Elizabeth Dulau, Andor’s Kleya Marki, has spoken to Country and Town House about the character, returning to the role and her standout memories from rehearsals/filming the final season of the Disney+ series.
You play Kleya Marki – how would you describe her?
I’ve never played a character as singularly ruthless as Kleya. The revolution is her raison d’être, her religion, and nothing and no one will get in the way of that. You may not always like her, but she can’t afford the luxury of being liked. She does whatever needs to be done, no matter what it costs her.
What is it like playing her?
One of the most enjoyable aspects of playing Kleya is that she is supposed to be able to blend in anywhere and become anyone. So I was confronted with this dilemma of how to play a person that’s that malleable. I remembered a piece of advice from an old acting teacher when talking about Shakespeare’s Cleopatra, who is famously mercurial. They said, ‘you can’t play all of Cleopatra in every scene, you can only play who she is in that moment’.
I applied this same logic to Kleya. I really focused on just playing each moment in the script with as much conviction as possible, not worrying too much about who she was three or four episodes ago. So hopefully the end result is a surprising tapestry of many different colours. I’m really hoping the audience always feels that way about Kleya: surprised. Never having fully figured her out or able to guess what she’s going to do next.
How did it feel to return to the role?
I was so excited to return for the final season! Tony created a really interesting storyline for Kleya so I was nervous but also excited to get my teeth into it!
How did you get into character and did you do anything special to prepare for the role?
I learnt to build radios! Kleya built her and Luthen’s vast network of spy radios, so I bought a little DIY radio kit and had a great time nerding out about transistors and frequency modulators. To be fair, I’m pretty sure the kit was meant for kids… But I learnt a lot!
Any standout memories from rehearsals or filming?
We were lucky enough to spend three weeks shooting in Valencia in the spring of 2023. Those weeks were an absolute dream. When we weren’t filming, we would go to the beach and out in the evening for tapas, then on-set we’d be starting a revolution in space! Whilst there, we shot some scenes at the City of Arts and Sciences which almost looks like it’s made to be a Star Wars location. Everyone was in their finest space couture, droids were zipping past and aliens were serving cocktails. There was even an ice bar. It was surreal to say the least.
Read the interview in full here, and stream Andor on Disney+ now.
Image: David Reiss for Country and Town House
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