Andor writer Dan Gilroy says Emperor Palpatine probably would have appeared in the Star Wars show eventually if it had stuck to the original 5-season plan

If Andor had run for five seasons, Emperor Palpatine might have eventually made an appearance, according to writer Dan Gilroy.

While Andor came to an end with Andor season 2, at one point, the plan was for the Star Wars show to stretch to five seasons.

"Really, actually, this moment is the most I've actually really thought about it," Gilroy told Script Apart. "So what else would we have explored? Oh my god, where would we have gone? I mean, I can't imagine over five years we wouldn't have shown the Emperor at that point.

"I think we would have gotten closer to that world," he continued. "I think we would have gone, like, we're really getting a good sense of opposition forces here, but let's go deeper into the power at the moment, the halls of power. I think we would have gone deeper into the halls of power and explored that. That would have been the natural way to go, I think, the progression of it."

While much of Andor revolved around the inner workings of the Empire, Palpatine and Darth Vader never made appearances.

"No, that was never on my agenda," showrunner Tony Gilroy has previously said of including Vader. "Writing for Darth Vader is really limiting. I've done it. He doesn't have a lot to say."

Though Vader did, of course, appear in Rogue One – and while Palpatine doesn't show up in either Andor or Rogue One, he is mentioned plenty.

Another Star Wars character who didn't make it into Andor season 3 is Riz Ahmed's Bodhi Rook, who first appeared in Rogue One. "I spoke to [showrunner] Tony Gilroy about this afterwards," Ahmed has said. "I was like, 'Yeah, thanks a lot, bud. Everyone gets a cameo apart from your old pal, Riz.' He was like, 'Actually, I thought about it, but it would've thrown all the timeline off and it would've unpicked a lot of the plotting.'"

Andor is streaming on Disney Plus now. You can keep up with everything else the galaxy far, far away has in store with our guide to all the upcoming Star Wars movies and shows.