Andor (television series)

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.

Talks for a television series focused on Cassian Jeron Andor, Diego Luna's character from the 2016 Star Wars Anthology film Rogue One: A Star Wars Story, began before the Anthology film was released, though Luna had doubts that it would happen. In February 2018, Disney CEO Bob Iger revealed that "a few" Star Wars live-action series were in development for Disney's streaming service. The series was officially announced by Iger during a Disney quarterly earnings call on November 8, 2018.

On November 30, it was reported that The Americans executive producer Stephen Schiff was tapped to serve as a showrunner while Moana writer Jared Bush was revealed to have originated the project by writing a pilot script and a series bible. According to Production Weekly, the series was scheduled to begin production in October 2019. On July 11, 2019, Rick Famuyiwa was reported to be in talks to direct an undisclosed amount of episodes for the series, with filming scheduled to begin on October 7. On October 15, 2019, Variety reported that Rogue One co-writer Tony Gilroy would be writing the pilot for the series in addition to directing multiple episodes.

On December 3, 2020, Diego Luna confirmed that the series had started filming in London. The title of Andor, as well as behind the scenes footage of the filming of the series, were unveiled on December 10, 2020 at a Disney investors meeting. Filming began in late November of 2020. Although Alan Tudyk was initially announced to play K-2SO in the series, he later clarified in January of 2021 that while production was underway, he was not going to appear in the first season. He did, however, expect to be brought into the fold in later seasons.

The showrunners opted for practical environments, with scenes being shot at Pinewood Studios and on location. One scene was shot at Pitlochry, Scotland, while exterior scenes for the Aldhani dam were also filmed in Scotland, at the Cruachan pumped storage hydro plant. Ferrix was very expensive to create. Gilroy stated its "mental built" took two years. Filming wrapped in September 2021.

As part of the 2023 Writers Guild of America strike, Gilroy ceased all services on Andor and did not return to the set. A few weeks before season two's UK shoot was to finish, Deadline Hollywood opened an article by stating that filming on season two would pause as a result of the 2023 SAG-AFTRA actors strike. Later in the piece, however, the article stated that, as per what Deadline had learned, the series was still being filmed at Pinewood Studios, but without actors who were part of SAG-AFTRA: American SAG-AFTRA actors had stopped work, as per the strike, while members of the British Equity union remained. According to the report, actors who were part of Equity were warned of potential legal action should they stop work in solidarity with the American union.

In December 2023, Kathryn Hunter confirmed she would be returning as Eedy Karn for season two and shared some behind the scenes pictures via her Instagram page. She later took down the post. Andor was not present on Disney+'s 2024 release schedule shown to the public in December 2023. In an interview with IO9, Andor star Stellan Skarsgård lit up with a smile upon a mention of Andor and promised he was satisfied with the ending, praising Gilroy's writing in specific. In a February 2024 interview with GamesRadar+, Skarsgård stated season two would come in late 2024 or early 2025.

On May 26, 2022, Lucasfilm released a teaser trailer for the Andor series at Star Wars Celebration Anaheim 2022. The studio also announced that the series would premiere with two episodes on Disney+ on August 31, 2022.

On August 1, Lucasfilm released an official trailer and announced that the release date had been pushed back to September 21, 2022 with a three-episode premiere.