ANDOR Showrunner Says They Had to Reshoot First Episode Because It Was Boring: "What The F**k Is This?"

In a recent interview with Variety, Andor showrunner Tony Gilroy revealed that the Star Wars series’ acclaimed first episode wasn’t always as great as it ended up being. In fact, it was so boring during its first cut that Gilroy had one immediate reaction: “What the f*ck is this?”

Gilroy recalled the moment, saying:

“Toby Haynes directed the first block [of episodes of Season 1]. I was in New York with my brother [executive producer] John [Gilroy], and we had a cutting room on 86th Street around the corner from my house.

“The first week, the first dailies came in, and they were terrible. I was like, ‘What the f*ck is this? We’re starting off the show, and it’s really boring. What is this?’”

Gilroy’s creative instincts kicked in, and the result was a full reshoot of the opening episode. He went on to say:

“[Executive producer] Sanne [Wohlenberg] called me back that day and goes, ‘Well, we’re reshooting this.’ And I’m like, ‘Can we do that the first week?’ She goes, ‘We have to. It sucks. And you have to tell him.’”

Gilroy had to roll up his sleeves and got hands-on with the solution, and he explained:

“I never did this before or since: I made a complete storyboard for how that [episode] should go, and it freed Toby up. ‘We don’t want coverage. We want intentional directing.

“Direct this like your life depends on it.’ After that, he never needed to be told anything. That was our mandate for all the directors.”

Andor had already gone through a complicated development cycle before Gilroy stepped in. Originally announced in 2017 by Disney CEO Bob Iger, the show saw multiple creative leads come and go starting with Jared Bush (Zootopia), then Stephen Schiff (The Americans), before Gilroy, who co-wrote Rogue One, took the reins in 2020 after expressing concerns about the early scripts.

Gilroy went on to co-write several episodes of Andor Season 1 alongside Dan Gilroy (Nightcrawler), Schiff, and Beau Willimon (House of Cards). The result was one of the most critically acclaimed entries in modern Star Wars storytelling.

But if it weren’t for that early gutcheck moment, the series might’ve opened with a whimper instead of a spark.