Why Andor Will Only Have 2 Seasons, Despite Being the Best Star Wars Show, Explained
No other Star Wars TV project has received as much praise as Tony Gilroy's Andor. It would seem that such a successful show could please viewers for several more seasons. Here's why the creators decided to limit the story to two chapters.
Released in 2022, the first season of Andor captivated viewers with its unusual darkness and realism by Star Wars standards.
Andor's Unusual Structure Is the Best Way to Deal With the Story's Timeline
Perhaps the only complaint was the narrative structure: twelve episodes were divided into four arcs of three episodes each.
At the same time, each arc was more like a single story divided into three roughly equal parts – if you watch all three in one sitting, the story comes together; if you get one of the three parts per week, not so much.
However, such a structure seems logical if you take into consideration the fact that Andor, originally planned for five seasons, ended up being a two-season project thanks to Diego Luna and Tony Gilroy.
Here's why they decided that Cassian's story would be better served by just two chapters.
Tony Gilroy Initially Planned to Make Five Seasons of Andor
In 2022, Denise Gough, who played Dedra Meero, admitted in an interview that she had originally signed on for five seasons:
“We sort of signed up for five years. We thought they were gonna be five seasons of this and then thankfully Diego [Luna] was like, ‘I'll die if I do five seasons.’ [...] Tony Gilroy has managed to do one more season and you're gonna have told the whole story.”
Each of the five seasons was supposed to cover one year in Cassian's life, as was the case in Season 1.
However, Season 2 changed the structure – now three episodes of each of the four arcs cover a year, or more accurately, show the events of the few most important days of each year for the characters.
Tony Gilroy Explained Why He Decided to Make Two Seasons Instead of Five
In an interview with SFX (via Games Radar), Tony Gilroy revealed the reason why he changed his original vision and decided to shorten the story:
“We were halfway through shooting season 1, [...] and the monumental size of the show, the effort, and everything else was just dawning on us. We realized that I didn't have enough calories to do it, and Diego's face couldn't take the timing, because it just takes too long to make it.”
Diego Luna ages like we all do, and the gap between seasons one and two was three years, which would have stretched the filming of five seasons over more than ten years. That would have created a problem – Cassian was supposed to look younger in Andor than he did in Rogue One.
There were sacrifices to be made, but at least we are thankful that this story is coming to a logical and deserved end.
