The Star Wars franchise continues well after the release of Episode IX, with a multitude of spin-offs, prequels, and side stories, both in film and television. One of the highest-rated spin-offs by both critics and audiences alike is Andor, and the actor who plays the titular character, Diego Luna, attributes the series' success to showrunner Tony Gilroy. Luna, despite being the lead actor who has already been nominated for a Critic's Choice Award, humbly praised Gilroy in an interview with Collider:

“It's Tony Gilroy. He's so ambitious, and he takes so much time and he delivers. Every character has a meaning, has a reason, has a journey, and he pays attention to all the details. There's no characters there just because we need to trigger something. There's an important reason. We are talking about the journey of someone that decides to give everything for the cause, you know? What has to happen in the life of someone and what events he has to witness, what people he has to meet? [Tony] has answered all those questions. I just feel really proud to be part of such a rich show. We have 12 episodes of 40 something minutes and I don't think we wasted any time.”

Tony Gilroy has previously written the Bourne saga, as well as Armageddon and State of Play. He also served as the producer for Nightcrawler. Most notably, he wrote Rogue One and directed the re-shoots for the film, so he's no stranger to the Star Wars universe.

Related: Andor Creator Tony Gilroy and Lead Star Diego Luna Discuss the Development of the Star Wars Series

Diego Luna Says Tony Gilroy Gave Him Backstory That He Didn't Have in Rogue One

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Lucasfilm Ltd.

Diego Luna looks back on Rogue One, which had to introduce several brand-new characters in a relatively short time frame, so it didn't have time to give his character Cassian a fully-fleshed out backstory. That wasn't the case for Andor. Luna says that the people Cassian meets helped build the character:

"It's more about the characters he meets in the journey where I was impressed by what Tony wanted to tell. The characters he meets - Luthen, Kino, the relation with Maarva - that is something so central in the understanding of Cassian. For me, it wasn't like that when I was getting ready for Rogue One. I had to create my own backstory. Backstory that no one cared about... My character was coming from somewhere else, you know? He has this accent that no one shares, and he clearly has left everything behind."

The show isn't just about Cassian Andor himself, but his role models in the rebellion who helped inspire him to make sacrifices. Luna says that despite the show taking place in a galaxy, far away, it feels close to the real world:

"But with Tony, it was so interesting to find out all these role models that Cassian has and the amount of sacrifice around the rebellion. It's quite interesting to see so many characters willing to leave everything behind for a reason they believe in. It's a beautiful story that reminds us what we are capable of, basically. And it's through these characters that I was like, oh my god, this is so rich and so pertinent and so real, even though we're in this galaxy far, far away. These characters feel really close to the world you and I live in.”

The filming of the second season of Andor has already begun and will conclude in August of next year, although an official release date has not yet been announced. The first season began streaming on Disney+ on September 21st, 2022.

Andor is created and written by Tony Gilroy, with Kate Hazell and David Meanti serving as producers. The cast includes Diego Luna, Stellan Skarsgård, Genevieve O'Reilly, Denise Gough, and Fiona Shaw.