Elizabeth Dulau: ‘Kleya Can’t Afford The Luxury Of Being Liked’

Disney’s thrilling Star Wars prequel series Andor comes to a close this Wednesday with the season 2 finale. We sat down with star Elizabeth Dulau to hear all about it.

Photographer: David Reiss
Styling: Caterina Ospina
Make-up: Charlotte Yeomans
Hair: Sophie Sugarman
Full look: Alexander McQueen

Elizabeth Dulau On Andor, Disney+

You can currently be seen in the final season of Andor – can you give us an elevator pitch for the show? 

Andor is the story of the rise of a revolution told through the lens of a nobody who eventually becomes a hero. Andor does what all really good science fiction does; yes, it’s set in another galaxy, but its intention is to reflect thousands of years of our very real human history. Anyone watching it will be able to see our history within it and relate to challenges the characters face. It feels like a very important show; one I am immensely proud to be part of. 

What can we expect from the final season?

Our final season takes place over the course of four years with each block of three episodes taking us one year closer to the creation of the Death Star. You see in stark detail just how the empire’s machine works and what it costs each of our characters to mount a revolution effective enough to bring it all down. 

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.

What was the cast dynamic on set? 

This was a truly lovely set to be on. Everyone was so supportive and we got along really well. As I mentioned before, we basically spent three weeks on holiday together, so if that doesn’t cause arguments literally nothing will! 

Were you a Star Wars fan before you got the role? 

Hahaha umm… I mean, I am now! I vaguely remember my dad sitting me down to watch it when I was very young, but all I could remember was that they were in a desert at some point. I now realise, of course, that that is most of the film. I promise I have done my homework since!

Photographer: David Reiss
Styling: Caterina Ospina
Make-up: Charlotte Yeomans
Hair: Sophie Sugarman
Full look: Alexander McQueen

You’ve also got House of Guinness coming up. What can you tell us about that? 

This is going to be a great series looking back into the history of the Guinness family. That was a lovely set to be on, and it’s going to produce a really classy show. I sadly can’t say much more than that… 

What has been your favourite project to date? 

Andor has certainly been a pretty unparalleled experience. But aside from that, I’ve really relished my theatre work. Klippies at the Young Vic and The Bleeding Tree at the Southwark Playhouse are productions that will live with me for a very long time.

Which co-star did you learn the most from? 

Hands down it has to be working with Stellan Skarsgård. My final audition for Andor was a chemistry read with him at Pinewood Studios. He met with me beforehand for a coffee and made me feel so at ease around him. I genuinely felt like I was walking into the room with a friend. This was my first job out of drama school and my first experience of screen work, so everything felt so new to me. He understood that and really took me under his wing. He became an anchor for me throughout this whole process, and I will always be so grateful to him for that. 

What’s your dream role? 

Honestly, a dream role would actually be some sort of action hero – someone like Lara Croft! The people who know me best would not be at all surprised to hear me say that. I idolised characters like her and Indiana Jones as a kid, running around the house fighting imaginary bad guys. I even had a toy bow and arrow! Seeing a female character be that undeniably cool, clever and physically capable was so inspiring to me as a child, and my life would really come full circle if I ever got the chance to be that to other kids.

What’s a genre you’d like to do more of?

I’d love to do a bit more theatre, particularly Shakespeare or the Greeks – put my drama school training to good use!

Who is an actor/writer/director you’d love to work with? 

I love the stuff that Mark Ruffalo produces. Films like Spotlight and Dark Waters. I read in an interview that he likes to use filmmaking as a mode of activism, and I have so much respect for that – using his work to open people’s eyes and change people’s perspectives. I would love to have projects like that be part of my body of work. 

What did you want to be when you were growing up? 

You know, I could never decide if I wanted to be some kind of performer or the next David Attenborough. I always had a fascination with the natural world, so much so I completed my first degree in Environmental Science before I went to drama school. 

If you give your 15 years old self advice what would it be? 

I really don’t believe in regrets or correcting mistakes. Every choice I’ve made so far in life has led me to where I am today and I’m pretty happy with that. So I wouldn’t really give her any advice or change a thing. I’d just hang out with her for a bit and tell her to keep going. 

Photographer: David Reiss
Styling: Caterina Ospina
Make-up: Charlotte Yeomans
Hair: Sophie Sugarman
Full look: Alexander McQueen

Elizabeth Dulau Recommends…

I’m currently watching… I’ve just started The Leopard on Netflix. Visconti’s version was such a classic so I’m interested to see what they do with this one.  

What I’m reading… I just finished Blue Sisters by Coco Mellors. My god, stick it on your reading list! It was so deeply moving I’m now going to start her other novel Cleopatra and Frankenstein. She has a new fan in me!

The last thing I watched (and loved) was… I just finished Adolescence, like everyone else. Again, another example of how our work can have genuine, real-world impact. I was blown away. Was lovely to see Faye Marsay in it, too!

What I’m most looking forward to seeing… The next season of The Last of Us. May is going to be a really good month for TV!

Favourite film of all time… Oh god, I always find this such a hard question to answer. I think I’d have to go with Pan’s Labyrinth. 

Favourite song of all time… ‘All These Things That I’ve Done’ by The Killers. It’s a bit of a throwback, but it always leaves me feeling so happy and energised. A great song to run to!

Band/singer I always have on repeat… Olivia Dean. Her album Messy is my favourite album to chill out to. 

My ultimate cultural recommendation… This is probably a very obvious answer but Mubi’s Top 1000 is always a good bet. I’ve seen so many great films by just blindly picking a title from that list that maybe I otherwise would never have come across, Close, A Separation and Holy Motors being just a few.  

Cultural guilty pleasure… Oh noooo! I don’t know if I’m ready to reveal this about myself but I get so addicted to Married at First Sight. I actually think reality TV can be really useful for actors to watch… There’s me trying to justify it. Don’t judge me!

WATCH

Elizabeth Dulau stars as Kleya in Andor. All episodes are streaming now on Disney+, with the season 2 finale landing on Wednesday 14 May 2025.