If you suddenly read about Lucasfilm president Kathleen Kennedy online, usually it’s about some toxic Star Wars fan saying that she ruined Star Wars; but with the success of Andor on Disney+, showrunner Tony Gilroy has decided to take the spotlight to praise how much Kennedy actually helped bring the series to life.
In a recent talk with Vanity Fair, Gilroy explained:
“For all the shit that she takes online, it’s just insane. This show exists because she forced it to happen. What a tough job she has, man… She has protected the show and protected me … When we started challenging Kathy, Kathy just kept saying yes. ‘Oh, I’m going to put the first scene in a brothel.’ ‘Okay.’ ‘I’m going to have them kill two cops.’ ‘Okay.’ ‘We want the production designer from Chernobyl.’ ‘Okay, good idea.'”
Originally the series was pitched as an adventure show with Cassian and K-2SO having new missions every week, but Gilroy decided to do the approach he did with Andor, and it was Kennedy who was said to have supported his decision. “She backed our play and got everything that we were doing. We’ve been through everything, she and I, on this— all the good and all the bad. There’s no show without her,” said Gilroy.
For now, fans are still kind of amazed at how mature Andor ended up, what with all the ‘glup shitto’ material that’s released like Ahsoka and Obi-Wan Kenobi. Don’t get me wrong, I also liked Skeleton Crew for what it was, but it didn’t really have the heavy revolution themes that Andor really leaned into.
We don’t know what’s next for Gilroy now, but it does seem like he’s done with Star Wars after five years. Maybe he comes back to do a Sequel Era TV series, but how is that going to be any different than Andor?
I guess we’ll just have to wait and see because I honestly wouldn’t mind seeing more of Kleya.
Catch the complete Andor now streaming on Disney+.
