The first season of Andor was set five years before the events of Rogue One and all 12 episodes took place in a span of a year. Considering that the second season will be its final one, they made a decision to cover four years of it prior to the film which is a giant creative feat. So why did they go in that direction for the show's second and final season?
In a recent interview with Collider's Perri Nemiroff, Luna discussed why the next installment will cover the entire four years before Rogue One where he echoed that it would be impossible to explore the long timespan in the same formula as the first season.
"It's not possible, but you know what? It's not because of us. It's because of Rogue One. I mean, I also have to look close enough to Rogue One. Can you imagine me in 10 years pretending to be the [character] I was 20 years ago? Just impossible. I mean, sadly there's no machines or CGI that can do it," the actor said.
Luna also explained the long process of making a single season of the series and how it led them to decide to only do two seasons, unlike other TV shows that would traditionally take multiple seasons of more than two.
"We didn't want this to end up being an animated series. I am who I am, and Tony Gilroy has to be the writer of this. We cannot be doing this for 10 years. Basically, the first season took four years. The second will take a little less, but he has to write 12 episodes," he said.
"Then we have to go [into] pre-production. That normally takes six to eight months to build these places and to start with the whole process of designing, casting. Then the execution is another seven [to] eight months, and then post-production starts. That's not easy either. So it's a long journey. Each season takes three [to] four years of my life and of Tony Gilroy's life."
While some fans might still find it jarring that the series will only run for two seasons and they have an ambitious plan for the next batch of 12 episodes to cover the four-year span between the end of the first season and Rogue One, it is more understandable now why they went with his creative direction based on what the actor said.
After all, it takes a lot of time and effort to make a single season of a Star Wars production and it would be impossible to do it for a longer time considering that it's a prequel to a film that was released six years ago at this point. Let's wait and see whether they will be able to pull off the same quality (if not better) as the first season.
Also Read: Diego Luna Addresses Andor Season 1's Low Viewership
The first season of Andor is streaming on Disney+.
Explore new topics and discover content that's right for you!