Star Wars: Andor Showrunner Didn't Know About Easter Eggs Until Episodes Premiered

Star Wars: Andor showrunner Tony Gilroy has made it clear with fans that he was interested in this project largely because of how little reverence he had for the franchise, which freed him up to tell a story he wanted to tell regardless of expectations or set criteria. The filmmaker was so unaware of the deep lore of the galaxy far, far away that he didn't even realize how many Easter-egg nods there were to other parts of the franchise until episodes would premiere and he would see fans analyzing the various references scattered throughout the dense sets. More specifically, Gilroy was largely unaware of just how many Easter eggs there were in Luthen's gallery.

"Mohen Leo, our visual effects supervisor who was on [Rogue One: A Star Wars Story] as well, is a huge part of our show and a really important feature on our show," Gilroy recalled to The Hollywood Reporter. "Mohen and his team know everything. We have a lot of people around the show that are really deep. So if we have a question, we ask it, but it's kind of an organic system, really. Every now and then, they sneak sh-t in there that even I didn't know. I was reading online about the antiquities in Luthen's gallery, and the provenance of some of those antiquities was news to me. So it was fantastic that the art department snuck those things in there, but by and large, it's a collaborative, organic, rolling process."

Gilroy also pointed out that, not necessarily being an expert in Star Wars lore, there weren't mandates on behalf of Lucasfilm to include such references. The team did, however, have the Lucasfilm Story Group available to lend their assistance whenever necessary.

When asked about Lucasfilm expecting specific Star Wars phrases and references to be included, Gilroy clarified, "No, but we have Pablo Hidalgo. He's sort of the curia of the Vatican up there at Lucasfilm. He's the final voice, but we have a lot of people on the show."

Season 1 of Star Wars: Andor has two more episodes, which debut on Wednesdays on Disney+. Season 2 isn't expected until 2024.

Did you catch all of the Easter eggs in the series? Let us know in the comments or contact Patrick Cavanaugh directly on Twitter to talk all things Star Wars and horror!