Initially planned as a five-season epic, Andor will now wrap up with a fast-paced second season.
Rather than following a slower narrative style, the upcoming season of the Star Wars series adopts a distinctive format—dividing the story into four groups of three episodes, with each set jumping forward by a year.
In the latest issue of SFX magazine—now available on newsstands and featuring Black Mirror season 7 on the cover—Gilroy reveals that the unexpected narrative change was “born out of desperation.”
Advertisement Reflecting on the shift in storytelling, Gilroy recalls,
We were halfway through shooting season 1, coming through Covid, and the monumental size of the show, the effort, and everything else was just dawning on us, We realized that I didn’t have enough calories to do it, and Diego’s face couldn’t take the timing, because it just takes too long to make it. We were saved by Disney saying, ‘Okay, if you guys can figure out a way to do it, we’re into it.’
he says
Speaking about the new structure—which leads Andor right up to the events of Rogue One—Gilroy continues,
It’s a fascinating experiment and I don’t know if anyone’s ever done it before. We’re going to jump a year between each block, and we’re going to use that negative space in a really interesting way, coming back for three days at a time, so it’s like a Thursday, Friday, Saturday, or a Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday. The challenge is, how do you come back [to start each chapter]? We wanted to have it be as elegant and seamless as possible, and just hit the ground running. There was a lot of experimentation to make sure that would work.
A year can mean a lot in a galaxy far, far away, and Andor is pushing the boundaries even more with its long-anticipated epic. That’s why series star and Cassian Andor actor Diego Luna says they’ve essentially filmed “four movies” for a second season that isn’t afraid to break the mold.
Season two of Andor premieres on Disney Plus on April 22.