Nearly two years ago Andor was released on Disney+ to critical acclaim from critics and fans. In fact, many called it some of the best live-action material from Star Wars ever. Going off of that, I feel like there’s a big lesson the Star Wars franchise can learn from the show, but it’s not what you’d probably think.
There are some people who say that the reason Andor works is because of it’s darker and gritty tone. But I don’t agree with that, as the tone works specifically because of the story the show tells. It’s essentially a spy thriller, so going for a grittier feel works in a way that wouldn’t in an average Star Wars story. What I think it comes down to is the series show-runner Tony Gilroy.
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Going back to the spy genre, Gilroy is famous for working on the Jason Bourne films. His first experience with Star Wars was back in 2016 when he was asked to work on rewrites (and reshoots probably?) for Rogue One. According to Gilroy, the original version of the film wasn’t working and the final cut that was released in theaters was the best version you could get. He seemed to be right as the film was well received and did well at the box office. There are also many fans who say Rogue One is their favorite of the Disney era films. Based off of that, it’s not a surprise that Lucasfilm asked Gilroy to return and work on Andor which serves as a prequel to Rogue One. Here’s the thing about Tony Gilroy though…..he’s not really a Star Wars fan. And, in my opinion, that’s a good thing.
Since Rogue One and in the lead up to Andor Gilroy spoke about the fact that he’s not really “a fan fan” of Star Wars. He was hired to do a job as a writer, and he fulfilled it as best as he could. His concern with making the movie and show was to just tell a good story. He told his writers to put away their nostalgia and feelings towards Star Wars so it wouldn’t influence the writing. Whenever you make a new installment in a franchise it’s easy to go and say, “Well, we should only hire people who are fans and already love this.” And while it’s probably not a good idea to hire someone who hates the property or has disdain for it, I don’t think it’s a bad idea at all to hire someone who’s not a diehard fan, someone who isn’t an expert on the universe.
There’s been a lot of criticism directed towards Star Wars, and this goes back to the prequels when George Lucas was still involved. That criticism is that for a series that takes place in “a galaxy far, far away,” it often feels very small. We’re constantly going back to the exact same well of characters, and if we do create new characters they always have to interact with the originals at some point. Fan service can be a good thing sometimes, but only if it makes sense. Darth Vader being in Rogue One made sense because that movie literally stops right before the beginning of A New Hope. On the flip side, Darth Maul showing up in Solo made no sense because it comes out of nowhere and half the audience who never watched Clone Wars were left wondering how he was still alive.
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When season 3 of The Mandalorian came out last year, there were some people who said they had a harder time enjoying it after Andor. Again, I kind of felt this way too but it wasn’t because of the tone. The Mandalorian wants to have the classic Star Wars feel that goes back to old sci-fi movie serials and that tone works for that show. What made it feel off was the fact that Andor felt like a show made by people who just wanted to tell a good story. The Mandalorian feels more like fans just doing what they think looks cool. So did Book of Boba Fett, from a storytelling standpoint it didn’t really makes sense that that show just becomes The Mandalorian season 2.5 halfway through. But wasn’t it cool to see Luke Skywalker? Wasn’t it cool to see Cad Bane in Live action? Sure, at first. But it would’ve been better if Luke looked like an actual human being, and not an AI creation. It would’ve been cooler if they had set up Cad Bane more and developed his relationship with Boba more and not rely on people’s knowledge of Clone Wars episodes that were never even finished.
This is where having someone who’s not a die hard fan worked to Andor‘s benefit. It was a show that could be accessible to people who don’t even like Star Wars. There are no random cameos of characters that casual fans have to go on Wookiepedia to look up. It’s not a rehash of a plot that’s already been done before like The Force Awakens, it was filmed on actual sets and locations and didn’t rely solely on using the volume. The characters sounded like real people and didn’t use made up swear works like “nerfherder” or “dank farrik”(I’m sorry if this is a controversial take but I’ve just always hated both of those words). It was just a strong standalone story that was engaging and had compelling characters and that’s what this franchise needs more than anything else.
