When the first season of Tony Gilory’s Andor was released on Disney+ in 2022, it’s safe to say it took everyone by surprise. In the lead-up to the series’ premiere, on paper at least, everything about the show seemed pretty par for the course: it was to be a prequel series focusing on the intergalactic adventures of Diego Luna’s beloved rogue Cassian Andor from Rogue One. However, when the show actually premiered, in the midst of other Disney+ Star Wars series’ such as The Mandalorian, The Book of Boba Fett, and Ahsoka, it became apparent incredibly quickly just how stark the contrast was. While the showrunners behind those other shows, Jon Favreau and Dave Filoni, had cornered the market on shows filmed on the LED screen-enabled Volume that feaured gratuitous fan service and flimsy storytelling, Gilroy had gone and made a proper prestige television Star Wars show.
As such, Andor quickly became a favorite of not only many fans but also critics as well, with many praising it as one of the most inventive projects within the Star Wars franchise, period. But if a new report is to be believed, there is one Star Wars fan who is not an admirer of Andor: Dave Filoni.
Did Dave Filoni like Andor?
In a recent article centering on the departure of Kathleen Kennedy as the head of Lucasfilm and Dave Filoni and Lynwen Brennan taking over, The Wrap featured a quote from an anonymous Lucasfilm insider who revealed that Filoni was not a fan of Gilroy’s take on the galaxy far, far away. Since the publishing of the article a few days ago, it has since been re-edited, with that particular line being taken out after Lucasfilm representatives allegedly told the publication that they felt it was misrepresentative. This has incited a fair bit of back and forth online between fans at a critical moment, as Filoni is quite literally taking the creative reins of the Star Wars franchise as a whole. So what’s the actual truth? Does the new co-leader of Lucasfilm not like the single best TV series it has ever put out?
Well, I think the truth is probably a great deal messier than such objective terms might allow for. First of all, its important to consider just how blindsided Filoni likely was by what Andor ultimately was. Gilroy has spoken in the past about how Kennedy and co. were intent on making an adventure-of-the-week type of series starring Cassian, and how he wasn’t really keen on that. Instead, he pitched a sweeping tale of revolution and rebellion, driven by anti-fascist politics, and all anchored firmly within the themes of George Lucas’ Star Wars. This was what Andor became, and as a result, it strikes a completely different tone than any of the other Star Wars shows. Namely, any of Filoni’s Star Wars shows.
As Andor was releasing to all of this acclaim, Filoni, a longtime creator of Star Wars television, dating all the way back to his work with George Lucas on Star Wars: The Clone Wars, was busy helping to architect a whole interweaving slate of streaming shows for Disney+. However, Andor was very much the exception, with it and The Acolyte being the only Star Wars shows made without direct involvement from Filoni. As such, it couldn’t have sat well with Filoni that after literal decades spent toiling in the Star Wars TV sandbox, that Andor came along and earned such a ravenous reception on every front.
Immediately after its first season, Andor became the de facto measuring stick for the quality of a given Star Wars projects, prompting many to compare Filoni’s own series’ such as The Mandalorian season three or Ahsoka unfavorably to Gilroy’s show. Considering all of this, it seems a bit like a stretch to say that Filoni hates Andor, but I do think it’s fair to speculate that he probably is more than a twinge envious of it. Gilroy’s show set a high-water mark that Filoni’s shows have since faltered in comparison to, and I’m sure he doesn’t love that.