Andor showrunner says season 2's more fast-paced structure is a "fascinating experiment" that is "born out of desperation": "I don't know if anyone's ever done it before"

Originally pitched as a five-season epic, Andor is now set to come to an end with a fast and furious second season.

Instead of a more measured approach, the Star Wars show's next season deploys a unique episodic structure which sees it split into four batches of three 'chapters', with each chapter skipping ahead a year.

Speaking in the new issue of SFX magazine, which features Black Mirror season 7 on the cover and is now on newsstands, Gilroy says the surprise narrative shift was "born out of desperation".

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"We were halfway through shooting season 1, coming through Covid, and the monumental size of the show, the effort, and everything else was just dawning on us," Gilroy recalls. "We realized that I didn't have enough calories to do it, and Diego's face couldn't take the timing, because it just takes too long to make it. We were saved by Disney saying, 'Okay, if you guys can figure out a way to do it, we're into it.'"

On the change, which sees Andor ultimately bump right up to the events of Rogue One, Gilroy adds, "It's a fascinating experiment and I don't know if anyone's ever done it before. We're going to jump a year between each block, and we're going to use that negative space in a really interesting way, coming back for three days at a time, so it's like a Thursday, Friday, Saturday, or a Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday. The challenge is, how do you come back [to start each chapter]? We wanted to have it be as elegant and seamless as possible, and just hit the ground running. There was a lot of experimentation to make sure that would work."

A year is a long time in a galaxy far, far away. Andor is attempting to go even further with its years-in-the-making epic. There's a reason, then, that star and Cassian Andor actor Diego Luna says they've essentially filmed "four movies" for a second season that dares to be different.

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The second season of Andor airs on Disney Plus from April 22 . Read more in the latest issue of SFX magazine, which features Black Mirror season 7 on the cover and is available now. Check out what you need to be looking out for on newsstands below...