Tony Gilroy Digs Into Andor Season 2 Spoilers, The Final Shot, A Horror-Inspired Ok-2SO Ep That Never Was & Much More [The Rogue Ones Podcast]

For the most recent episode of The Rogue Ones podcast, hosts Mike DeAngelo and Rodrigo Perez sat down as soon as once more with Tony Gilroy, the creator and showrunner behind “Andor”, to unpack the formidable second season in full spoiler-filled element.

Created by Tony Gilroy and starring Diego Luna as Cassian Andor, “Andor” is a prequel to “Rogue One: A Star Wars Story” (which Gilroy co-wrote and famously helped reshape throughout reshoots). Set 5 years earlier than the occasions of Rogue One, the present focuses on the origins of the Rebellion and the way atypical folks — not simply Jedi or Chosen Ones — rise up towards oppression. Season two picks up a yr later within the first three episodes and jumps one yr forward with every block of three afterwards, main on to the start of “Rogue One” by the top (learn our evaluate of season two right here).

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When requested about his key goals for the ultimate season, Tony Gilroy stresses that dazzling the viewers with story and suspense all the time comes first, however behind that may be a once-in-a-lifetime alternative to say one thing bigger.

“No one’s ever going to get another 1,500 pages and this kind of money to make a comprehensive survey about revolution and insurrection,” Gilroy says. “So if I don’t do propaganda? If I don’t get the difficulty of coalitions? If I don’t show the way people get chewed up and forgotten? Then I’ve failed.”

He provides, “I have to dazzle first. I have to be specific second. Then I have to make sure I get a couple of these big ideas in there.”

When discussing the characters of Cyril and Dedra, Gilroy doesn’t draw back from the tragic implications of their arcs. “Cyril is really a romantic,” he explains. “He has this loud internal monologue of fantasy. I’m really sympathetic to him. As much of a dick as he is, he’s a tragic figure.” For Gilroy, Episode 8 (“Who Are You?”) is the character’s defining second. “We all get chewed up, man. That’s universal. Companies chew people up and spit them out. You could take Cyril and put him in Dunder Mifflin, for f**k’s sake.”

Constraints throughout manufacturing additionally led to shocking inventive victories. One standout instance being an deserted horror-inspired episode for Ok-2SO set on a transport freighter. “It was fantastic,” Gilroy says. “But we couldn’t afford it. So what do we do? We do more Gorman. And in retrospect, I wouldn’t go back and change it. I like the way we solved it.”

One of Gilroy’s most significant inventive moments was crafting Luthen’s loss of life, a sequence he says he had “sketched for a long time.” The emotional climax—Luthen’s quiet confrontation with Dedra within the gallery, and his final sacrifice by the hands of Kleya—was each intimate and deliberate. “[Dedra] ’s got to go into that shop,” Gilroy explains, referring to Dedra’s long-simmering pursuit. “I was just dying to get Dedra and Luthen together. My God, hell yeah.” Though one other model of Luthen’s arc was as soon as imagined, Gilroy stands by the ultimate strategy. “Very often, the problem-solving is the better solution.”

As for the ultimate shot of the collection—Bix, cradling a toddler, strolling right into a wheatfield on Mina-Rau—Gilroy says the hope was important. “There has to be a candle in the window. Or then it’s just sadistic.”

Asked about the potential of spin-offs or a 3rd season, Gilroy is obvious: there have been by no means severe talks about Season 3 as soon as the choice was made to leap from a five-season plan to 2. “It laid out perfectly,” he explains. “I don’t think the show would have come together the same way if people didn’t know there was a finish line.”

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All episodes of “Andor” at the moment are accessible to stream on Disney+. Listen to your complete interview with Tony Gilroy under:

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