Andor creator Tony Gilroy reveals Lucasfilm's original plan for the show would have taken 15 years to complete. The Rogue One prequel is the latest Star Wars series to hit Disney+, with Diego Luna reprising his role as Cassian Andor. In addition to serving as an origin story for its titular character, Andor also depicts the earliest days of the Rebel Alliance, as Mon Mothma and others look to push back against the Galactic Empire. Considering how beloved Rogue One is, many viewers are anticipating Andor's arrival, looking forward to a different kind of Star Wars project.
Set five years prior to the events of Rogue One, Andor has a lot of ground to cover as it shows how Cassian became the dedicated Rebellion intelligence officer who would sacrifice his life for the cause. With 24 episodes over two seasons to play with, Gilroy's approach sees Andor season 1 span a single year, and Andor season 2 span the remaining four (each three-episode block takes place over one year in the timeline). Even before the show premieres, Andor has a clear-cut plan with an endgame in sight, but it initially was going to be a much longer commitment.
Speaking with Rolling Stone ahead of Andor's arrival on Disney+, Gilroy discussed Lucasfilm's original plan for the Rogue One prequel. He stated the spinoff was set to run for five seasons, but during production on Andor season 1, he and Luna realized that would be untenable. Check out his comments below:
“It was just like, ‘We can’t possibly do this.' It’s a massive, massive undertaking, and Diego wouldn’t be able to play a younger man over the next 15 years. We wouldn’t be able to physically do it. And we were like, ‘Oh, my God, what are we gonna do?’ So at first it was desperation, and then a very lucky, elegant solution presented itself.”
As enthusiastic as Luna is about being a part of the Star Wars franchise, it's understandable why he'd share Gilroy's feelings about the initial Andor plan. Fifteen years is an enormous commitment to make to any role, let alone one in a blockbuster franchise like Star Wars, which typically have time-consuming shoots and are physically demanding due to action sequences. If Andor stuck to the original idea, Luna and Gilroy would have been working on the series until the mid-2030s, potentially limiting their opportunities to pursue other creative endeavors. Luna is hardly the first actor to express wariness about g on for a long-term commitment. Marvel Studios changed their contracts in part because their multi-picture deals scared away major stars.
Fortunately, Lucasfilm was willing to be flexible and agreed Andor would be better off with Gilroy's revised model. While the studio continues to have trouble with Star Wars' movie future, this anecdote about Andor highlights Lucasfilm's collaborative environment. Ideally, shifting Andor from five seasons to two will benefit the spinoff in multiple ways. With a far more streamlined approach, there's less of a risk of stretching the premise too thin over the course of 60 episodes. Gilroy and Luna can just hit the ground running and tell the story they want to tell in a more efficient 24. Early Andor reactions are positive, so hopefully whenever season 2 releases, audiences can look back at the show as one of Star Wars' highlights.
Source: Rolling Stone
