The Best Star Wars Show Could Be in Serious Trouble

There’s been a great disturbance in the Force — and, by the Force, we mean Hollywood. Movie and TV writers are striking for fair wages, protections against getting replaced by AI, and other reasonable things. But for the rest of us, it’s reasonable to wonder what the strike might mean for the future of our favorite shows (while still supporting the union, of course).

A recent Deadline article reveals how the strike is affecting Hollywood productions based in the U.K., and in an offhand aside, it mentions two major shows that apparently won’t be affected at all because the scripts are already written: House of the Dragon Season 2 and Andor Season 2.

Disney+’s Andor is among shows known to be continuing production unencumbered (in London) as all scripts were locked for season two before the strike began. The same is true for House Of The Dragon season two.

You can read more about what that really means for HOTD here, but Andor may be an even more complicated situation for one glaring reason: the show’s primary writer is also its showrunner, Tony Gilroy. Here’s why that could spell doom for the Star Wars show, even though cameras are already rolling on Andor Season 2.

What the writers strike means for Andor Season 2

Andor Season 2 actually started filming in late 2022, though production was suspended in April over safety concerns. The series is expected to return to Disney+ in 2024.

However, it’s worth noting that Gilroy plays a major role as both a writer and creator/showrunner. He wrote five episodes out of 12 from Season 1 (the first three and the final two). We also know he wrote at least one episode of Season 2, though it’s likely he did more than that.

But as showrunner, Gilroy is presumably on set even for episodes he didn’t personally write. Everything theoretically goes through him. And during production, he likely steps in to make small changes to the script as needed (a common practice in pretty much any and all products). So even if the scripts are “locked,” the question remains: will Gilroy (or any other writer) make those tweaks moving forward?

Don't cross that picket line, Tony Gilroy!

There are basically three scenarios here:

1. Filming on Andor pauses (very unlikely)
2. Filming continues but with no more writer input (possible, but the show will likely suffer somewhat)
3. Filming continues and Gilroy makes changes to the script where needed (likelihood unknown)

Until someone asks Gilroy what he plans to do or he speaks out on his own, we can’t know how he’ll proceed. But for now, it’s worth keeping all this in mind, especially when Andor Season 2 does eventually get released.

Andor Season 2 is expected in 2024 on Disney+.