Andor creator Tony Gilroy has said that he and the show’s creative team have been driven “crazy” seeing the positive response to the Star Wars prequel series being used to create “controversy” with the franchise’s other Disney+ series.
Across its two seasons, Andor has been warmly received by both TV critics and hardcore Star Wars fans alike, with particular praise for its complex characters and political themes.
Now, Gilroy has addressed some of the debate surrounding Lucasfilm’s other output set in a galaxy far, far away — some of which, it has to be said, has not had as warm a welcome — which simultaneously suggesting that other Star Wars series would be wrong to try and simply clone Andor’s success.
“It’s driven us crazy on the show, every time people, the clickbait, trying to draw controversy between us and the other shows,” Gilroy told podcast The Ringer-Verse, via GamesRadar. “By the same token, it would be very wrong to come in and try to slavishly reproduce [Andor]. There has to be a hook, a reason why you want to bring your game there.”
Many fans have criticised Lucasfilm’s continued reliance on the Skywalker Saga for the series’ storytelling, with only one Disney+ project, The Acolyte, set outside of its timespan.
“There’s how many billions of beings in that galaxy? How many corners of it are unexplored?” Gilroy continued. “There’s some things that [Lucasfilm] is building that are really unusual I think, and I think that lesson is being taken to heart.
“Let your freak flag fly,” he added, encouraging other creators to come up with their own unique Star Wars pitches, “and do what you do best.”
For the moment, Lucasfilm looks to be playing it safe with a big-screen outing for popular Disney+ duo The Mandalorian & Grogu, due in theaters next year. Beyond that, Ryan Gosling will appear in Star Wars: Starfighter, about which we know remarkably little. Back on Disney+, we do know Lucasfilm is working on a second season of Ahsoka — though beyond that, Star Wars’ TV future feels rather unclear.
Tom Phillips is IGN’s News Editor. You can reach Tom at [email protected] or find him on Bluesky @tomphillipseg.bsky.social
