Andor, the highly-anticipated prequel series based on Diego Luna’s Cassian Andor from Rogue One: A Star Wars Story, has been enjoying a bit of a news dump lately along with the other Star Wars series set to premiere in the next couple of years. But a new interview with showrunner Tony Gilroy seems to shed some light on not only how the show begins in terms of Andor’s story, but also how it interacts with the canon. Granted, much of that new info is shrouded in mystery, but it looks as though there will be some surprises that might attempt to coax some fans out of their comfort zones.
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According to Gilroy, fans might want to temper how much they think they understand Star Wars canon because Andor is probably going to challenge a lot of those preconceptions. “There are certain events that happen in these five years [during which Andor is set] that are important and need to be paid attention to. There are certain people, characters that are legacy characters, that the audience, the passionate audience, really feels that they have an understanding of and know,” Gilroy explained in an interview with Vanity Fair. “In some cases, they’re right. And in some cases, what we’re saying is, ‘What you know, what you’ve been told, what’s on Wookieepedia, what you’ve been telling each other…is really all wrong.”
It’s a bold move to straight up come out like that and tell fans that the show will actively change the canon as it’s been understood up to this point. Even changes that stayed faithful to how things were, like with Rian Johnson’s The Last Jedi, resulted in a less than favorable reception from a small subset of fans due to simply being not what they expected or hoped for. But Gilroy appears confident in what he and the rest of the team have to offer. Whether that’s enough to assuage the concerns of that same minority of fans still remains to be seen.
The Vanity Fair interview also illuminated bits of the show’s setting and overall plot, featuring Luna’s character as he slowly becomes radicalized by the actions of the Empire and the galaxy in general. Starting out as a thief who’s already had a tough life, he’s discovered by a Rebel talent scout who recruits him when he’s basically at his lowest point. It sounds remarkably similar to the story of Felicity Jones’ Jyn Erso in Rogue One, which may very well be intentional. Though, unfortunately, there will be no wisecracking K-2S0 helping facilitate things this time around, at least not yet.
Andor will offer an interesting opportunity for a much more serious and grim Star Wars story, and now with the news that it will challenge the canon itself, there’s a good chance it may end up just as divisive as The Last Jedi. But just like the 2017 film, it could also mean that the risks paid off narratively. Either way, it’s bound to be a very different type of tale from a galaxy far, far away.
Star Wars: Andor will premiere on Disney Plus on August 31, 2022.
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Source: Vanity Fair
