Andor showrunner Tony Gilroy, who was heavily involved in reshoots for Rogue One, comes very close to revealing some details about the original version of the Star Wars spinoff. While promoting this month’s Andor Season 2, Gilroy was asked to describe the experience of his first day on the Rogue One set with star Diego Luna, who plays Cassian Andor. The filmmaker made a point to be careful in his response, shedding a little bit of light on what kind of shape Rogue One was in before he came onboard. Before he shared too much, Gilroy caught himself and stopped.
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“I’ll just say this: the [Rogue One] characters needed straightening out. They needed to be simplified,” Gilroy told Empire. “They needed to be simplified. They needed passion about something. They needed need. And [that cast] was an incredible relief – I’ve been watching [Diego] forever, going, ‘If this guy’s not an a**hole, this is going to be great, because he’s a great actor.’ You know what, I’m … You’re getting me in trouble. That’s as much as I’m gonna say!”
In the months leading up to its premiere in 2016, numerous headlines about Rogue One detailed how the film was undergoing rewrites and reshoots. While members of the cast tried to downplay the situation as “business as usual,” reports indicated there were substantial changes being made to Rogue One. In particular, the movie’s opening act was significantly reworked, adding in moments such as Cassian’s introduction where he shoots his contact. Naturally, this caused “a ripple effect” through the rest of the film, leading to more tweaks.
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Any changes made to Rogue One proved to be effective, as the film earned widespread praise and grossed over $1 billion at the worldwide box office. Nearly a decade after its release, some Star Wars fans consider it to be the best movie in the franchise. For his contributions, Gilroy himself made $5 million. Years later, he returned to Lucasfilm to oversee the critically acclaimed Andor.
Gilroy doesn’t share much, but he seems to indicate that the characters were a bit of an issue in the earlier cuts of Rogue One. It sounds like there initially wasn’t enough there for the audience to become emotionally invested in their journey. If that version of Rogue One ever saw the light of day, it would have had a very negative impact on people’s feelings about the film. The spinoff, of course, chronicles the Rebel Alliance’s mission to steal the Death Star plans. Rogue One is designed as a war movie, complete with themes about sacrifice and heroism. If the characters fell flat, it would have been difficult to care about them putting their lives on the line for the greater good in the third act. That would have been disappointing — especially in a Star Wars movie, as the franchise is renowned for its many memorable characters.
What Gilroy did exactly to improve all the character work in Rogue One isn’t entirely known, but the final film presented audiences with a ragtag team of rebels that were easy to root for. Some of these characters had mini-arcs that served as an emotional throughline (Jyn’s fractured relationship with her father; Cassian grappling with his morally ambiguous actions). Others injected the film with an entertaining dynamic (Chirrut and Baze’s friendship; K-2SO’s blunt nature). It all culminated in an emotionally charged finale in the Battle of Scarif that gave the story the poignant conclusion it deserved. Based on how Rogue One turned out, it’s easy to see why Lucasfilm entrusted him with Andor.
