There are currently nine Star Wars shows in various stages of development for Disney Plus, and one of them acts as a prequel to a prequel. Diego Luna’s Cassian Andor may not have embedded himself into the franchise’s mythology to the same degree as many other supporting characters have done in the past, but in 2018, it was nonetheless announced that he’d be getting his own small screen spinoff that takes place before the events of Rogue One.
Obviously, because this is a Star Wars project in the Disney era, the production was hit by behind the scenes turmoil and a series of setbacks that have seen the show struggle to gather much momentum. Lucasfilm were reportedly unhappy with the scripts turned in by Zootopia and Moana writer Jared Bush, so Tony Gilroy was drafted in to give the screenplays a polish and also take over behind the camera, which seemed like a fitting appointment seeing as how he was essentially handed the same job on Rogue One.
Shooting was originally supposed to kick off in June, but the Coronavirus pandemic had other plans, and the travel restrictions also caused Gilroy to drop out of the director’s chair. Todd Haynes will now take the reins for at least the first three episodes, with The Americans veteran Stephen Schiff set as showrunner and Alan Tudyk also back to reprise his Rogue One role as droid K-2SO.
Production is tentatively scheduled to finally begin next month, and the title of the streaming exclusive has been listed as Star Wars: Andor. Of course, that’s hardly the most interesting or imaginative title the studio could have gone with, but it gets the job done and with any luck, we’ll start to see some set photos quite soon.
