‘Andor’: Tony Gilroy Defies Disney Mandate & Has Ceased All Showrunning Duties During WGA Strike

As you have no doubt already heard, the WGA is on strike right now. Just over a week into it, this strike has already caused quite a few disruptions, with productions being halted and development coming to a standstill. But that didn’t stop studios, such as Disney, from mandating that productions continue, and if it’s a TV series, the showrunner must continue “non-writing” duties. This mandate has led to a lot of confusion about how well a showrunner can produce TV without any changes to scripts or writing things on the day. In fact, WGA members have even taken to social media to call out folks like Tony Gilroy (showrunner for “Andor” and also a member of the WGA) for continuing their non-writing duties during the strike. Well, it appears people should find out all of the facts before dragging people on social media.

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According to THR, not only has Tony Gilroy defied Disney’s order to continue work on “Andor” during the WGA strike, but he did so well before people started calling him out on social media. Gilroy is not only the showrunner for the series but he is also the primary writer of the “Star Wars” series and the creative driving force of the show. So, people were rightfully suspicious about Gilroy continuing work on the show without actually writing anything. However, it appears the showrunner already understood that and left “Andor” production more than a week ago.

“I discontinued all writing and writing-related work on Andor prior to midnight, May 1,” said Gilroy. “After being briefed on the Saturday showrunner meeting, I informed Chris Keyser at the WGA on Sunday morning that I would also be ceasing all non-writing producing functions.”

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As mentioned, most major studios (not just Disney) issued demands to showrunners and non-writing folks to continue their work during the WGA strike. We’ve already seen this happening with TV series still in production. However, there have also been instances of productions being shut down after picketing WGA members have disrupted filming.

As the strike continues, it’ll be interesting to see just how long TV productions can keep up work with only non-writing personnel. One of the hallmarks of TV production (well, even film production) is the idea that dialogue and scripts can change on the fly if something isn’t working right that day. So, it definitely feels like TV productions that are currently continuing should definitely be scrutinized by WGA members. We’ll just have to see how many showrunners, like Gilroy, will cease all responsibilities and leave productions entirely.

What this means for “Andor” is still unknown. The series wasn’t expected to return to Disney+ anytime soon, so it’s hard to know if this will affect the production and release schedule.