Andor showrunner Tony Gilroy reveals that the first episode of the Star Wars series had to be reshot because it was "really boring": "I was like, what the f**k is this?"

Diego Luna as Cassian Andor in Andor season 2
(Image credit: Disney)

Andor showrunner Tony Gilroy says the first episode of Andor needed some work before it headed to the small screen.

"Most television directors, I’m not an expert on it, but you’re expected to do coverage," Gilroy explained in an interview with Variety. "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 fuck is this? We’re starting off the show, and it’s really boring. What is this?'"

Continued Gilroy: "[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.' 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."

Lauren Milici
Senior Entertainment Writer

Lauren Milici is a Senior Entertainment Writer for GamesRadar+ based in New York City. She previously reported on breaking news for The Independent's Indy100 and created TV and film listicles for Ranker. Her work has been published in Fandom, Nerdist, Paste Magazine, Vulture, PopSugar, Fangoria, and more.

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