Faiza

Faiza was an alien female who was a patient of Lina Soh Hospital on the planet Coruscant in 1 BBY. While infiltrating the hospital to reach her captive ally Luthen Rael, the rebel Kleya Marki began pushing Faiza through the hospital in a med-glide wheelchair as part of a disguise as a nurse.

Faiza was surprised by Marki interacting with her but did not object and generally seemed happy for a change of scenery. Marki took the patient up to the seventeenth floor on a turbolift, but when an Imperial Security Bureau sentry informed her that access to higher floors was restricted, Marki left Faiza happily staring out a window while she continued to her target.

Biography

Going for a ride

Faiza was an alien female who was of advanced age^[1] by 1 BBY during the reign of the Galactic Empire. That year,^[2] she was a patient at Lina Soh Hospital on^[1] the planet^[3] Coruscant, where her caretakers lovingly nicknamed her "Granny."^[1] One of the caretakers at one point left her sat in^[2] a med-glide wheelchair^[1] in a corridor on one of the hospital's upper floors, promising that^[2] she^[4] would only be gone a moment and that someone would be with Faiza shortly. Instead, Kleya Marki, a member of the rebel Axis network disguised as a nurse, almost immediately began pushing Faiza's chair down the corridor.^[2]

Faiza turned in surprise to look at Marki but did not object. The rebel was infiltrating the hospital to reach the network's leader, Luthen Rael, who had been wounded and captured by the Empire and imprisoned in the hospital on the nineteenth floor. In order to reach him, she took Faiza onto a turbolift and began ascending. During the silent ride up, Faiza suddenly blurted out "eh?" in response to nothing, but when a confused Marki asked the patient what she was saying, the alien did not respond.^[2]

Just happy to be here

The lift stopped at the seventeenth floor and, when Marki and Faiza exited, they were greeted by an Imperial Security Bureau sentry who informed them that they could go no higher, as the nineteenth floor, where Rael was being held, had been locked down to special access only. Marki claimed that they were trying to visit Faiza's daughter on that floor, but when the sentry refused to budge, she spoke loudly to a mumbling Faiza and told her they would check in on seventeen instead.^[2]

Marki then wheeled the elderly alien away from the sentry and left Faiza in her med-glide on the seventeenth floor. There, the alien stared out a window, scatting quietly to herself^[2] as she happily swung her hooved feet^[4] while they dangled from the chair. Marki, meanwhile, snuck onto the nineteenth floor, where she created a distraction by detonating explosives in several Imperial vehicles outside the hospital. She then killed several Imperials to reach Rael, who was on life support, which she fatally deactivated in order to spare him from being interrogated by the Empire.^[2] The rebel then escaped, after which the entire hospital was placed on lockdown by the Empire, with no one allowed in or out. Members of the Imperial Security Bureau later reviewed security footage from the hospital that showed Faiza with Marki.^[5]

Personality and traits

Due to her advanced age, Faiza seemed simply glad to have a change of scenery when Marki moved her around the hospital.^[1] She had black eyes and brown skin.^[2]

Equipment

While in the hospital, Faiza wore a gray medical gown and robe and was sat in a wheelchair.^[2]

Behind the scenes

Faiza first appeared in "Make It Stop," the tenth episode of the second season of the live-action Disney+ series Andor,^[2] which aired on May 13, 2025.^[7] The character was not identified in the episode^[2] but received a name in an entry in the StarWars.com Databank the following day.^[1] Faiza's design was created by Ivan Manzella^[8] and was first used in "Announcement,"^[9] the seventh episode of Andor's first season, which aired on October 19, 2022.^[10] Gerard Moore designed and built the neck for this original design and Giles Hannagan created the swaying feet.^[8]

The design was fleshed out for the second season, adding animatronics for blinking eyes and mouth movement including a special set-up for a particular gurn look when Faiza's mouth was closing.^[11] Tim Berry oversaw Faiza's animatronics, and the character was puppettered by Lynn Robertson Bruce and Wim Oppenheimer,^[8] with Oppenheimer also providing Faiza's voice.^[12] According to Berry, the animatronics for Faiza were fairly basic, but the soft mouth palette allowed for gurning and smooshing when the mouth closed, something that Berry enjoys and tries to include in any creatures he controls. The alien's mechanical large double brow also added to this effect, which Berry considered gross.^[8]

Tom Bissell, who wrote the episodes in which Faiza appeared, originally had Marki leaving the elderly alien shut in a closet in the script, but in an interview with Matt Gross of Inverse on May 31, 2025, he speculated that Faiza was safe following the hospital lockdown and likely whisked away by her loving family after all the excitement. He then joked that Faiza should have appeared, still just kicking her feet in her chair, during the montage in^[6] "Jedha, Kyber, Erso"^[13]—the season's final episode,^[6] which also aired on May 13, 2025^[7]—that showed the final fate of each of the major characters, called "The Wheel of Fate," during production.^[6]

Appearances

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Audio · Images

• Star Wars: Andor — "Make It Stop" (First appearance)
• Star Wars: Andor — "Who Else Knows?" (Appears on screen)

Sources

• Secrets from the Set of Andor Season 2: Week 4 Trivia on StarWars.com (backup link)
• Faiza (“Granny”) in the Databank (backup link) (First identified as Faiza)

Notes and references