It’s the year 2022, which means that we simply can’t have a decent work of storytelling art without it alluding to a dozen different political dilemmas that currently afflict our society. But I guess when you are George Lucas and developing a story about the rise of a revolution — against the evil Galactic Empire, no less — there’s bound to be some allegories, even if inadvertent. As for Andor, it seems like some showrunner Tony Gilroy isn’t playing coy with such analogies at all.
In a new interview with Empire Magazine as part of their extensive profile on the Star Wars prequel series, actress Fiona Shaw reflected on the political evangelism of Gilroy’s scripts and how they picture a “Trumpian” galaxy far, far away through Sheev Palpatine’s new world order.
“Tony has written a great, scurrilous [take] on the Trumpian world. Our world is exploding in different places right now. People’s rights are disappearing, and Andor reflects that. The Empire is taking over, and it feels like the same thing is happening in reality, too. I was impressed by Tony’s social-realist intentions. He’s created a whole new morality. It’s very deep and humane – there is grief, mourning, hope, fear. It’s not just primary colors here.”
Star Wars has often been accused of pertaining to a rather simplistic interpretation of good and evil through the Jedi and the Sith, but it looks like Gilroy is attempting to rev up the political Game of Thrones-y factor a few notches.
Still, the galaxy far, far away fandom has shown that it can be a little nitpicky when it comes to overt allegories, so let’s hope that this creative decision doesn’t end up blowing up in Lucasfilm’s face.
