2016’s Rogue One: A Star Wars Story may have shown what happened in the final days of Cassian Andor’s life, but it wouldn’t be the last we’d see of him in a galaxy far, far away. In late 2022, Andor premiered to Disney+ subscribers, showing how Diego Luna’s character took his first steps towards the Rebellion five years ahead of stealing the Death Star Plans with Jyn Erso. We know that Andor Season 2 will cover the remaining four years of Cassian’s life between Season 1 and Rogue One, but now word’s come in on where things currently stand with the show in the midst of the strikes.
The Writers Guild of America strike has been going on since May 2, and the SAG-AFTRA strike began on July 14. According to Deadline, it’s the latter that’s impacted Andor, as its shoot in the United Kingdom has been temporarily paused, though the cast and crew were apparently just weeks away from wrapping up. However, this doesn’t mean the entire Andor production has been shut down. This step in the creative process will continue at Pinewood Studios without its SAG-AFTRA members, instead relying on actors who fall under agreements with Equity, the British acting union. Furthermore, Equity performers have supposedly been told that they’ll be sued for breach of contract if they walk off in support their SAG-AFTRA counterparts.
Andor Season 2 began filming on November 21, 2022, just two months after the show’s first episode dropped on Disney+. Six months into principal photography, and a week after the writers strike began, showrunner Tony Gilroy announced that not only had he “ discontinued all writing and writing-related work” on the show prior to midnight, May 1, but he “would also be ceasing all non-writing producing functions.” Now with the actors strike well underway, Disney and Lucasfilm are attempting to get as much done for Andor that doesn’t require any SAG-AFTRA members, but there’s only so much that will be accomplished until production as a whole will need to to shut down. From there, it’s unclear when the Star Wars show will be able to finish the remainder of filming since just like with the writers strike, there’s no time table on when the actors strike will end.
The Andor Season 1 ending showed Cassian finding Stellan Skarsgård’s Luthen Rael and giving him one of two choices: to either kill him or take him in to the Rebellion. Naturally we know what Luthen decides to do, so Season 2 will cover the years Cassian was an official Rebel, with the final three episodes showing what he was doing in the immediate days prior to Rogue One. Along with Diego Luna and Skarsgård reprising their roles, the next season’s returning actors include Genevieve O'Reilly, Kyle Soller, Adria Arjona, Denise Gough, Faye Marsay, Varada Sethu and Elizabeth Dulau.
Andor Season 2 is currently aiming for an August 2024 release, but depending on how long the actors strike goes, a delay may ultimately be necessary. We’ll let you know if that ends up being the case, but until then, keep visiting us for more news on other upcoming Star Wars movies and TV shows, and head to Disney+ in you’re interested in watching the Star Wars movies in order or viewing the platform’s exclusive small screen content for the franchise.
