Star Wars series 'Andor' back for final season

If "Andor" -- which returns from Tuesday for its second and final season -- has been received as one of the very best "Star Wars" TV series, that is largely thanks to the grittier, more adult approach taken by its creator Tony Gilroy.

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That standpoint -- far, far away from the family-pleasing tone often encountered in the "Star Wars" universe run by the Disney empire -- should be of no surprise to those who watched the 2002 action thriller "The Bourne Identity", written by Gilroy.

Its genesis was already evident in the 2016 "Star Wars" movie "Rogue One", which Gilroy co-wrote -- and which serves as the climax to "Andor", which recounts the rebellion leading up to that film's events.

"Everything is emotionally charged" because "we're getting close to 'Rogue One'," Diego Luna, the actor who plays the protagonist Cassian Andor, told AFP.

For Disney, the success of "Andor" stands out as a new hope for a franchise that has become hit-or-miss with audiences in recent years.

That is why it has banked heavily on the 12-episode story, which cost a staggering $645 million to make, according to Forbes magazine.

Where "Rogue One" was about a rebel suicide mission to steal the plans for the Death Star, with "characters that sacrifice everything for a cause", "Andor" is about how one of those characters "gets there", Luna said.