Welcome to the Beautiful Planet of Ghorman (Before the Massacre)
We've heard a lot about Ghorman in recent weeks. Now, in Andor season 2, we finally get to see the planet. Here’s a first look at the concept art for the latest addition to the Star Wars universe.
Andor is a series of places. Not only do we learn in detail what motivates individual characters to risk their lives for the Rebellion in the fight against the Empire, but we also become immersed in different places that are explored with similar thoroughness, starting with Ferrix, Cassian’s adopted home.
From bricks and tower bells to a marching band playing at Maarva’s funeral: I know the phrase is a cliché, but Ferrix wasn't just a backdrop – it was a character in its own right. The planet had a culture, a history and real people living their lives there. Season 2 tries to repeat this masterful worldbuilding with Ghorman, although we know that the layover in the Sern sector will end on an extremely grim note.
Before Ghorman goes up in flames, let's take a look at its origin story. As is often the case with Star Wars, the development of Ghorman’s cinematic identity began with various pieces of concept art of the planet – especially its capital Palmo. In a new behind-the-scenes look shared by Lucasfilm, we get a glimpse into some of the work done by the design team for Ghorman in Andor Season 2.
The first challenge was to turn Ghorman into a place that felt alive and not just a marginal note from a history book. Or as series creator Tony Gilroy puts it:
What is Ghorman? There's nothing about Ghorman. There was a mini massacre 13 years earlier where Tarkin had killed a couple hundred people in the square with this ship. But that's all that they had. I want to really explore what that kind of authoritarian power does. And I want to see a real takedown of some place significant. And so we made Ghorman into this very significant place.
Three concept artists are listed in the credits for episodes 4, 5 and 6 of Andor season 2: Chester Carr and Giorgio Grecu are back. Randolph Watson, who was mentioned last week, is not included this time. Instead, Scott McInnes appears in the credits. He was also involved in the making of Andor’s debut season.
For Ghorman, the design team had to come up with a location that made sense from both a narrative and filmmaking perspective. Much like Ferrix in season 1, several threads come together in one place – and the set needed to reflect that. This is the point where the wide plaza of Palmo comes into play.
Here’s production designer Luke Hull on the real-world inspiration for the plaza:
In the end, we settled on a sort of northern Italian vibe. I always joke that it Ghorman is like Turin. So I was sitting around drinking bicerins and coffee.
He further explains the design process:
There are nine or eight cities that make up the planet and we focus on Palmo. We decided that we should focus our efforts on building the plaza on the backlot here at Pinewood. It was also another opportunity to tie various Ghorman sets together into one big backlot set. Various little shops off of it and window displays for the patisserie, because it takes up a huge footprint on the backlot. The more interior sets we put off the plaza, the more it justified the build itself.
The result is a large, round, open and inviting square where people can meet and talk. A place that radiates peace, prosperity and reason. At first glance, there isn’t even a hint of the horrific event that took place here 16 years ago. The plaza of Palmo is a place where people like to stroll while on vacation – and thus a huge contrast to Ferrix, which in the eyes of most inhabitants of the galaxy far, far away is probably nothing more than a junkyard, if they’ve even heard of it.
That's exactly the point: the Empire's oppression is now reaching a wealthy planet like Ghorman. The domed building, which anchors the plaza like St. Peter's Basilica anchors St. Peter's Square in the Vatican, is also reminiscent of the Senate building on Coruscant, where the message about the Ghorman massacre will arrive sooner or later, as we know from Star Wars Rebels. From the very first minutes, the design informs us about the route of the devastating story arc. The (upcoming) war crimes will no longer be able to be ignored in silence by other star systems.
Ghorman won’t remain a footnote – it will echo through the galaxy.
Image credits: Lucasfilm