of Diego Luna as Cassian Andor, Genevieve O'Reilly as Mon Mothma, Adria Arjona as Bix Caleen, Duncan Pow as Ruescott Melshi, Alan Tudyk as K-2SO, and Ben Mendelsohn as Director Orson Krennic, among others. Rogue One's Felicity Jones is rumored to return as Jyn Erso for the series, although this hasn't been confirmed yet. An official trailer for Season 2 should be released any day now, with the series set to premiere right after Star Wars Celebration 2025 in April.
Although Variety's list doesn't include other Star Wars television performances, we can think of a handful of great live-action performances since the premiere of The Mandalorian in 2019, including Ewan McGregor's performance as Obi-Wan Kenobi in 2022 and Hayden Christensen's return as Darth Vader and Anakin Skywalker, to name a few.
What performances make your list of the 100 greatest TV performances of the 21st Century and do you think more Star Wars actors should've made the list?
Andor Season 2 premieres April 22 on Disney+.