Making anything in a franchise is hard work. Fans can be demanding, studios can be risk-averse and, while some good films and shows feel like they have not been extensively re-worked before airing, Andor is not one as an editor has just told online people.
John Gilroy — a brother of showrunner Tony Gilroy — makes the comments in a new article published by The Playlist. Gilroy says they did whatever they could to make each moment on the show work and he was not really sure just what he could reveal aloud.
“We were really changing things. I don’t know how much I’m supposed to say about that, but it was really changing things and using all of the tricks in your bag as an editor to make scenes work. However, you need to make them work, you make them work.”
Later in the article Gilroy adds insight into why bigger movies can have issues with tone and takes in their runtime. Apparently, studios are treating editors like they treat writers and this is not ideal when you want a total and complete vision on an idea.
“Unfortunately, on a lot of these bigger films, they’re now treating editors like they treat writers. Like, someone gets hired as a writer, and they’re like, ‘that’s great, but we need a dialogue pass, so we’re going to get this other guy.’ And they do that a little bit with editors now. I don’t think it’s a particularly good idea. The best possible thing is to come in from the beginning and finish something to the end and have a singularity of vision.”
Andor is now airing on Disney Plus. Gilroy and the crew are going right into its second and final season as of this story’s filing. The work was originally planned to last for five years, but this was condensed and fans are liking it. They have argued the show deserves consideration come awards season, though, some have also expressed concern not enough people are watching it. It features Diego Luna as Cassian Andor and, though the show has avoided much of the fan service other projects in the Star Wars franchise have been criticized for, others think it is coming and a certain iconic antagonist may end up making a key appearance.