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Andor: Those Accents, Tho
Oct. 13th, 2022 09:24 amOne thing that struck me as I started watching Andor, the latest Star Wars spinoff streaming on Disney+, is, "OMG, the Irish have colonized the galaxy!" At least one-third of the characters speak with obvious Northern Ireland brogues. Most of the rest have other various British Isles accents, including a lot that sound to my ears like northern English. It all felt quite familiar, though, because I've been hearing the same accents throughout the 4½ seasons of Game of Thrones I've watched so far. The mid rim is the North, and the Lannisters are the Empire! 😂
The obvious explanation, of course, is that these shows are produced in the UK with actors largely cast from the UK. There's absolutely nothing wrong with that. While it sounds strange to my American ears, it's no stranger than Brits wondering why every other damn fantasy/scifi show they watch has most of its characters speaking with US accents. It is a bit disorienting in GoT, though, that some of the actors' accents wax and wane. For example, Petyr Baelish spoke with a flat, Home Counties accent in seasons 1-3; in seasons 4-5 he's got a noticeable brogue.
An interesting fact I read years ago is that English accents were a deliberate part of the original Star Wars trilogy. George Lucas intentionally cast English actors in most of the roles as imperial officers and US actors in most of the roles as rebels. He wanted to play to American audiences a sense of the American Revolution, that scrappy American rebels were fighting for their freedom from heavy-handed rule by the British Empire.
The obvious explanation, of course, is that these shows are produced in the UK with actors largely cast from the UK. There's absolutely nothing wrong with that. While it sounds strange to my American ears, it's no stranger than Brits wondering why every other damn fantasy/scifi show they watch has most of its characters speaking with US accents. It is a bit disorienting in GoT, though, that some of the actors' accents wax and wane. For example, Petyr Baelish spoke with a flat, Home Counties accent in seasons 1-3; in seasons 4-5 he's got a noticeable brogue.
An interesting fact I read years ago is that English accents were a deliberate part of the original Star Wars trilogy. George Lucas intentionally cast English actors in most of the roles as imperial officers and US actors in most of the roles as rebels. He wanted to play to American audiences a sense of the American Revolution, that scrappy American rebels were fighting for their freedom from heavy-handed rule by the British Empire.
