Adria Arjona

"It gives me hope that a little girl is going to watch [Andor] and be like, ‘Oh my god, that girl kind of looks like me.' [My ethnicity] wasn't part of the conversation, which was, I think, the most beautiful thing about it. It wasn't like, ‘Oh, you're Hispanic, so you need to be in this.' Tony [Gilroy] was like, ‘Oh, you're Bix [Caleen].'"

―Adria Arjona^[2]

Adria Arjona is a Puerto Rican actress who played Bix Caleen in the 2022 Andor television series. She is known for playing Dorothy Gale, the lead in the fantasy drama series Emerald City, and for supporting roles such as Anathema Device in the Amazon series Good Omens, Julia Reyes in the 2018 movie Pacific Rim Uprising, and Martine Bancroft in the 2022 film Morbius.

Biography[]

Adria Arjona played Bix Caleen in the Andor television series. Arjona's ethnicity was not part of any of the conversations about her casting.^[2] Executive producer and creator Tony Gilroy cut everyone else from the casting process. He then told her she had the role and welcomed her into Star Wars.^[3] Arjona and Gilroy discussed Caleen's character arc at length.^[4] Arjona was immediately drawn to her character's tough exterior, which protects her vulnerable core. She liked how Caleen is fearless, bold, deep inside, loyal, compassionate, and cares too much for others.^[2] She described her character as a hardworking and complicated woman who is underestimated by people.^[5]

Andor Bix Caleen poster — Adria Arjona as Bix Caleen in her character poster

Arjona assumed that she would film in front of a green screen or a virtual set, and she was surprised that an entire city was built for scenes on Ferrix.^[6] Scenes on the planet were filmed in an intricate set in Little Marlow, Buckinghamshire.^[5] According to Gilroy, everything on Ferrix was filmed first.^[7] In Arjona's apartment, she kept notepads everywhere, which she used to plot and connect the dots that would take Caleen to where she ended up.^[4] Arjona was obsessed with the droid B2EMO whom she thought was endearing, funny, and "badass."^[8] During the first take of a scene in which Caleen and Luthen Rael spoke at a bar on Ferrix, Arjona tripped on the pebbles and fell on her face. She then insisted on doing the scene again.^[3] Arjona believed that the betrayal of Timm Karlo completely broke Caleen and took her down a spiral where she lost herself. She thought that Gilroy made an interesting choice in having Caleen be tortured by an auditory device. Arjona said that just thinking about it messed with her head. She asked Gilroy if she could make Caleen unable to take care of herself in a childish way towards the end of the series.^[4] In September, 2022, Arjona attended the Andor launch event in Hollywood, California.^[9]

Works[]

Filmography[]

Year	Title	Series	Contribution(s)
2022	"Kassa"	Andor	Bix Caleen^[10]
2022	"That Would Be Me"	Andor	Bix Caleen^[11]
2022	"Reckoning"	Andor	Bix Caleen^[12]
2022	"Announcement"	Andor	Bix Caleen^[13]
2022	"Narkina 5"	Andor	Bix Caleen^[14]
2022	"Nobody's Listening!"	Andor	Bix Caleen^[15]
2022	"Daughter of Ferrix"	Andor	Bix Caleen^[16]
2022	"Rix Road"	Andor	Bix Caleen^[17]