Prior to Andor , theStar Warsuniverse never really got down to the grit of how andwhy the Rebellion amount togetheroutside of the Skywalker saga . Disney+’sRogue Oneprequelseries moderate by Tony Gilroyhas inject the franchise with complex , heady themes that have astounded and made Andor can’t - misfire , weekly appointment television .
It ’s an impressive feat — Andor is maybe even the bully show on air properly now — so with that in mind , io9 utter to author Beau Willimon ( who script the Narkina 5 prison house electric arc ) and producer Sanne Wohlenberg about create the serial with Gilroy , collaborating with wiz Diego Luna , writingwithout needing to center Star Wars Easter eggs and traditional knowledge , and craft characters to cast anchor the show .
Sabina Graves , io9 : I want to dig into the meat of the behind - the - scenes here and start off with this : what really stood out to both of you about Andor that sets it apart in writing style ?
Diego Luna as Cassian Andor.Image: Lucasfilm/Disney+
Beau Willimon : I knew Tony was tackling this this massive story and was chatting about it start to occur together . He render me a call one day and said , “ Hey , do you want to fare bring with me and my brother [ John Gilroy ] and help out ? Maybe write a few episodes and break some story ? ” And I felt overwhelmed because — I intend — here ’s this beloved massive franchise . I was put up the year it came out , and I have a thick love for it . There are many fans that know much more about the canon than I do .
io9 : On the same page here , I love Star Wars . I wish I knew all the little small things . There ’s so much !
Willimon : My first fear was like , “ Tony , I ca n’t name every ship . I do n’t know every type of blaster . I do n’t bonk every mid - rim planet . ” He was like , “ You do n’t need that , we ’ve got Lucasfilm for that . We ’ve got a whole squad that will verify that we ’re staying true to the canon , and that ’s available to us if we require to total up with very specific and obscure mind about this stuff and nonsense . I require to tell a human story . I want to tell a story of even multitude who are trying to pull out a rising together . And what does that mean from the perspective of the human heart ? ” And that really charge me , that you could take that approach of ordinary people in sinful circumstances and implement it to this massive , dear , vast dealership at that scale . That ’s what really attract me and fix me excited . Just the chance to work on with Tony — I do it Tony as an artist . He ’s a booster and so I just have it away it would be something special and different . Whatever Tony was going to do was not pass to be something you ’d see before . And to get to be a part of that in any way is very exciting and a exclusive right .
Image: Lucasfilm/Disney+
Sanne Wohlenberg : unquestionably very exciting . [ It ’s ] his vox creating his own serial publication and yes , it is a prequel to Rogue One — so you know where you ’re manoeuvre , but he has such a especial voice to be able to go back to a persona and really say the origin report in how he became the man that gave his life for the cause . To work in a data formatting where you short have screen time , you have enough time to really compass into the humanity and the fiber - driven storylines of who is at these plastic years of the Rebellion — who becomes the [ inspiration ] for multitude to make inroads to fighting the Empire . It was just a really exciting view to go on this journey with Tony Gilroy and his central collaborators for the committal to writing . You have another Gilroy and then you have Beau . It really is a proffer that does n’t come along very often . And it was a really exciting and easy thing to say , “ Yeah . I ’d like a fleck of that . Thank you . ”
io9 : Beau , this head is directly for you because I ’ve been stressed out for the preceding few weeks determine every episode . We see Andor ’s lifespan unravel at an early age , and the show sort of picks up on him at the point in his liveliness where he ’s running away , but through these events he chooses to run toward the cause . Is it stressful for you to indite these very trying episodes ?
Willimon : When we were breaking all this story [ like ] the prison house chronological succession , [ which ] Tony knew he wanted there to be one , there was a hatful for us to visualise out . We were moving very fast under some metre constraint . And this was pre - pandemic — so we were like barreling towards production and needed to break the stuff . So there was a form of vim and pace to the elbow room . We were caffeinated , we were moving fast , we really had one another , and so I think some of that pulse - racing was in the process itself , which sure as shooting informed the prison house successiveness . When you start to really build up the computer architecture of the history , literally build the computer architecture of the prison itself , and you have to almost clinically , methodically bring out all of these layers in a path , it end . I ’m not riddled with anxiety while I ’m working on that . It ’s almost like you ’re working like a sawbones step by footstep in a dim , thoughtful , designed way and sort of building all of this stuff up .
Image: Lucasfilm/Disney+
And when you ’re writing the scene themselves , of line , you ’re trying to put yourself in the shoes of these characters , and whatever they ’re feel you might feel some of it . But I intend , it ’s a calendar month - tenacious mental process to get to those , you eff , 43 minute of arc or something . What ’s crazy is , many months subsequently , you observe these episodes again—[I ] myself recently [ did ] with full VFX , score , fully edited , and everything . And I had texted Tony “ I just stop watching installment 10 again , my pulse is racing . I ’m deeply moved . ” Even though I love everything that was going to befall , it was still a gut lick . Wow . And it almost feel like I just get to observe it as a viewer and have the same experience and feel what you desire the hearing to feel . And in this case , I all did even if knew it was going to happen .
Wohlenberg : Really , by the end of it , you eff every line by centre , you cognize on the dot where everybody ’s seem . And yet what was extraordinary as you ’re putting it together , we were always all wholly engaged and move again . That is really not something that happens every prison term . And then you kind of begin to sense , you must have done something right-hand .
io9 : Diego Luna ’s bearing in on the show is just so unbelievable as sort of our through line into the origins of the Rebellion . I really appreciated his posture on it kind of being animate by the migratory narrative . I want to know more about his input on the process in developing Andor ’s arcs . Is it something that he ’s heavy involved in before it ’s on the varlet , or does he give Federal Reserve note after he ’s show the scripts ?
Image: Lucasfilm/Disney+
Wohlenberg : Mostly that in reality . It all starts with Tony sit down in a room and creating the overall story and really bringing a whole onus of aureate nugget to the table , and fleshing them out with his trusted partners [ and ] really digging deep into these instalment . Diego , as much as he is very much part of us , he tends to really give Tony the chance to kind of deliver something which is a true vision and a focus . And then he gets involved and then he begin to collaborate . It is a show that really has a voice and I think that is the beauty of Andor . Everybody , from Disney to Lucasfilm and Kathleen [ Kennedy ] , everybody appreciates that it is special to to have a phonation and remark on it when you gave somebody a prospect to express it . [ Luna ] and Tony are very close-fitting ; the minute the whole process set out he ’s unbelievably involved and has huge instinct of who his character is and the whole tale . That ’s a quislingism that is really fruitful and exciting .
Willimon : Even though he was n’t sitting in the room when we were get down to develop the story , his mien loomed great in a very good way . He was one of the few precondition at that point . Many of the characters had n’t been cast yet . You knew that there were mass like Mon Mothma that hopefully Genevieve O’Reilly would want to do , but there was a batch of clobber to supply on to . But you knew at the center of this was Diego Luna , so every time we were breaking that write up , you could see him . Tony , I conceive , had shared the [ Andor story bible ] with Diego before we ever came to the elbow room , so Diego already knew the framework of what we were discussing . And Tony ’s deeply collaborative . Like , he ’s not one of those show runner that keeps the secrets from the mould as to what ’s going to chance the next instalment . He walks them through the total fib arc for the character , wants their input , will maintain his vision , but also realizes that they ’re the people that have to incarnate these part and that their input is valuable and can make it even better . So they intrust him , which is bang-up . Diego be intimate the broad strokes of what was going to happen and Tony fall back with some protein on the plate and articulate , you sleep together , how does this taste to you ? You ’d add up a little bit of this there . And before you know it , you have this amazing performance at the center of the show .
io9 : Eedy Karn is my one of my favorite characters . She ’s fabulous , incredible , and so iconic with her comportment . What ’s it like writing those very vituperative pedigree ?
Willimon : So Eedy is one of those graphic symbol that was fully formed to Tony when he fare into the room , like the Syril / Eedy affair . He had written full scenes already to give us a sense of this dynamic . And we ’re reading this like , “ Oh my god , Eedy . Wow . ” Like , Syril … this is what he has to contend with . It was fully [ there ] from the beginning . So whenever you ’re tackling an Eedy picture , you ’re really just trying to conduct what Tony had already created and be intimate that whatever you write , he ’ll come in and swoop in . He might polish up anyway because that complex mixture of spite and beloved is somewhere in him , sprouting forth into the case of Eedy , and you just kind of curb onto it and go for the ride . And so as a writer , it ’s fun because he ’s gifted you this quality that you almost just need to pose back and listen to , and she ’ll write herself .
io9 : And Kathryn [ Hunter ] does such a dandy job delivering those killer line —
Willimon : And she ’s more crushing and oppressive than the Empire . When when the Bureau of Standards is your sanctuary from home , you acknowledge .
io9 : Was it designed to have her mirror Dedra Meero in a way ? Karn might be into that kind of intervention .
Willimon : I mean , from my perspective , not necessarily because I ’ve never in reality think of them mirror intentionally . But if you see it , there ’s something there . Yeah , that ’s an interesting affair to consider .
Wohlenberg : A really interesting observation I should think about .
Willimon : There are decidedly some tough women around this guy , that ’s for certain .
Wohlenberg : You experience what I have in mind ? It ’s a vast delight . You know , Tony writes beautifully potent and complex and interesting female parts . And I think that is a really beautiful thing and always a joy .
raw sequence of Andor stream Wednesdays on Disney+ .
require more io9 newsworthiness ? see out when to expect the latestMarvel , Star Wars , andStar Trekreleases , what ’s next for theDC Universe on moving-picture show and TV , and everything you ask to have intercourse about James Cameron’sAvatar : The Way of Water .
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