According to the producer of Andor, the upcoming second season of the show is going to be quite different than what the world is watching now.
Much to the surprise of many, the Disney+ series following Cassian Andor from Rogue One has been phenomenal for many. In fact, lots of people have claimed it to be one of the best pieces of Star Wars storytelling ever.
Previously it has been revealed while the first twelve episodes of the show will cover the span of a year, the next batch, which begins filming soon, will explore the next four.
It’s that unique shift in storytelling structure which will help, at least in part, make the final half of the Andor series very different from the first.
A Very Different Andor Season 2
In an interview with Rolling Stone, Andor producer Tony Gilroy discussed how Season 2 of his hit show would differ from the first season.
To start, the filmmaker noted that having a five-season run, which was the original plan, “would have been physically impossible:”
“It just would have been physically impossible. We’re about to start shooting the second half in a month. So we’ve been prepping for the whole last year. There’s two directors in Pinewood [Studios, in the U.K.] that are prepping right now, and I’m getting ready to go over there and trying to get all our scripts together.”
He continued, explaining how the final season will “be very different” and that he hopes it “will make the meal feel really satisfying:”
“And I’m hoping what we’re gonna do in the second half will make the meal feel really satisfying. Because the first year is really about him becoming, and the last line of this tranche of 12 episodes will sum up where we’ve been trying to get to. And we come back a year later. It’ll be very different. The next four years [of story] are not about becoming a revolutionary. They’re about learning to be a leader and how difficult it is to put the alliance together and what happens to people who are the original gangsters versus the establishment and a lot of different other issues.”
With the first season, the story takes its time exploring what is a relatively small timeframe, fleshing out as many details as possible. How could that change going into Season 2, which will cover four years instead of one?
Gilroy specifically pointed out how they found “[playing around with] the negative space” was something they enjoyed while also teasing betrayals amongst the cast in future installments:
“I’m carrying forward something like 30 characters. So what becomes interesting is now we can play the negative space. When you jump a year, what happened in between? You know the people, you know what their trajectory was. It’s energizing. We will be starting new characters, obviously, in the next 700 pages. There will be all kinds of new things, and will be just as granular as we ever were. And really, the second half is about what does time do to these people? People grow up, and people get tired, and people betray each other, and people change their minds, and people get weak, and people get crazy.”
Formerly, a director for Season One of Andor had stated how Gilroy had a mandate to keep droids and aliens in the background for the most part. But why?
The director noted how it was all due to logistics and how if you introduce a character, you have to also explain “all their plumbing and all their health issues:”
“I think we’ll be addressing some of that as we go along a little bit more. Sometimes it’s problematic in storytelling, where you can’t just introduce a character. You have to introduce, all their plumbing and all their health issues. People said, Why didn’t you have aliens in Narcina Five [where Andor is imprisoned]? You see the five facilities that are in that lake there, so it’s easy for me to imagine that there’s another one that’s all aliens. But what are the mechanics of what you can do and build, and what would the bathroom be like on the factory floor? I don’t even really know. You get into a bunch of other issues that become just a little bit too complicated sometimes to go into. But we will be doing more of that as we go along.”
Despite that, the storyteller promised “[there’ll] be a lot [more]” about the aliens later on:
“And I understand that there’s some people that feel that’s been shaded slightly, but that’s probably the primary reason. It adds a level of complexity, and it adds a level of political complexity, but we will be going there. Look, we’re going all the way to Rogue One. There’s a lot of that coming up.”
A Change in Structure Isn’t Bad
Seeing how well received the first season has been, many seem to have no doubt the show will continue to maintain that same level of quality.
There’s no denying, however, that covering four separate years of time will lead to the second season feeling distinctly different. In a sense, it could even have a more episodic feel, seeing as there will be four separate bundles of three-episode arcs—which is far from a bad thing.
However, the closer the story gets to Rogue One, the more it’ll feel necessary to connect to the wider universe and its library of characters and plot. Up to this point, the series has been fairly focused on its own dealings, with Mon Mothma being the biggest connection to the wider franchise.
Going forward, it would make sense for the story to bring in characters that fans know and love. People such as Hera from Star Wars: Rebels, who goes on to have a high ranking and general involvement in the Rebellion.
The series could also bring Grand Admiral Thrawn in at some point as an Imperial officer tasked with tracking down rebel activity—something he excels at.
Rogue One is now streaming on Disney, while the second season probably won’t land until 2024.
