Andor creator says critical acclaim has given him more freedom for season 2

Here's one for anybody who ever tries to tell you that TV critics never did nothin' good for nobody: Tony Gilroy, creator and showrunner for Disney+ Star Wars series Andor, has stated in a recent Empire cover story that the rapturous critical reception given to the show's first season has allowed him more freedom while making its second.

This is good news for us, in so far as we're firmly in line with a critical consensus that declared Andor not just "good for a Star Wars show," but "good, period." The series, a prequel to Rogue One that depicts the radicalization of self-involved scoundrel Cassian Andor (Diego Luna), is a genuinely thrilling mixture of espionage, action, and grim satire, giving viewers of the Star Wars universe a rare look at what day-to-day life under the Empire was like. (A mixture of banality, comfort, and occasional brutal bureaucratic oppression, natch.) Per Gilroy, the response to the series' first season gave the second "a lot of momentum and key benefits going into this second season, the kind it may not have been afforded otherwise." Including, frankly, money: "The critical appreciation of the show was really helpful, if not essential, in helping Disney choke down the price of what this is." (As noted by IGN, the budget for the show's first season was something on the order of a massive $250 million.)

Interestingly, Gilroy notes that Disney—which has, in the past, been depicted as pretty hands-on when it comes to things like, say, firing directors off of Star Wars projects it wasn't liking the look of—has never actually given him an editorial note on the series. "In terms of creative notes, no-one has come to me and said, ‘No, they shouldn’t say that.'" (Given how good some of Andor's speeches have been, we understand not wanting to mess with success.) Instead, Gilroy told Empire, the issues have largely been practical, including expensive plans, COVID, and, of course, last summer's strikes, which shut down production just as Andor was nearing the end of filming its second season.

Andor's second season is set to debut on Disney+ on April 22, 2025.

[via IGN]