Andor creator is glad the Star Wars show veered from its original five-season plan: "We had had no idea what we were getting into"

Andor's second and final season looks quite different from creator Tony Gilroy's original plan for the show. The Rogue One prequel was originally billed as a five-season epic, charting Cassian Andor's journey to becoming a rebellion hero.

However, it quickly became obvious that such an ambitious approach wouldn't work. Speaking to GamesRadar+, Gilroy explains: "When we finally were making the show and trying to think of what we were going to do next, it was already clear to us that we had no idea what we were getting into when we started. We really didn't know."

He adds: "I mean, it's as if you said you're going to walk to the corner and get a soda, and you had to walk a continent. I mean, we were just all of a sudden realizing how much we were going to have to do. We couldn't physically do it. It would take too long. So it was born of necessity." And after that process, Gilroy is pleased his original plans changed. "No, I wouldn't want to do the five seasons," he confirms.

Andor season 2 is instead structured across four time periods, each taking place across three episodes. Billed almost as four separate films, Gilroy explains it was an approach that came about "because of desperation".

"We realized that we had four sections that we were making and we had four years to cover so a solution was very elegant," he continues. "But then the question became, could you make those jumps without having lots of exposition?"

To test it out, Gilroy wrote the top and tail of each three-episode section to test his theory out. "It got really fun for the writers and for everybody," he smiles. "What had been a problem for us became something very, very exciting. And I don't know if anyone's ever had a chance to do it before. We keep trying to think if there's another show that did that, but it was really, it was thrilling to write that way. It was energizing."

It was also an exciting challenge for the show's stars too, who came to it with different perspectives. Stellan Skarsgård, who plays Luthen Rael in the show, says: "I didn't find it tricky. I mean, as an actor, you always jump a lot, it makes sense. And, as Tony said, it is, in a way, liberating to not have to continually explain what's happening, to be able to go to the important things, no matter if they're a year later or so."

Mon Mothma star Genevieve O'Reilly agrees with Skarsgård's approach, adding: "I felt there was a real freedom in the structure of it because I didn't have to narratively or personally link every single moment as a linear framework. Like you said they're almost like four films, [so I got to] create the character in that moment of that time, very specifically, sometimes just a weekend, and get to really play in that, and then to leave it and to drop in somewhere else."

Andor season 2 begins on Disney Plus on April 22 in the US and April 23 in the UK with a three-episode premiere. Check out our Andor season 2 release schedule to make sure you don't miss a moment, as well as our guide to all the upcoming Star Wars movies and shows you need to know about.