Who directed Andor?​

Andor is a hit American Star Wars TV show released on September 21, 2022. The 1st season came out on Disney+ and has 12 episodes. The 2nd season is set to release on April 22, 2025. The show follows Cassian Andor, a character first seen in the 2016 film Rogue One: A Star Wars Story. Andor goes back in time to show how Cassian became a part of the Rebellion. The show focuses on how ordinary people in the galaxy stand up against the Empire and choose to fight for freedom.

Unlike many other Star Wars projects, Andor has a more grounded and realistic tone. It doesn't rely much on Jedi, lightsabers, or usual Star Wars icons. Instead, it tells the story of the people who helped build the Rebellion from the start. The show explores themes like resistance, hope, sacrifice, and politics. The show is made with a budget of over $645 million. It received praise from critics and fans for its mature storytelling, acting, and production design.

Who directed Andor?

The main director of Andor is Toby Haynes, a British TV director. He directed the first 3 episodes and also directed episodes 8, 9, and 10. The first episodes introduce the audience to Cassian's background, his struggles, and the start of his journey toward becoming a rebel. Toby Haynes is known for directing high-quality TV shows, and his work on Andor helped set the tone for the rest of the season. In an interview with The Ringer, Toby explained how he managed to maintain the show's visual style while handing direction to other directors.

He said, “For me, it was easier because I directed the first three, and then these three were like a continuation, a kind of distilling of what I’d already done. And I think we were all given, to some extent, some freedom to shoot the show the way we wanted to. I know that my director of photography from the first block spoke to the other DOPs and kind of kept them aware of our lens choices and how we set up the style of the show. But we wanted a style that was very flexible, that could be cinematic but also could be energetic and wild and loose as well.”

Besides Toby Haynes, other directors also worked on different episodes of Andor. These include Benjamin Caron and Susanna White. Benjamin Caron directed some of the later episodes, including episodes 7, 11, and 12. He is known for his work on The Crown. Susanna White worked on episodes 4 to 6. She has directed shows like Billions and Parade’s End. In an interview with Collider, Benjamin Caron shared his experience of directing the show.

He said, “I genuinely forgot that it was Star Wars, you know? There were no lightsabers, there was no Darth Vader, there was no force. It was just really well-drawn-out narratives and great characters that I just wanted to spend time with. That's as a director, or me personally, that's what I respond to, and I guess that's where it all started. Then, when we were filming, I just approached it like anything else I do, you know? You direct it.”

Who wrote Andor?

The head writer and creator of Andor is Tony Gilroy. He is a writer, director, and producer, born on September 11, 1956, in New York, United States. He has worked on many projects like the Bourne movie series, Michael Clayton (2007), Duplicity (2009), Rogue One (2012), etc. Because of his success with Rogue One (2012), Tony Gilroy was chosen to create a whole show about Cassian. Tony Gilroy wrote the main story for the show and worked closely with a team of other writers to bring the world of Andor to life. Other writers who worked with Tony Gilroy include his brother Dan Gilroy and Beau Willimon.

In an interview with Starwars.com, Tony Gilroy explained that he did not worry about deviating from Star Wars. He said, “I worry about the storytelling. I worry about the logic of it. I worry about the plotting. I worry about the characters. I worry about the story making sense and things tying together.” He further added more on how he wanted to tell stories of regular people, “I think everybody was kind of aware on their side that there was not only an opportunity, but a need for a new lane, if there’s a billion beings in that galaxy, surely there’s a billion stories there, and they don’t all have to do with lightsabers and Jedi and Luke and Darth Vader. I mean, other people are living their lives, and there are incredible events that are happening.”