Rogue One: A Star Wars Story Writer Joins Cassian Andor Series on Disney+

While some Star Wars fans might be focused on the debut of the franchise’s first live-action TV series Star Wars: The Mandalorian, Lucasfilm continues to develop the upcoming series focusing on Cassian Andor behind the scenes, with Variety confirming that Tony Gilroy, who co-wrote Rogue One: A Star Wars Story, has been tapped to write the pilot and direct multiple episodes. The Americans producer Stephen Schiff continues to serve as the series’ showrunner, with the series yet to earn an official premiere date. Both Cassian Andor actor Diego Luna and K-2SO actor Alan Tudyk have confirmed they would star in the Disney+ series.

The series is described, “The rousing spy thriller will explore tales filled with espionage and daring missions to restore hope to a galaxy in the grip of a ruthless Empire. A release date for the series has not yet been announced.”

Gilroy occupies an interesting place in the realm of Star Wars, as he helmed reshoots on Rogue One after director Gareth Edwards’ initial production. Reshoots are a standard part of any major production, though reports about the state of the film before and after Gilroy’s involvement claim that his efforts heavily impacted the finished film. Even Gilroy himself has regularly expressed the rough state of the film when he got involved.

“If you look at Rogue, all the difficulty with Rogue, all the confusion of it … and all the mess, and in the end when you get in there, it’s actually very, very simple to solve,” Gilroy shared with The Moment With Brian Koppelman podcast of approaching the film. “Because you sort of go, ‘This is a movie where, folks, just look. Everyone is going to die.’ So it’s a movie about sacrifice.”

What makes the film’s success so surprising is that, while many of the filmmakers involved with Lucasfilm have expressed their admiration of the saga, Gilroy wasn’t much of a Star Wars fan.

“I’ve never been interested in Star Wars, ever. So I had no reverence for it whatsoever. I was unafraid about that,” Gilroy confessed. “And they were in such a swamp … they were in so much terrible, terrible trouble that all you could do was improve their position.”

In addition to The Mandalorian and the Cassian Andor prequel series, Lucasfilm has also confirmed it will deliver a TV series focusing on Obi-Wan Kenobi, with Ewan McGregor reprising the role of the Jedi master.

Stay tuned for details on the Star Wars saga. Star Wars: The Mandalorian premieres on November 12th.

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