Tony Gilroy Says Disney’s Original ‘Andor’ Idea Was Similiar To ‘Butch Cassidy & The Sundance Kid’ With K-2S0

It only takes watching the first teaser for “Andor” to know that the latest “Star Wars” series is very, very different than the other Disney+ releases from the galaxy far, far away. It appears the series is aimed at a much older, more mature audience than shows like “The Mandalorian” and “The Book of Boba Fett.” And the best way to explain the stark contrast between “Andor” and everything “Star Wars”-related that preceded it is to note that Tony Gilroy is the mastermind behind the scenes. 

And in a new interview with Variety, Tony Gilroy explained the initial idea for “Andor” that he was shown by Disney and why that idea wasn’t going to work for him, which led the filmmaker to pitch a much more “radical” idea to the Lucasfilm executives. 

READ MORE: Tony Gilroy Says The Final 3 Episodes Of ‘Andor’ Season 2 Take Place 5 Days Before ‘Rogue One’ Starts

“It was in the vein of Cassian and K-2 are like Butch and Sundance, and they’re gonna storm the Citadel,” Gilroy said about the original pitch. While he thinks the original idea was fine, the filmmaker added the idea was “very hard to sustain over a long haul.”

In response to Disney sharing this idea with Gilroy, the filmmaker sent back some constructive criticism about how the idea wasn’t the best. He even included his own idea for where the show might go. 

“It was such a crazy idea,” he explained. “It was so radical, so out there.”

Gilroy’s new idea involved a long story about what led Cassian Andor to turn from a lowly nobody to one of the most important elements of the Rebels who would help to take down the Death Star. The ambitious series is broken up into two seasons, with the first season taking place over the course of a year, while the second season will feature more time jumps and take place over four years. In fact, in an interview with The Playlist, Gilroy even went so far as to explain the final scene of the show and how it ties directly into “Rogue One: A Star Wars Story.”

READ MORE: ‘Andor’: Tony Gilroy Says He Won’t Direct In Season 2 & That’s By Design

Clearly, Disney eventually would agree with Gilroy’s assessment and brought him on to take on the role of writer (of several episodes at least) and overall showrunner. Now what we have is an “Andor” series that is incredibly different than any other “Star Wars” TV series to come before it. Hell, it’s way different than any of the films. 

Will fans be open to this sort of “radical” reinvention of “Star Wars,” and what types of stories the universe can tell? We’ll find out when the first three episodes of “Andor” arrive on Disney+ on September 21.

You can also watch a new clip from the show below: