Andor has won so much praise primarily because it doesn’t feel like other Star Wars series or movies, and hasn’t been as obsessive about shoe-horning in cameos and references, or fretting over canon as much as some of the other Disney Plus fare. Writers Tony Gilroy, his brother Dan and Beau Willimon don’t actually know that much Star Wars lore – to the extent that the production designers have sneaked things in without them noticing.
Speaking to The Hollywood Reporter, Tony Gilroy says that him and the writers have people they can got to, to ask any Star Wars questions they may have; “We have Pablo Hidalgo. He’s sort of the curia of the Vatican up there at Lucasfilm. He’s the final voice, but we have a lot of people on the show.”
“Mohen Leo, our visual effects supervisor who was on Rogue One as well, is a huge part of our show and a really important feature on our show. Mohen and his team know everything. We have a lot of people around the show that are really deep. So if we have a question, we ask it, but it’s kind of an organic system, really.”
Gilroy adds; “Every now and then, they sneak shit in there that even I didn’t know. I was reading online about the antiquities in Luthen Rael’s gallery, and the provenance of some of those antiquities was news to me. (Laughs.) So it was fantastic that the art department snuck those things in there. But by and large, it’s a collaborative, organic, rolling process.”
Andor has been getting consistently positive reviews all season, but episode 10 has received particularly high praise. Andy Serkis has also been singled out for his performance as Kino Loy. Unfortunately, the season is almost at an end, and it will be a long old wait until season 2.
In the meantime, check out our guide to the best Star Wars characters.