Tony Gilroy Credits Andor’s Existence To The Mandalorian: ‘No Baby Yoda, No Andor’

The existence of Andor is something of a miracle. The hugely acclaimed Star Wars series is bold, uncompromising TV, an unflinching exploration of the cost of true revolution, all wrapped into a prequel to a prequel to the original ’77 Star Wars – and delivered by one of the best writers in the game, Tony Gilroy. As the show prepares to deliver its second and final season – leading right into the events of Rogue One, which fans first saw nearly a decade ago – Gilroy is clear that a show like Andor “will never happen again”.

“Not because we’re so great,” he tells Empire, in a major new interview alongside Cassian Andor himself, Diego Luna, “but because no-one’s ever gonna start a show on this scale again, and shoot it practically, and have the resources and the protection to do something like this.” That notion of ‘protection’ is a key point for Gilroy – noting how all involved in getting Andor made were instrumental in it arriving unscathed with “ultimate freedom”, its own high-stakes trench run. “We were protected all the way down the line,” says Gilroy. “Kathy [Kennedy] protected us. Lucasfilm protected us. Bob Iger protected us. The audience protected us. The Mandalorian protected us. We had all these people out there backing our play.”

Yes, even Din Djarin had his part to play – not just the protector of Grogu. “The success of The Mandalorian gave us the platform to jump off,” Gilroy explains. “Their success is what would fuel the whole thing. I mean, no Baby Yoda, no Andor. Seriously. Don’t think that we don’t know that.” While Mando and Andor are poles apart tonally, the projects exist in symbiosis – not in opposition, as the Dark Side of Star Wars fandom might choose to believe. “Online, [people] try to drive a wedge all the time between us, and [Jon] Favreau and [Dave] Filoni,” says Gilroy. “It’s horrible what people say; it’s terrible. And the truth is, we don’t have a show without them. They gave us the muscle to go.” One way out? This is the way.

Read Empire’s full Andor interview – talking the 10-year journey of Star Wars’ most unexpected hero with Diego Luna and Tony Gilroy – in the Jaws At 50 issue, on sale Thursday 10 April. Pre-order a copy online here. Andor Season 2 comes to Disney+ from 23 April.