Andor creator, showrunner and lead writer Tony Gilroy has explained why he isn't also directing the live-action Star Wars series.
Gilroy was originally attached to direct the first three episodes of Andor Season 1. However, news broke in September 2020 that he ultimately opted not to due to the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic. In a recent interview with The Hollywood Reporter, Gilroy also put the kibosh on the idea of him helming episodes of Season 2.
"I am not [directing in Season 2]," he said. "I can't. This job is just too huge. I don't have the time to spare. It's a really poor use of my time. [Director] Ari [Ariel] Kleiman is out in Pinewood. We start shooting in November. He started prepping three weeks ago. He's got his hands full out there just to get to November. There was some fantasy that I would end up doing the last block, but I just can't, to be honest with you."
Gilroy elaborated on his decision not to sit in the director's chair for Andor in a separate interview with Rolling Stone, speaking to just how time-consuming working on a Star Wars project is. During said interview, Gilroy was asked what he "lost" and what he "perhaps gained" by not directing in addition to showrunning. "I gained survival," he laughed.
"This show is just a maximally imaginative experience," Gilroy continued. "Every single thing we do has to be designed. Every environment that we go to -- and we're gonna go to a lot of different environments -- you gotta design the culture, their music. How do they eat? How do they dress?"
After being told that Star Wars creator and original director George Lucas once said something very similar, Gilroy replied, "Oh, really? I didn't know that. But I mean, I'm sure. Because it just is. You can never say, 'Oh, they're going to the bodega.' Because what's the bodega look like on Coruscant? And that just launches 40 people and 17 meetings. What are the products? What are they selling? Everybody had their hands full. There was plenty of work to go around."
Gilroy wrote five of the 12 episodes that make up Andor Season 1 -- more specifically, the first three and the final two. Other writers on the season include his brother, Dan Gilroy, as well as Stephen Schiff and Beau Willimon. The directors helming the episodes of Season 1 include Toby Haynes, Susanna White and Benjamin Caron. As Gilroy mentioned, director Ariel Kleiman has joined the fray for Season 2. Andor Season 2 will also be 12 episodes long, bringing the series' total up to 24.
Andor Is Currently Streaming in a Galaxy Near You
Andor premiered its first three episodes on Disney+ on Wednesday, Sept. 21, with new installments of Season 1 set to drop weekly through Wednesday, Nov. 23. The series serves as a prequel to the 2016 film Rogue One: A Star Wars Story -- which Gilroy co-wrote -- with Diego Luna reprising his role as Rebel spy Cassian Andor. Andor Season 1 takes place five years prior to the vents of Rogue One. The subsequent four years of Cassian Andor's life will be chronicled in Season 2.
New episodes of Andor premiere Wednesdays on Disney+.
Source: The Hollywood Reporter; Rolling Stone