Andor‘s showrunner’s promise of fan service is excellent, but could also be unfeasible. The Star Wars Disney+ series will follow Rogue One‘s Cassian Andor (played by Diego Luna) and will be set five years prior to the events of that film. In a recent interview with Variety, showrunner Tony Gilroy states that no fan service will be featured in the series. Despite this statement, it may be challenging for the show to live up to its promise.
In addition to following Cassian, Andor will also see the formation of the Rebel Alliance as many characters start to take a stand against the Empire. Said characters include Star Wars‘ Mon Mothma (played by Genevieve O’Reilly), Stellan Skarsgård’s Luthen Rael, and Forest Whitaker’s Saw Gerrera. The series will see Cassian join these characters and become a revolutionary for the Alliance. Despite many legacy characters appearing, Gilroy remains adamant that their appearances will not be used for fan service.
The Star Wars franchise has had a very tricky relationship with fan service. Its most controversial use of it came in The Book Of Boba Fett, where both the story and even the title character took a backseat to the appearance of characters such as The Mandalorian‘s Din Djarin and Grogu, Ahsoka Tano, and even Luke Skywalker himself. While many viewers were overjoyed to see these characters, these creative choices were criticized for coming at the expense of Boba Fett’s story. As stated in the interview, it’s this kind of fan service that Gilroy intends to avoid, but given the vast possibilities and interconnected nature of the Star Wars franchise, that could be harder than imagined. As such, despite the series’ intentions, avoiding any kind of stereotypical fan service may be almost impossible.
Can Disney Really Avoid Its Fan Service Tricks With Andor?
Despite Tony Gilroy’s insistence that no fan service will be included, it’s hard to work around some of it because of Andor‘s setting. In addition to legacy characters like Mon Mothma and Saw Guerrera appearing, the series will revisit planets such as Coruscant, which will feature political talks similar to those featured in the Star Wars prequels. This makes it possible for characters such as Palpatine to make an appearance and possibly have a substantial role. While none of this is inherently a bad thing, it runs the risk of overshadowing the series’ core story following Cassian, much like The Book Of Boba Fett‘s fan service did with its own story.
For now, the amount of fan service in Andor remains to be seen. However, it’s good to know that Tony Gilroy has enough confidence in the series to ensure that fan service doesn’t overshadow what he intends to present. If any should feature, it will hopefully be done in a way that services Cassian Andor’s story as opposed to being there for the sake of it. With that in mind, there’s plenty to be excited about once Andor premieres.
Andor premieres Wednesday, September 21st exclusively on Disney+.
