"Andor" creator Tony Gilroy details significant challenges making season two

On the plus side for Gilroy, from a quality and a pressure perspective, he says that Disney largely left him alone, which is remarkable for production processes these days. When asked if he was left to his own devices, Gilroy remarked, "Yeah, totally. I’m not kidding. On the creative side, I will never have an experience like this ever again."

Of course, that doesn't mean things were easy. While Gilroy had mostly finished his writing on the 12 episodes of season two before season one had even finished airing, changes still had to be made. Suddenly, streaming became financially fraught, and there were some hard discussions about budgeting the second season of "Andor." Gilroy said that, in the industry, "the sky was falling" and that he and his creative producing partners decided, "We’d be happy having season one just be the show. We’d rather not do it than do it lame." Yes, we may have come close to not getting a second season of "Andor." 

However, the Disney bigwigs still took a shot on the show, though the budget was tweaked, and so the filming ambition was also tweaked. Then, "Andor" got its eight Emmy nominations and everybody probably chilled out a bit.

Then, of course, there was the WGA strike, and then the SAG strike, which complicated production. Season one's composer Nicholas Britell had to cut off his contributions midstream. In the end, though, Gilroy got it all put together. Now, he and the cast just have to live up to the lofty expectations. Also, hope people still have the appetite for "Andor." The first season released its last episode in November 2022, after all.

"Andor," which tells the story of the rebellion that led to the events of "Rogue One," which in turn sets the table for the original "Star Wars," is premiering with three episodes on April 22. Each three-episode segment of the 12-episode season was handled by a different credited writer, and Tony Gilroy's three episode are up first.

(h/t The Hollywood Reporter)