STAR WARS ANDOR (2022) Disney+ (season 2 Discussion Thread) Jesus Christ this shit is Fantastic!!
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Andor already got the green light for a 2nd season before it debuts.
And it will have a total of 12 episodes.
It looks like Disney has begun expanding the episode count for all its series from 6 episodes a season.
‘Andor’ Premieres a Darker, Grittier Take on ‘Star Wars’: “We’re Telling the Story of an Entire Revolution”
Already greenlit for a second season, 'Andor' will feature 12 episodes, with the first three set for release on Sept. 21.
BY SYDNEY ODMAN
SEPTEMBER 16, 2022 3:30PM
www.hollywoodreporter.com
With the premiere of upcoming Disney+ series Andor, Star Wars is exploring new territory.
In 12 episodes, Andor will dive into a darker, grittier and more complicated story than that of the more traditional tales of good versus evil that the sci-fi franchise is known for. And that’s largely due to the show’s titular character, Cassian Andor (played by Diego Luna).
“If you’re gonna do something these days in Star Wars, it better be different, right?” Luna told The Hollywood Reporter at the series’ Los Angeles launch event on Thursday. “We just want to be risky, we want to bring something new and different into the Star Wars universe.”
[Cassian] is not obviously good or obviously bad,” added director Toby Haynes, who helmed the first three episodes. “He’s a good guy who has to do bad things in order to get the job done. And that’s really interesting territory for Star Wars. Usually, it’s very black and white. This is much more grayscale.”
Showrunner Tony Gilroy “has really taken the audience on a different kind of journey than they’re used to,” Haynes continued. “They won’t know where they stand. They won’t know whether they can trust that a character is going to live to the end of an episode.”
Described as a spy thriller, Andor takes place five years before the events of Rogue One: A Star Wars Story, Gareth Edwards’ stand-alone film that tells the untold story of how the Rebel Alliance acquired the Death Star plans prior to the events of George Lucas’ Star Wars: Episode IV — A New Hope. In addition to starring, Luna also serves as an executive producer on the series.
“What we know about [Cassian] in Rogue One is very specific, but the dots are very odd,” creator Gilroy said of the titular character. “He’s a killer. He’s a saboteur. He’s a liar, he’s a seducer, he’s a leader. He’s a trusted member of the Rebel Alliance. But at the same time, in the end, he’s a guy with an open heart who is going to give his life to save everyone. It’s a pretty fascinating character.”
“Everybody on each side is completely complicated,” added Kyle Soller, who plays antagonist and imperial officer Syril Karn. “Cassian is a questionable hero, right? And Syril has his own doubts about whether his moral code is extremely right. And is it right to take power and life away from others for the sake of his own beliefs? It’s an honest, difficult human story, and I think people have been waiting for that.”
While previous Star Wars shows like The Mandalorian, The Book of Boba Fett and Obi-Wan Kenobi have had six to eight episodes per season, Andor is serving up 12 episodes in the first season — and, already greenlit for an additional 12, the cast and crew are also gearing up to begin production on season two. In preparing to tell Cassian’s story, Gilroy found that the story required a longer format.
“We’re telling the story of an entire revolution,” the creator said. “Once we started probing around with the characters and what we could do, the abundance of everything that was available was there. I’m not comparing myself in any way, but you know, it’s really like if someone says, ‘Do you want to do War and Peace?,’ you know? It’s like this massive canvas.”
The show also takes fans on a deeper dive into the history of iconic Star Wars character Mon Mothma, a role played by Caroline Blakiston in the original films, and later taken over by Genevieve O’Reilly in the prequels. In Andor, audiences will see Mon Mothma’s role in the creation of the Rebel Alliance, as she infiltrates the empire from within.
“She’s always been an important character or monument within the universe,” said O’Reilly. “So to have the opportunity now to be able to flesh out her character and stand up from her feels real timely. I would also like to acknowledge that George Lucas wrote this character, who’s a female leader of a Rebel Alliance, back in the 1980s. So, to have the opportunity to stand up for her now and to give that character a voice feels important.”
And while the events of Andor will lead up to Rogue One, Luna says that the film is not required viewing in order to watch the show.
“I think the people that love Rogue One are going to enjoy the show, but you don’t need to know Star Wars to enjoy this show,” the star said. “It has a beginning and an end. It has his own genesis, which is cool. So audiences that are not big into Star Wars, they can watch Andor and it could be their way in.”
Andor premieres its first three episodes on Disney+ Sept 21.
Benjamin Caron, Dan Gilroy, Kyle Soller, Nicholas Britell, Fiona Shaw, Diego Luna, Sanne Wohlenberg, Tony Gilroy, Genevieve O'Reilly, Adria Arjona and John Gilroy at the launch event for Lucasfilm's original series 'Andor' at the El Capitan Theatre on Sept. 15.
And it will have a total of 12 episodes.
It looks like Disney has begun expanding the episode count for all its series from 6 episodes a season.
‘Andor’ Premieres a Darker, Grittier Take on ‘Star Wars’: “We’re Telling the Story of an Entire Revolution”
Already greenlit for a second season, 'Andor' will feature 12 episodes, with the first three set for release on Sept. 21.
BY SYDNEY ODMAN
SEPTEMBER 16, 2022 3:30PM
‘Andor’ Premieres a Darker, Grittier Take on ‘Star Wars’: “We’re Telling the Story of an Entire Revolution”
Already greenlit for a second season, 'Andor' will feature 12 episodes, with the first three set for release on Sept. 21.
www.hollywoodreporter.com
With the premiere of upcoming Disney+ series Andor, Star Wars is exploring new territory.
In 12 episodes, Andor will dive into a darker, grittier and more complicated story than that of the more traditional tales of good versus evil that the sci-fi franchise is known for. And that’s largely due to the show’s titular character, Cassian Andor (played by Diego Luna).
“If you’re gonna do something these days in Star Wars, it better be different, right?” Luna told The Hollywood Reporter at the series’ Los Angeles launch event on Thursday. “We just want to be risky, we want to bring something new and different into the Star Wars universe.”
[Cassian] is not obviously good or obviously bad,” added director Toby Haynes, who helmed the first three episodes. “He’s a good guy who has to do bad things in order to get the job done. And that’s really interesting territory for Star Wars. Usually, it’s very black and white. This is much more grayscale.”
Showrunner Tony Gilroy “has really taken the audience on a different kind of journey than they’re used to,” Haynes continued. “They won’t know where they stand. They won’t know whether they can trust that a character is going to live to the end of an episode.”
Described as a spy thriller, Andor takes place five years before the events of Rogue One: A Star Wars Story, Gareth Edwards’ stand-alone film that tells the untold story of how the Rebel Alliance acquired the Death Star plans prior to the events of George Lucas’ Star Wars: Episode IV — A New Hope. In addition to starring, Luna also serves as an executive producer on the series.
“What we know about [Cassian] in Rogue One is very specific, but the dots are very odd,” creator Gilroy said of the titular character. “He’s a killer. He’s a saboteur. He’s a liar, he’s a seducer, he’s a leader. He’s a trusted member of the Rebel Alliance. But at the same time, in the end, he’s a guy with an open heart who is going to give his life to save everyone. It’s a pretty fascinating character.”
“Everybody on each side is completely complicated,” added Kyle Soller, who plays antagonist and imperial officer Syril Karn. “Cassian is a questionable hero, right? And Syril has his own doubts about whether his moral code is extremely right. And is it right to take power and life away from others for the sake of his own beliefs? It’s an honest, difficult human story, and I think people have been waiting for that.”
While previous Star Wars shows like The Mandalorian, The Book of Boba Fett and Obi-Wan Kenobi have had six to eight episodes per season, Andor is serving up 12 episodes in the first season — and, already greenlit for an additional 12, the cast and crew are also gearing up to begin production on season two. In preparing to tell Cassian’s story, Gilroy found that the story required a longer format.
“We’re telling the story of an entire revolution,” the creator said. “Once we started probing around with the characters and what we could do, the abundance of everything that was available was there. I’m not comparing myself in any way, but you know, it’s really like if someone says, ‘Do you want to do War and Peace?,’ you know? It’s like this massive canvas.”
The show also takes fans on a deeper dive into the history of iconic Star Wars character Mon Mothma, a role played by Caroline Blakiston in the original films, and later taken over by Genevieve O’Reilly in the prequels. In Andor, audiences will see Mon Mothma’s role in the creation of the Rebel Alliance, as she infiltrates the empire from within.
“She’s always been an important character or monument within the universe,” said O’Reilly. “So to have the opportunity now to be able to flesh out her character and stand up from her feels real timely. I would also like to acknowledge that George Lucas wrote this character, who’s a female leader of a Rebel Alliance, back in the 1980s. So, to have the opportunity to stand up for her now and to give that character a voice feels important.”
And while the events of Andor will lead up to Rogue One, Luna says that the film is not required viewing in order to watch the show.
“I think the people that love Rogue One are going to enjoy the show, but you don’t need to know Star Wars to enjoy this show,” the star said. “It has a beginning and an end. It has his own genesis, which is cool. So audiences that are not big into Star Wars, they can watch Andor and it could be their way in.”
Andor premieres its first three episodes on Disney+ Sept 21.
Benjamin Caron, Dan Gilroy, Kyle Soller, Nicholas Britell, Fiona Shaw, Diego Luna, Sanne Wohlenberg, Tony Gilroy, Genevieve O'Reilly, Adria Arjona and John Gilroy at the launch event for Lucasfilm's original series 'Andor' at the El Capitan Theatre on Sept. 15.
First three episodes drop tonight.
Im going to wait til my vacation in December to see it.
Im going to wait til my vacation in December to see it.
Andor Is the Cure for Star Wars Ennui
The franchise hasn’t felt this challenging, invigorating, or dangerous in quite some time.
www.vulture.com
Why does this look like it's budget is double Obi Wan and Boba Fett?
This shit is fantastic
I don't know if I can do this weekly though... There's no way
I don't know if I can do this weekly though... There's no way
Just Finished episode 3...
Good lord I've got no words ...... this shit is amazing. Man oh man and it's 12 episodes with a Season 2 confirmed.
I'm ready for this.
Good lord I've got no words ...... this shit is amazing. Man oh man and it's 12 episodes with a Season 2 confirmed.
I'm ready for this.
I got bored, I will try to watch again.
Very boring. I was falling asleep.
Why cant they just make this into a series..the comic getting good
Andor is Star Wars without a Star Wars vibe and i like it. There is a slow build that leads to something very involving and actually very moving. It's cool to see how much influence and control the Empire had at the beginning of the rebellion,and how the rebellion actually came to fruition
‘Andor’ Creator Tony Gilroy Urged His Team to Put Aside Their ‘Star Wars’ Reverence
The showrunner, who crafted a critically acclaimed show by encouraging people to forget they were working in a galaxy far, far away, recalls advice to his collaborators: "You're here because we want you to be real."
BY BRIAN DAVIDS
Plus Icon
SEPTEMBER 23, 2022 10:39AM
'Andor' creator Tony GIlroy ALBERTO E. RODRIGUEZ/GETTY IMAGES
Logo text
When Tony Gilroy joined the Star Wars galaxy to reconfigure Rogue One, he was unafraid to make the tough choices. His superpower, as he called it, was that he wasn’t a lifelong Star Wars fan, allowing him to take some big swings such as sacrificing Rogue’s main characters. Gilroy certainly became a fan of the franchise during his time on Rogue, paving the way for him to join Andor as creator/showrunner once previous development stalled.
When the series eventually entered into production, Gilroy noticed that his collaborators were altering their behavior and performance because of their nostalgia for Star Wars. So he had to encourage them to put aside their fondness as best they could.
“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,” Gilroy tells The Hollywood Reporter. “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.”
Gilroy, who’s directed thrillers such as Michael Clayton and The Bourne Legacy, was originally going to helm a portion of Andor season one until Covid-19 upended that plan. There was also a hope that he was going to be able to direct a block of season two, but he admits that the job of showrunner is too demanding of his time.
“I am not [directing in season two]. I can’t. This job is just too huge. I don’t have the time to spare. It’s a really poor use of my time,” Gilroy says. “[Director] Ari [Ariel] Kleiman is out in Pinewood. We start shooting in November. He started prepping three weeks ago. He’s got his hands full out there just to get to November. There was some fantasy that I would end up doing the last block, but I just can’t, to be honest with you.”
In a recent conversation with THR, Gilroy also discusses the ambitious Andor “manifesto” he wrote for Lucasfilm boss Kathleen Kennedy, at a time when the company had cooled on a previous creative team’s iteration.
Well, Tony, Andor is exactly what I’ve been waiting for from Star Wars.
Wow, let’s just finish there. We’re done.
Have a nice day!
(Laughs.)
So I used to believe that Star Wars filmmakers needed to be lifelong Star Wars fans, but thanks to you, I no longer hold that opinion. Andor feels wholly unique to Star Wars, and I think it’s because you’re not coming from a place of nostalgia. So do you still believe that not being a lifelong fan is your “superpower”?
I think it imprinted on Rogue because that was my point of entry. It wasn’t that I didn’t like it. It just wasn’t on my radar. I wasn’t in awe of it. So when I came in here to futz around and repair [Rogue One], I knew I’d do my thing. I was going to bring my thing here. And it worked. We won, and then everybody was incredibly euphoric and everything. So my sort of imprinting experience was, “Well, that’s how you do it.” And that’s what I do. That’s the way to go. So I didn’t have to relearn that.
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.
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(L-R): Tony Gilroy and Diego Luna on the set of Lucasfilm’s ANDOR, exclusively on Disney+. ©2022 Lucasfilm Ltd. & TM. All Rights Reserved. COURTESY OF LUCASFILM
I just referenced your conversation with writer Brian Koppelman in 2017, and at the time, it sounded like you didn’t expect to return to Star Wars. What brought you back?
They tried to do a couple different versions of this show along the way. 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. 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. (Laughs.)
But along the way, Kathy [Kennedy] sent me one of the pilots that they were thinking about, but had grown cool on, and she asked what I thought. And in some sort of … I don’t know. I had time. I was in some sort of manic thing, and so I just got on it for a couple days. So I wrote this big manifesto for her. “This is what your show should be like. This is what you should never do. This is why this doesn’t work.” So it was a crazy thing, and it was wildly ambitious. And they were like, “Well, that’s really great. Thanks for helping us know what’s wrong, but we could never do this.” Then they tried a couple other things, and when everything had gone cold, there was a moment where, my God, streaming was whoa. Now we can really do it.
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So they went back and pulled this old memo, and they were like, “We want to do this now.” They wanted to be that ambitious on this scale, and the timing was right for me. I had a bunch of other things fall apart. I was getting a little tired of things falling apart, and the one thing that they definitely have is an audience. So it wasn’t an overnight thing that you tiptoe into. It takes a long time. Everybody tiptoes forward, but that’s how it came to be.
Cassian Andor (Diego Luna) in Lucasfilm’s ANDOR COURTESY OF LUCASFILM
The Volume is amazing technology, but nothing beats the old ways of building sets and shooting on location. Thus, Andor’s production value is immaculate. Did you lobby to shoot on location and build massive sets? Was that a prerequisite for you?
It wasn’t really an issue. When I came on, Sanne Wohlenberg was the producer of record. She came with the existing pieces of the show. So Sanne was there, but I didn’t know her. She had just done Chernobyl, and it was sort of a shotgun marriage. So here we were together, and I had no idea that she was just going to be this rockstar producer.
And so the first decision you have to make is who’s going to be your production designer. Even in writing, my first call is to the production designer, because everything we do has to be designed. So we put a marker down. It was kind of a test for Disney: “How serious are you?” We didn’t want to go with any of the traditional Star Wars people. We wanted [production designer] Luke Hull, who was like 12 years old and had just done Chernobyl. He’s just a fricking genius, but non-Star Wars in every way. So we brought him over. As I was doing the [series] bible, I wrote the first three episodes as a sort of a test.
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In a perfect world, we’d be able to shoot location and shoot old school, and then we’d use the Volume when we want to use it. There are times when the Volume would be really good for us, but the technology doesn’t exist to do both. You have to make a choice at this point because of the workflow on the Volume. All your post-production has to be done beforehand. You have to shoot all of your plates. Everything has to be done. When you go in the Volume, everything’s done. You’re just adding the actors.
Our system is completely different. We shoot everything with the actors, and we build out from there if we need to build out. And those two systems, maybe there’s somebody who’s doing it, but economically, you can’t do [both]. So, automatically, we were just like, “We have to be a build show.” It wasn’t a controversy, really. I saw it get turned into a controversy the other day, but it’s not like that at all. There are times where we’d love to use it. It does some great things.
When you invent the past, you recontextualize the future. So will this story change the way we look at Rogue One?
Yes, definitely. (Gilroy smiles.)
Cassian not only owes money to people, but he’s also in a situation where the walls are closing in on him. And so for anyone who’s familiar with your past work, they know that this is right in your wheelhouse. Do you recognize any other through-lines?
Oh my God, yeah. I haven’t changed one single bit. I do the same thing I’ve always done. From the moment I figured out how to really do it, or evolved into it, I’ve never changed my process. I bring my game and my system. I haven’t changed to do this.
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(L-R): Luthen Rael (Stellan Skarsgard) and Mon Mothma (Genevieve O’Reilly) in Lucasfilm’s ANDOR COURTESY OF LUCASFILM
Stellan Skarsgard’s character, Luthen Rael, is already one of the most fascinating characters in Star Wars. My favorite moment of the series so far is in episode four, when Nicholas Britell’s theme plays over him as he readies himself on his ship and cracks a wry smile.
Oh my God, isn’t that gorgeous? We just finished the score three weeks ago. [Writer’s Note: This interview took place on Aug. 5th.] We just finished mixing episode 12 the day before yesterday, and people are going to flip out over what Nick has done. This job is just so intense, and there’s so much going on. Nick lives 11 blocks away from me in New York, and so I would just go to his house to work. For two years, we’ve been doing the music, and going to his house is really like going to church. We’ve just had so much fun. Seven hours of music. It’s an entirely new vocabulary for Star Wars, and I’m really proud of the score.
Luthen is the noble Gus Fring of Coruscant, I suppose. How did he come to be?
That man is really tricky. In the beginning, you’re like, “Oh God, secret identity. How are we going to do it? It’s going to be cheesy. What do they do?” Stellan’s character has two personas. He owns a gallery in Coruscant, and he’s an aesthete. He’s a courtier in a way, and then he’s natural Luthen out in the world.
One day, when we were developing the whole thing, Stellan goes, “Ah, the wigs … It’s really just the hands.” And I go, “What do you mean?” And he goes, “Well, natural Luthen is this, and Luthen of Coruscant is this. That’s all it is.” (Gilroy performed both mannerisms.) So it was one of those things that I was really worried about and nervous about. It’s always the case on every show, but the things you don’t worry about are the ones that bite you in the ass. So I was really, really worried about this, but all those issues took care of themselves along the way. That, very elegantly, worked out. Yeah, I love Luthen of Coruscant.
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Luthen Rael (Stellan Skarsgard) in Lucasfilm’s ANDOR COURTESY OF LUCASFILM
There are characters on Andor who weren’t in Rogue or the original Star Wars movies, so some viewers will mistakenly believe that they all have to die to explain their future absence in separate stories written long before this one. However, life can exist off screen. So what can you say about the fates of these new characters?
We literally have around 200 speaking parts in the first 12 episodes. When I figured out season two, I had to make about 30 phone calls to the actors that I knew were going to go forward. I had to call them up and say, “Hey, this is what I’m thinking. This is when you live. This is when you die. This is how many episodes you’re in.” I mean, the body count is high all the way through, but people live. It’s a revolution. It’s a very intense period of time. People are doing very dangerous things. Some people live and some people don’t. How do we know who lives or dies at the end from the previous Star Wars? You wouldn’t know. I mean, there’s people buried in Yavin. Who knows who’s there.
Are you going to direct in season two?
I am not. I can’t. This job is just too huge. 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.
So the directors who’ve come in have all been great, and they’re really ambitious. They’re really greedy. You need an extra retrorocket to go off when it’s time to direct. When someone else comes in and says, “Man, I want to make this great. I want to make it better,” it’s really exciting. So I can say that I’m not directing. I’ll be here [in Pinewood], but I’m not directing.
(L-R) Tony Gilroy and Dan Gilroy arrive at the special 3-episode launch event for Lucasfilm’s original series Andor at the El Capitan Theatre in Hollywood, California on September 15, 2022. ALBERTO E. RODRIGUEZ/GETTY IMAGES
You often work with the brothers Gilroy, but I somehow didn’t realize that Dan was also involved as a writer. Did he take to the Star Wars galaxy pretty quickly?
Yeah, Dan Gilory can do anything. He’s a freak.
The showrunner, who crafted a critically acclaimed show by encouraging people to forget they were working in a galaxy far, far away, recalls advice to his collaborators: "You're here because we want you to be real."
BY BRIAN DAVIDS
Plus Icon
SEPTEMBER 23, 2022 10:39AM
'Andor' creator Tony GIlroy ALBERTO E. RODRIGUEZ/GETTY IMAGES
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When Tony Gilroy joined the Star Wars galaxy to reconfigure Rogue One, he was unafraid to make the tough choices. His superpower, as he called it, was that he wasn’t a lifelong Star Wars fan, allowing him to take some big swings such as sacrificing Rogue’s main characters. Gilroy certainly became a fan of the franchise during his time on Rogue, paving the way for him to join Andor as creator/showrunner once previous development stalled.
When the series eventually entered into production, Gilroy noticed that his collaborators were altering their behavior and performance because of their nostalgia for Star Wars. So he had to encourage them to put aside their fondness as best they could.
“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,” Gilroy tells The Hollywood Reporter. “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.”
Gilroy, who’s directed thrillers such as Michael Clayton and The Bourne Legacy, was originally going to helm a portion of Andor season one until Covid-19 upended that plan. There was also a hope that he was going to be able to direct a block of season two, but he admits that the job of showrunner is too demanding of his time.
“I am not [directing in season two]. I can’t. This job is just too huge. I don’t have the time to spare. It’s a really poor use of my time,” Gilroy says. “[Director] Ari [Ariel] Kleiman is out in Pinewood. We start shooting in November. He started prepping three weeks ago. He’s got his hands full out there just to get to November. There was some fantasy that I would end up doing the last block, but I just can’t, to be honest with you.”
In a recent conversation with THR, Gilroy also discusses the ambitious Andor “manifesto” he wrote for Lucasfilm boss Kathleen Kennedy, at a time when the company had cooled on a previous creative team’s iteration.
Well, Tony, Andor is exactly what I’ve been waiting for from Star Wars.
Wow, let’s just finish there. We’re done.
Have a nice day!
(Laughs.)
So I used to believe that Star Wars filmmakers needed to be lifelong Star Wars fans, but thanks to you, I no longer hold that opinion. Andor feels wholly unique to Star Wars, and I think it’s because you’re not coming from a place of nostalgia. So do you still believe that not being a lifelong fan is your “superpower”?
I think it imprinted on Rogue because that was my point of entry. It wasn’t that I didn’t like it. It just wasn’t on my radar. I wasn’t in awe of it. So when I came in here to futz around and repair [Rogue One], I knew I’d do my thing. I was going to bring my thing here. And it worked. We won, and then everybody was incredibly euphoric and everything. So my sort of imprinting experience was, “Well, that’s how you do it.” And that’s what I do. That’s the way to go. So I didn’t have to relearn that.
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.
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(L-R): Tony Gilroy and Diego Luna on the set of Lucasfilm’s ANDOR, exclusively on Disney+. ©2022 Lucasfilm Ltd. & TM. All Rights Reserved. COURTESY OF LUCASFILM
I just referenced your conversation with writer Brian Koppelman in 2017, and at the time, it sounded like you didn’t expect to return to Star Wars. What brought you back?
They tried to do a couple different versions of this show along the way. 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. 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. (Laughs.)
But along the way, Kathy [Kennedy] sent me one of the pilots that they were thinking about, but had grown cool on, and she asked what I thought. And in some sort of … I don’t know. I had time. I was in some sort of manic thing, and so I just got on it for a couple days. So I wrote this big manifesto for her. “This is what your show should be like. This is what you should never do. This is why this doesn’t work.” So it was a crazy thing, and it was wildly ambitious. And they were like, “Well, that’s really great. Thanks for helping us know what’s wrong, but we could never do this.” Then they tried a couple other things, and when everything had gone cold, there was a moment where, my God, streaming was whoa. Now we can really do it.
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So they went back and pulled this old memo, and they were like, “We want to do this now.” They wanted to be that ambitious on this scale, and the timing was right for me. I had a bunch of other things fall apart. I was getting a little tired of things falling apart, and the one thing that they definitely have is an audience. So it wasn’t an overnight thing that you tiptoe into. It takes a long time. Everybody tiptoes forward, but that’s how it came to be.
Cassian Andor (Diego Luna) in Lucasfilm’s ANDOR COURTESY OF LUCASFILM
The Volume is amazing technology, but nothing beats the old ways of building sets and shooting on location. Thus, Andor’s production value is immaculate. Did you lobby to shoot on location and build massive sets? Was that a prerequisite for you?
It wasn’t really an issue. When I came on, Sanne Wohlenberg was the producer of record. She came with the existing pieces of the show. So Sanne was there, but I didn’t know her. She had just done Chernobyl, and it was sort of a shotgun marriage. So here we were together, and I had no idea that she was just going to be this rockstar producer.
And so the first decision you have to make is who’s going to be your production designer. Even in writing, my first call is to the production designer, because everything we do has to be designed. So we put a marker down. It was kind of a test for Disney: “How serious are you?” We didn’t want to go with any of the traditional Star Wars people. We wanted [production designer] Luke Hull, who was like 12 years old and had just done Chernobyl. He’s just a fricking genius, but non-Star Wars in every way. So we brought him over. As I was doing the [series] bible, I wrote the first three episodes as a sort of a test.
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In a perfect world, we’d be able to shoot location and shoot old school, and then we’d use the Volume when we want to use it. There are times when the Volume would be really good for us, but the technology doesn’t exist to do both. You have to make a choice at this point because of the workflow on the Volume. All your post-production has to be done beforehand. You have to shoot all of your plates. Everything has to be done. When you go in the Volume, everything’s done. You’re just adding the actors.
Our system is completely different. We shoot everything with the actors, and we build out from there if we need to build out. And those two systems, maybe there’s somebody who’s doing it, but economically, you can’t do [both]. So, automatically, we were just like, “We have to be a build show.” It wasn’t a controversy, really. I saw it get turned into a controversy the other day, but it’s not like that at all. There are times where we’d love to use it. It does some great things.
When you invent the past, you recontextualize the future. So will this story change the way we look at Rogue One?
Yes, definitely. (Gilroy smiles.)
Cassian not only owes money to people, but he’s also in a situation where the walls are closing in on him. And so for anyone who’s familiar with your past work, they know that this is right in your wheelhouse. Do you recognize any other through-lines?
Oh my God, yeah. I haven’t changed one single bit. I do the same thing I’ve always done. From the moment I figured out how to really do it, or evolved into it, I’ve never changed my process. I bring my game and my system. I haven’t changed to do this.
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(L-R): Luthen Rael (Stellan Skarsgard) and Mon Mothma (Genevieve O’Reilly) in Lucasfilm’s ANDOR COURTESY OF LUCASFILM
Stellan Skarsgard’s character, Luthen Rael, is already one of the most fascinating characters in Star Wars. My favorite moment of the series so far is in episode four, when Nicholas Britell’s theme plays over him as he readies himself on his ship and cracks a wry smile.
Oh my God, isn’t that gorgeous? We just finished the score three weeks ago. [Writer’s Note: This interview took place on Aug. 5th.] We just finished mixing episode 12 the day before yesterday, and people are going to flip out over what Nick has done. This job is just so intense, and there’s so much going on. Nick lives 11 blocks away from me in New York, and so I would just go to his house to work. For two years, we’ve been doing the music, and going to his house is really like going to church. We’ve just had so much fun. Seven hours of music. It’s an entirely new vocabulary for Star Wars, and I’m really proud of the score.
Luthen is the noble Gus Fring of Coruscant, I suppose. How did he come to be?
That man is really tricky. In the beginning, you’re like, “Oh God, secret identity. How are we going to do it? It’s going to be cheesy. What do they do?” Stellan’s character has two personas. He owns a gallery in Coruscant, and he’s an aesthete. He’s a courtier in a way, and then he’s natural Luthen out in the world.
One day, when we were developing the whole thing, Stellan goes, “Ah, the wigs … It’s really just the hands.” And I go, “What do you mean?” And he goes, “Well, natural Luthen is this, and Luthen of Coruscant is this. That’s all it is.” (Gilroy performed both mannerisms.) So it was one of those things that I was really worried about and nervous about. It’s always the case on every show, but the things you don’t worry about are the ones that bite you in the ass. So I was really, really worried about this, but all those issues took care of themselves along the way. That, very elegantly, worked out. Yeah, I love Luthen of Coruscant.
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Luthen Rael (Stellan Skarsgard) in Lucasfilm’s ANDOR COURTESY OF LUCASFILM
There are characters on Andor who weren’t in Rogue or the original Star Wars movies, so some viewers will mistakenly believe that they all have to die to explain their future absence in separate stories written long before this one. However, life can exist off screen. So what can you say about the fates of these new characters?
We literally have around 200 speaking parts in the first 12 episodes. When I figured out season two, I had to make about 30 phone calls to the actors that I knew were going to go forward. I had to call them up and say, “Hey, this is what I’m thinking. This is when you live. This is when you die. This is how many episodes you’re in.” I mean, the body count is high all the way through, but people live. It’s a revolution. It’s a very intense period of time. People are doing very dangerous things. Some people live and some people don’t. How do we know who lives or dies at the end from the previous Star Wars? You wouldn’t know. I mean, there’s people buried in Yavin. Who knows who’s there.
Are you going to direct in season two?
I am not. I can’t. This job is just too huge. 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.
So the directors who’ve come in have all been great, and they’re really ambitious. They’re really greedy. You need an extra retrorocket to go off when it’s time to direct. When someone else comes in and says, “Man, I want to make this great. I want to make it better,” it’s really exciting. So I can say that I’m not directing. I’ll be here [in Pinewood], but I’m not directing.
(L-R) Tony Gilroy and Dan Gilroy arrive at the special 3-episode launch event for Lucasfilm’s original series Andor at the El Capitan Theatre in Hollywood, California on September 15, 2022. ALBERTO E. RODRIGUEZ/GETTY IMAGES
You often work with the brothers Gilroy, but I somehow didn’t realize that Dan was also involved as a writer. Did he take to the Star Wars galaxy pretty quickly?
Yeah, Dan Gilory can do anything. He’s a freak.
Just watched the first 3 episodes tonight.
Not gonna spoil it for those who have not seen it.
But I will say and point out….don’t go into this series expecting Jedi, Blasters, lightsaber’s and spaceship fights in space.
This is not that type of series. This series is completely different from everything else that has come out.
It is not a series for those who suffer from TV ADHD. It is starting out as a slow burn series mainly focused on character introduction/development. Lots of talking in it….LOTS OF IT.
The series looks to be focused also on the origin of the Rebellion. And it seems to go be going in-depth on the intricacies on the bureaucracy of the Empire and corporate conglomerate’s that support it.
Gonna let a couple of episodes stack up. Episodes are running about 35-40 minutes. This is going to be a 12 episode season, 3 have debuted so that leaves 9 to go. This season will stretch out until Thanksgiving.
Looking forward to the next episodes.
Not gonna spoil it for those who have not seen it.
But I will say and point out….don’t go into this series expecting Jedi, Blasters, lightsaber’s and spaceship fights in space.
This is not that type of series. This series is completely different from everything else that has come out.
It is not a series for those who suffer from TV ADHD. It is starting out as a slow burn series mainly focused on character introduction/development. Lots of talking in it….LOTS OF IT.
The series looks to be focused also on the origin of the Rebellion. And it seems to go be going in-depth on the intricacies on the bureaucracy of the Empire and corporate conglomerate’s that support it.
Gonna let a couple of episodes stack up. Episodes are running about 35-40 minutes. This is going to be a 12 episode season, 3 have debuted so that leaves 9 to go. This season will stretch out until Thanksgiving.
Looking forward to the next episodes.
I got rid of Amazon prime for Disney+It looks good..... I'd check it out, but honestly.... not paying for another streaming service.... even Disney.... there's barely enough time in the day to watch the shit I've got now....
.
Best Star Wars outside of Mando. 1st 3 episodes were good…
people making a big deal out of someone saying "shit" in SW
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What I enjoyed seeing in the first 3 episodes was the constant Ineptness depicted amongst the folks who worked for the Morlana corporation.
Kyle has been introduced as a “Bad Guy”. But all he was trying to do was do his damn job.
His superior gave him “The Talk” on how to handle shit to keep the boss’ and Empire happy by feeding them BS.
Then Kyle when left in charge, gave his subordinates basic orders to do and all they could do was come back with 99 million excuses on why they can’t do shit.
The strike team going after Cassian we’re running around like the Keystone Kops.
You can see they are all well paid, eating good and trained. But it’s obvious mofos are just there for a damn paycheck and don’t give two fucks about their job.
It’s like what Cassian said about the Empire in that clip I posted above, everybody is fat and happy and don’t give two Fucks.
Most likely in future episodes they gonna show how Fucked up the Empire is with lazy mofos and corruption. I suspect this series will give us some insight on why the Empire always seemed clueless in handling the Rebellion like what we saw in Episodes 4 thru 9.
There’s no way Sidious can micro-manage these dumb fuckers into doing their job correctly.
Kyle has been introduced as a “Bad Guy”. But all he was trying to do was do his damn job.
His superior gave him “The Talk” on how to handle shit to keep the boss’ and Empire happy by feeding them BS.
Then Kyle when left in charge, gave his subordinates basic orders to do and all they could do was come back with 99 million excuses on why they can’t do shit.
The strike team going after Cassian we’re running around like the Keystone Kops.
You can see they are all well paid, eating good and trained. But it’s obvious mofos are just there for a damn paycheck and don’t give two fucks about their job.
It’s like what Cassian said about the Empire in that clip I posted above, everybody is fat and happy and don’t give two Fucks.
Most likely in future episodes they gonna show how Fucked up the Empire is with lazy mofos and corruption. I suspect this series will give us some insight on why the Empire always seemed clueless in handling the Rebellion like what we saw in Episodes 4 thru 9.
There’s no way Sidious can micro-manage these dumb fuckers into doing their job correctly.
Man what you said is why I fucking loved Episode 3.....
I love how all this shit started cause of what Cass did and it wasn't because of some huge earth shattering thing...
Dude merc'd two people... he deserved to get caught
but I love how they showed the difference in the classes and how the tension between the upper and lower classes.
same fam… some shows really need to be released at once and this one of them….
I was discouraged when The Mandalorian first debuted on Disney+ with the weekly uploads.
But Disney has constantly surprised us with unexpected cameos in these series.
If they released them all at once, the internet would be flooded with spoilers on what surprises they had in the series. That Mandalorian Season 2 cameo with Luke Skywalker would have been ruined if they had released the season all at once.
This series will definitely have some surprise cameos.
If anybody noticed with Cassian working in the yard, it was full of old ships being broken down for scrap.
Cassian’s friend Joplin was seen in a yard breaking down old ships along with the chick Adria who was breaking down engines and selling them on the black market.
Good chance Han Solo, Chewbacca and Lando Calarissian might make surprise cameos being they are in the black market/smuggling game at this point.
All those scrap yards and mofos breaking down shit , that material is being recycled for the Empire to build their equipment. Would not surprise me if all that material is being used to build the two Death Stars.
It would be funny if they confirm the Death Star was built with recycled material cuz mofos wanted to save money and pocketed the rest with all the corruption going on. HaHa!!!
And speaking of Han Solo, we might get a major cameo of Crimson Dawn. They are the cats behind the Black market game in the Galaxy.
That movie “Solo” might be tying into this series.
We will wait and see…..
I watched through Episode 4, its a little better, still the weakest Star Wars bio series.
Episode 4 was good! Shit is very very solid! And 12 episodes is a lot so looking forward to the rest…
Episodes 4 and 5
Just completed watching these two episodes.
A section of the Empire was introduced in episode 4 along with Coruscant. Just like in the first 3 episodes, it did a good job depicting the bureaucracy going on in the Empire.
Mon Mothra was introduced and it looks like the series is going to be going in-depth on her character.
We got some insight on Luthen on who he is. I haven’t read the EU books, but I suspect his antiquities shop had a lot of Easter Eggs in it. The only thing I recognized was a Jedi/Sith Holicron. Not gonna spoil it but there seems to be more about him than what we have seen so far.
Series so far has continued mainly focusing on character introduction/development along with story development. It’s a slow burn series so far.
It’s looking like episode 6 will start to kick it up a notch with action and suspense.
I noticed tonight that just by watching two episodes, they are similar to watching a movie and allow you to soak in what is going on more than watching one episode a week when they debut.
Gonna let episodes 6 and 7 debut and watch those back to back.
I’m enjoying the series. Like I pointed out earlier, it’s completely different from anything we have seen from Star Wars.
Just completed watching these two episodes.
A section of the Empire was introduced in episode 4 along with Coruscant. Just like in the first 3 episodes, it did a good job depicting the bureaucracy going on in the Empire.
Mon Mothra was introduced and it looks like the series is going to be going in-depth on her character.
We got some insight on Luthen on who he is. I haven’t read the EU books, but I suspect his antiquities shop had a lot of Easter Eggs in it. The only thing I recognized was a Jedi/Sith Holicron. Not gonna spoil it but there seems to be more about him than what we have seen so far.
Series so far has continued mainly focusing on character introduction/development along with story development. It’s a slow burn series so far.
It’s looking like episode 6 will start to kick it up a notch with action and suspense.
I noticed tonight that just by watching two episodes, they are similar to watching a movie and allow you to soak in what is going on more than watching one episode a week when they debut.
Gonna let episodes 6 and 7 debut and watch those back to back.
I’m enjoying the series. Like I pointed out earlier, it’s completely different from anything we have seen from Star Wars.