Star Wars: Andor Showrunner Likens the Series to The Bourne Identity

Rogue One: A Star Wars Story explored a different tone within the galaxy far, far away, with the upcoming prequel series Star Wars: Andor tasked with a similar challenge of telling a story that can offer a new spin on a familiar franchise, with showrunner Tony Gilroy recalling how he drew upon his time with The Bourne Identity to develop the series. Given that the spy film attempted to course-correct from the trajectory of its peers, Gilroy hoped to offer a similarly refreshing reimagining of what can be accomplished in the world of sci-fi stories. Star Wars: Andor premieres on Disney+ on September 21st.

“[With Bourne] I had been trying to get people to make an acoustic action movie, because action movies had gotten so bombastic in the ’80s, they were just enormous,” Gilroy revealed to SFX Magazine, per GamesRadar. “So when Bourne came along, we went way down to nothing. It was about making it real. Keeping someone you really understand and really care about in a place that you understand the geography of, with stakes, is much more involving than a guy on a train with 15 machine guns and a helicopter coming down. That aesthetic, that idea, does carry over to Andor because we are on the ground with these people, so that everything that we do has an intimacy and an acoustic nature to it within the grandeur of Star Wars.”

Given that Rogue One ends with Cassian’s sacrifice in order to take down the Galactic Empire, and with the opening scenes of that film seeing him kill an informant to save himself, it would be easy to expect that the prequel series would be at least somewhat dour. While there might be downtrodden components to the narrative, Gilroy confirmed there was still fun to be had.

“It’s an adventure story,” the filmmaker shared. “It’s one man’s odyssey through the center [of the story] and then all these peripheral characters surrounding him and spinning around. I mean, God, it’s looking to be entertaining. It’s heavy material, heavy things are happening, but it’s an adventure story, too.”

The Andor series will explore a new perspective from the Star Wars galaxy, focusing on Cassian Andor’s journey to discover the difference he can make. The series brings forward the tale of the burgeoning rebellion against the Empire and how people and planets became involved. It’s an era filled with danger, deception, and intrigue where Cassian will embark on the path that is destined to turn him into a rebel hero.

Star Wars: Andor premieres on Disney+ on September 21st.  

Are you looking forward to the new series? Let us know in the comments or contact Patrick Cavanaugh directly on Twitter to talk all things Star Wars and horror!