As the Disney+Star WarsseriesAndorreturns for its second and final season, it has received glowing reviews from fans and critics alike. While otherStar Warstelevision seasons have been greeted with far more tepid or mixed reactions over the past several years,Andorhas remained a staggering artistic accomplishment, thanks in no small part to creator Tony Gilroy. A common refrain, even among fans of the show, is thatAndoris so good because Tony Gilroy doesn’t really care aboutStar Wars.
The logic goes that because Gilroy is largely unburdened by living up to any lofty expectations or fulfilling any childhood fantasies, he’s been able to create a series that is great in its own right, and largely divorced from theStar Warsfranchise as a whole. Part of this is because Gilroy himself once revealed in an interview that he was “not afanfan” ofStar Wars. However, in actuality,Andoris deeply, intricately, and often overwhelmingly indebted toStar Wars. It’s just that while other shows are busy providing fans with surface-level references to narrative elements of prior films and stories,Andoris engaging with much deeper-cut elements of craft and storytelling from across the whole of theStar Warsgalaxy.
Tony Gilroy’s History withStar Wars
Tony Gilroy first became involved withStar Warsby accident. As Lucasfilm and Disney got into the editing process ofRogue One, the franchise’s first-ever spin-off film and the first Star Wars film to be released after the billion-dollar success ofThe Force Awakens, theyrealized things were amiss. For reasons that have remained disputed and contentious for nearly a decade now, the studios decided that the film needed substantial reworking, resulting in extensive reshoots. While credited director Gareth Edwards apparently played nice during all of this, the restructuring ultimately resulted in Tony Gilroy coming onboard as a writer and ghost director to shepherdRogue Oneto completion.
Prior to this, Gilroy had established himself as a highly accomplished screenwriter and director in Hollywood. He had written for theBournefranchise and written and directed films such asMichael ClaytonandDuplicity. To this end, Gilroy was experienced in character-based espionage dramas, making him aperfect fit to overseeRogue One’s restructuring. In the aftermath ofRogue One’s success, as Disney was looking to cultivate a roster ofStar Warsstreaming TV shows, an early idea that was floated was a prequel series that would chronicle the life of Cassian Andor, Diego Luna’s character from the film. What was initially pitched was something far more rote and predictable, with Cassian and his droid pal K-2SO getting into weekly hijinks, but when Gilroy was approached and asked to participate, he pitched something entirely different: a steadily crescendoing work of symphonic storytelling whose threads would intertwine to tell and authentic and visceral tale of rebellion.
Ultimately, Disney opted to go with Gilroy’s pitch, and it paid off in spades. The first season ofAndornetted the franchise and the streamer some of its best reviews ever, and the second season isnow earning even higher praise. And while it is true thatAndorstrikes a notably different tone and pace than many otherStar Warsprojects, to say the show is un-Star Warsis a flat-out lie.
The Nerdiness ofAndor’sStar WarsReferences
One need look no further than the first episode of the second season, “One Year Later,” to see just how palpably rooted inStar Warsstorytelling the show truly is. The opening sequence of the episode literally features a character painstakinglychecking all of the individual gauges and readersinside of an Imperial fighter, calling specific attention to the minutia of the design and production that went into the realization of the ship. Furthermore, the ship itself is a TIE Avenger; a model of ship that was frequently seen in Expanded Universe material (the name given to any and allStar Warstie-in media that was rendered non-canon when Disney purchased Lucasfilm) but makes its official onscreen debut here.
Elsewhere in the episode, Imperial officials speak about the planet of Ghorman and how it has valuable resources they need to acquire by force if necessary. Not only is Ghorman a planet that has been long established inStar Warslore, but the Ghorman Massacre that the show is poised to build to is an event that has been referenced in material asfar back as the 1990’sThe Rebel Alliance Sourcebook. Another key story thread established in this first episode has to do with Mon Mothma’s homeworld of Chandrila, which has long been referenced inStar Warsstories such as 1993’sThe Truce at Bakura, but has never actually been seen before. Beyond this, the royalty romance/political intrigue-centric storyline and the design of the Mothma estate, as well as its aesthetics, are all notably similar to Claudia Gray’s Princess Leia-starring novels,BloodlinesandLeia, Princess of Alderaan.
While otherStar Warsstreaming shows, such asThe Mandalorian,are busy making surface-level references, such as bringing back R5-D4 or trotting out a digitally created Luke Skywalker,Andoris engaging with some of the nerdiestStar Warsstuff imaginable. This goes well beyond extensive lore references as well, as the very form of the show is in constant conversation with the films as well. One key moment in the opening dogfight setpiece of “One Year Later”features a digital crash-zoomon the TIE Avenger mid-flight, which is a digital shot that was first pioneered in the final act ofAttack of the Clones. Similarly, the first season featured one of the greatest filmmaking references to the original 1977 film of any subsequentStar Warsmedia, when Gilroy and co. elected to use the exact same camera movement that Lucas used to segue out of Leia’s torture scene in that film for the climax of Bix’s torture scene inAndor.
In short, regardless of the fact that Tony Gilroy professes to not be a “fanfan” ofStar Wars, for anyone to say thatAndoris a show that ‘isn’tStar Warsenough’ is an egregious mistake. It’s a show whose every facet, from its narrative to its themes to its camerawork, isn’t afraid to chart its own path but has also remained deeply indebted to the foundations of George Lucas’ original work.
