Andor has been off to an extremely positive start so far as the fandom is concerned, but according to Tony Gilroy, his humble spinoff series is much more crucial to canon than many veterans would expect. The story of Cassian Andor will be so entrenched in continuity, in fact, that Gilroy refers to it as a great starting point for any future Star Wars fan.
In a new chat with ThePlaylist following the release of the fourth Andor episode today, the showrunner explains how Andor is going to tie into different facets of Star Wars lore and why it was important that they take their job seriously.
“‘You should be able to watch these 24 episodes as your entry point to Star Wars,’ he said. ‘I mean, you shouldn’t have to know anything about Star Wars to watch our show. We’re going go down in places you never thought were going to be true to canon, but we’re going to give you—I mean, God, just the IP alone that we’re creating is just insane, what we’ve built—and, we’re going to never be cynical about it. We’re going to take it more seriously than anybody ever took it.’”
Since taking over Star Wars in 2012, the Mouse House’s misses have far outweighed their hits, both in numerosity and the overall audience participation trend. Among the movies, Rogue One was definitely one of the latter, going down a treat with audiences and critics alike, so it’s hardly surprising to see that Gilroy has managed to imitate his success with Andor, which takes place five years before the events of that flick.
Something tells us that between them, The Mandalorian and Andor will be carrying the Star Wars brand for the next two or three years. That should be enough for Disney to finish work on the next major movie entry, though fans remain wary of any attempt at expanding the Skywalker Saga if your name doesn’t rhyme with Filoni or Favreau, and now Gilroy, it would seem.
At any rate, Andor will continue its run next Wednesday on Disney Plus.