While Andor is set in a galaxy far, far away there is a distinct lack of Star Wars-canon aliens from other shows and movies in it. There’s no Twi’leks serving drinks or Bith playing woodwind-ish instruments in a cantina. This was apparently a practical decision.
That doesn’t mean the show’s been devoid of aliens. We’ve seen a bartender of unrecognizable lineage, an Urodel (first seen in Star Wars: Episode VII) and a four-armed physician. In an interview with Collider, showrunner Tony Gilroy touched on the issue of aliens on the show.
For example, there are no aliens in the imperial prison camp on Narkina 5. Whether it’s just a prison for human convicts or the Empire simply thought only humans could do the work is unknown. Gilroy said the reason is much more practical.
“In some places, people were saying, oh, ‘Why is Narkina 5 all humans?’ Well, I don’t know how you would work out the bathroom on the floor with eight different varieties of genitals or whatever. I mean, it has to be that way, a system like that, maybe there’s Narkina 2 where there’s different things. We’re probably a little bit shy about it because it’s such a behavioral show and most of our principles are in this particular world. And certainly, the Empire doesn’t have a surplus of aliens on their side.”
Gilroy said Season 2 could potentially feature more aliens, but that it has to be thought out.
“There’s some [in Season 1], and we’ll probably have more. It’s a very strong flavor when it comes in. It’s not just a visual flavor, it’s a very strong character flavor. You have to deal with it politically. We will have more, and we’ll have them in the appropriate places. We try to pick our shots and make them cool, I guess.”
The season finale of Andor Season 1 drops on Wednesday. It will be the longest episode yet.