Star Wars: Andor Writer and Star Address What the Prisoners Were Building for the Empire

In Episode 7 of Star Wars: Andor, Cassian was apprehended and taken into a prison run by the Galactic Empire and he was put to work manufacturing parts with a mysterious purpose, igniting theories about what these pieces of equipment would be used for. Some of these theories claim that the purpose of the parts is entirely irrelevant, functioning merely as a way to showcase the lack of humanity found in the Empire, while other theories thought these parts would end up connecting to larger parts of Star Wars lore. The answer, per showrunner Tony Gilroy and star Andy Serkis, seems to fall somewhere in between. New episodes of Star Wars: Andor premiere on Wednesdays on Disney+.

When asked by The Hollywood Reporter what the prisoners are building, Gilroy teased, “They’re building Season 2. It’s the spine of Season 2. I’ve heard all kinds of things; it’s great. All of the material that the Empire has, I look at everything like, ‘Economically, how does this work? Who built Scarif? How do you build that? How do you build Eadu? How do you build The Death Star and this armada of ships?’ There’s a lot of things that need to be built, and there’s an incredible amount of material. So, to me, what they’re building is not as important as the scale of it. When you go to the Imperial Bureau of Standards where Syril works, you go, ‘Oh, my God,’ and he’s just working at the Fuel Purity desk. But that’s what it takes to run this Empire. So the scale of it is really what we’re trying to suggest here.”

Whether Gilroy meant these parts would literally factor into Season 2 or thematically be integrated into the events of that season is yet to be seen, but with the storytelling structure set to cover more years in Cassian’s life, it seems more likely to be the latter. 

Serkis, who plays the prison foreman of the level Cassian is assigned to, offered even more insight into the equipment, implying they do have a literal significance as opposed to just figurative importance.

“It actually does matter what they’re building because it’s significant,” the actor admitted in a separate interview for The Hollywood Reporter. “For those who are really watching closely, the parts are quite significant. If you really examine those bits that are being formed and created by all of the men on the floors, you’ll discover that they hold huge import.”

Star Wars: Andor has two more episodes in Season 1.

What do you think the prisoners were building? Let us know in the comments or contact Patrick Cavanaugh directly on Twitter to talk all things Star Wars and horror!