With the “Obi-Wan Kenobi” series in the rearview, Lucasfilm is gearing up for its next “Star Wars” show, “Andor,” a prequel series to “Rogue One A Star Wars Story” starring Diego Luna again as the title character. Spearheaded by Tony Gilroy (“Michael Clayton”) — who wrote, directed, and oversaw the reshoots and editing of ‘Rogue One’— the “Andor” series follows Cassian Andor’s early rise within the Rebellion as one of its key spies during the tyrannical reign of The Empire. With the show set for a late August release, Gilroy has already started press rounds, telling Empire Magazine recently, “the scale of the show is so huge.”
The writer/showrunner also spoke about the show’s unique structure, which he revealed covers multiple years leading up to the events of “Rogue One: A Star Wars Story.” Additionally, you’re looking at a series that covers one year in season one and then several years in season two, making for big-time jumps as the events lead closer to ‘Rogue One.’
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“Directors work in blocks of three episodes, so we did four blocks [in season one] of three episodes each,” Gilroy said, explaining how that model affected the approach of the second season. “We looked and said, ‘Wow, it’d be really interesting if we come back, and we use each block to represent a year. We’ll move a year closer with each block.’ From a narrative point of view, it’s really exciting to be able to work on something where you do a Friday, Saturday, and Sunday, and then jump a year.”
This manner of shooting the episodes is very different from the way Jon Favreau and Dave Filoni are shooting their own string of “Star Wars” shows, as they don’t often jump to different eras within their characters’ stories. Clearly, “Andor,” which built massive physical sets and didn’t really employ the volume technology like most of the other “Star Wars” shows did, is doing things differently.
Here is the show’s official synopsis:
Focusing on Cassian Andor’s journey to discover the difference he can make. The series brings forward the tale of the burgeoning Rebellion against the Empire and how people and planets became involved. It’s an era filled with danger, deception, and intrigue where Cassian will embark on the path that is destined to turn him into a rebel hero.
Empire also included a new image from “Andor” that features Luna and Stellan Skarsgård, which you can see below. “Andor” is set for an August 31, 2022 release on Disney+, and as previously revealed, the second season has been greenlit and will consist of 12 episodes.
