ANDOR Showrunner Tony Gilroy Was Denied Only One Thing, Dropping STAR WARS’ First F-Bomb

We’re all still reeling from the end of Andor, one of the greatest chapters in the entire Star Wars franchise. It’s hard to believe that such a hard-hitting, grounded piece of storytelling came from the galaxy far, far away. Disney and Lucasfilm gave Andor showrunner (and Rogue One co-writer) Tony Gilroy a reported $650 million to produce Andor, and gave him almost full creative control. In fact, Gilroy is on the record as saying that Lucasfilm president Kathleen Kennedy allowed him to introduce subjects like police brutality and brothels in the very first episode without pushback. But Lucasfilm put their foot down with one thing. They denied Andor dropping Star Wars‘ first f-bomb.

Speaking at the ATX TV Festival (via Fandom Wire), Gilroy said that in the two seasons of Andor, he received only one creative note from Disney. And it had to do with the use of profanity. In the first season, the speech by Cassian’s adoptive mother Maarva (Fiona Shaw), originally ended with the words “F--- the Empire”. Instead, Disney said “Can you please not do that?” And so “F--- the Empire” became “Fight the Empire.” Which honestly works just as well. And the message isn’t lost with “Star Wars‘ first f-bomb” controversy.