Onslaught Star Adria Arjona Learned These Important Lessons From Andor [Exclusive]

"Onslaught" is a big deal for Adria Arjona. After spending the last decade making her mark in supporting roles in films like Greg McLean's nasty office-set thriller "The Belko Experiment," J.C. Chandor's underrated Netflix film "Triple Frontier," and Richard Linklater's off-kilter rom-dramedy "Hit Man," she's finally being billed above the title in Adam Wingard's bloody, John Carpenter-inspired action movie. But Arjona has also spent some time on the small screen, and one special series served as a crash course for some crucial career information.

"'Andor' feels like the ultimate school for me," the actress told me in a recent interview. "I learned so much on that show."

Arjona played Bix Caleen on creator Tony Gilroy's staggering (and occasionally controversial) "Star Wars" prequel series, and the show taught her two lessons that she was able to take into her "Onslaught" experience. As she explained, the first was about communication:

"'Andor' was the first time, I think, in such a big scale that I had direct communication with a creator of it. Tony was on speed dial. If I called him, he would answer. Within two rings, Tony was on the phone. And having that access to him, you get some of the best anecdotes, you get some of the best lessons, and it kind of helped me build that confidence to pick up the phone and be like, 'Hey, I have a question.' Usually I would just figure it out. I don't like bothering people. But in this case, I think through having a relationship with Tony, I was like, 'Oh man, that's how it always should be. You're creating and making something with somebody. You should have a close relationship.' So maybe that's one of the main things that I take away from that."

Elsewhere in our interview, Adria Arjona explained that, during her "Onslaught" experience, "there was not a decision that was made that wasn't with Adam [Wingard]." Clearly, her positive "Andor" adventure with Tony Gilroy helped inform how she wanted to approach her relationship with her director in this film.

The other thing she learned from her time on "Andor" is not something audience members would be able to glean from her performance, but it's something the "Onslaught" cast and crew probably appreciated:

"And then watching Diego Luna, [who] is the most amazing number one on a call sheet. He leads with kindness, with humor. He's incredibly prepared, incredibly serious about what he's doing, but also has fun and also is able to have a beautiful personal life. The way that he balances all of that I think has taught me a lot, and I try to emulate that."

We constantly write about film and television productions, but rarely do we mention how important it is for the morale of a set to have the top-billed star be someone who has a great attitude and leads by example. When you have a star who causes hours-long shooting delays with their personal antics and drama, it can drain the energy of the crew and transform a movie from being a collective passion project into just another job. It sounds like Arjona took a page out of Diego Luna's playbook here and kept the "Onslaught" set's vibes at a good level, which bodes well for future instances where she'll be number one on the call sheet.

"Onslaught" is in theaters now, and you can hear my full interview with Adria Arjona on the September 9, 2026 episode of the /Film Weekly podcast.