It’s difficult to find anyone nowadays who hasn’t been touched by Star Wars. George Lucas’ franchise has inspired generations of fans, and plenty of those involved in the entertainment industry today pursued their career because of Star Wars. Getting the chance to work in a galaxy far, far away would be a dream come true, but Andor creator Tony Gilroy wanted his team to leave their nostalgia at the door.
Despite co-writing Rogue One, the Star Wars franchise wasn’t really on Tony Gilroy’s radar, which he feels gave him the ability to take some swings that lifelong fans wouldn’t. When it came time to develop Andor, Gilroy told THR that he had to encourage his team to forget that they were working on one of the biggest franchises of all time.
It’s really fascinating. We have this experience all the time. In every department, we’ve had all kinds of people come in, and they know it’s Star Wars, so they change their behavior. They change their attitude. They change their thing. An actor will come in off a Ken Loach movie or something, they’ll put on a Star Wars [costume], and all of a sudden, this great actor, who auditioned for you and didn’t know what it really was, starts acting differently. And you go, “Wait, no. Do your thing. You’re here because we want you to be real.” So it’s a testament to the potent power of Star Wars. It really gets into people’s heads, but to change the lane and do it this way, it takes a little effort. It’s interesting.
Tony Gilroy added that the folks at Lucasfilm had tried several different versions of Andor before they reached out to him. “I wasn’t really interested, but the people that were trying it were feeling a little bit trapped in what we just discussed, this reverence for Star Wars,” Gilroy said. “But they were also kind of inhibited because the economics weren’t really in place for large-scale streaming at that point. The economics to make a show like this, there wasn’t anybody who was going to spend that kind of money on a show. Now, there’s a bunch of aircraft carriers that are floating around; this is becoming a normal thing.” Although we’re just three episodes into Andor at this point, I’d say that Gilroy has crafted one hell of a Star Wars series.
Production on the second season of Andor will start in November, and although Tony Gilroy will still be involved, he told THR that he won’t be directing any episodes this time around. “I can’t. This job is just too huge,” Gilroy said. “I don’t have the time to spare. It’s a really poor use of my time. Ari [Ariel] Kleiman is out in Pinewood. I was out there this morning. We start shooting in November. He started prepping three weeks ago. He’s got his hands full out there just to get to November. I have all the rest of the things I have to do. There was some fantasy that I would end up doing the last block, but I just can’t, to be honest with you.” You can check out a review of Andor from our own Alex Maidy right here.