It’s safe to say that Andor can be considered one of the Star Wars franchise’s greatest successes in the Disney era, if not its entire history. The Rogue One prequel’s two seasons were met with critical acclaim, and we have Tony Gilroy, who co-wrote the 2016 Star Wars movie, to thank for its darker and more “adult” exploration of a galaxy far, far away (albeit with less aliens). That being said, Gilroy has explained why it’s necessary for upcoming Star Wars TV shows to simply copy what he did with Andor, and he’s absolutely correct.
While appearing on The Ringer-Verse, Gilroy laid out his feelings about Andor being pitted against the other Star Wars TV shows in terms of quality comparison, as well as the importance of creators bringing fresh perspectives to this franchise. He explained:
It's driven us crazy on the show, every time people, the clickbait, trying to draw controversy between us and the other shows. It just drives us nuts when we see it, we’re like, ‘What is this?’ By the same token, it would be very wrong to come in and try to slavishly reproduce [Andor]. There has to be a hook, a reason why you want to bring your game there. Let your freak flag fly, and do what you do best.
There’s a world where Rogue One would have been our only time following along with Cassian Andor, as he perished alongside Jyn Erso on Scarif. However, Tony Gilroy decided he was a compelling enough character to further delve into, so Andor chronicled the five years leading up to the movie. But it wasn’t just Cassian getting all the attention, as this series also explored the complexities of characters in both the Rebel Alliance and the Empire at the height of the Galactic Civil War, including Mon Mothma, Bix Caleen, Luthen Rael and Deedra Meero.
While it’s possible that some of the characters who made it out of Andor alive could be revisited one day, Tony Gilroy would prefer that future Star Wars shows explore new corners of this fantastical galaxy. I definitely agree with him on this, as I worry the franchise will go stale if it keeps revisiting familiar faces rather than introduce new ones. Even better, it sounds like Gilroy already aware of how this will be accomplished next, saying:
There's how many billions of beings in that galaxy? How many corners of it are unexplored? There's some things that [Lucasfilm] is building that are really unusual I think, and I think that lesson is being taken to heart.
Following the release of Star Wars: Visions Season 3 next month, there are three Star Wars TV shows lined up for the coming years: Ahsoka, which is returning for its second season, and the animated series Maul: Shadow Lord and spinoff Star Wars: Visions Presents. It also still hasn’t been announced if Skeleton Crew will return for Season 2. However, I suspect that Tony Gilroy is referring to something that hasn’t been announced to the public yet with that last comment, as I wouldn’t necessarily describe those aforementioned shows as “unusual.”
While it certainly would have been great if Andor could have lasted longer, I’m appreciative of the two seasons of exceptional storytelling we got, while simultaneously agreeing that the creative talents behind other Star Wars TV shows should steer clear of trying to borrow too much from it. Andor won four categories at the Primetime Creative Arts Emmy Awards this past weekend, and we’ll see how it fares in its three nominated categories at the 77th Primetime Emmy Awards when that airs on Sunday, September 14.
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