Zootopia 2 director and Disney Animation boss Jared Bush has shared that he wrote the original pilot for Andor, before stepping away from the Star Wars galaxy to direct Disney's smash hit Encanto instead.
Andor, of course, ultimately ended up as Tony Gilroy's project, and season 2 went on to become the most critically acclaimed live-action Star Wars project ever.
Speaking on The Town with Matthew Belloni podcast, Bush responded "that is true" when Belloni mentioned he "wrote the original Andor pilot," and, when Belloni said he was "fired," Bush cleared up: "Well, actually, I was never fired… No. That was when Encanto was coming up and I had to make a choice."
After Belloni joked that Andor turned out "okay," Bush said: "I literally just had a conversation with Kathy [Lucasfilm boss Kathleen Kennedy] last week, where I sat down with my kids. They wanted to binge both seasons 1 and season 2, and it's phenomenal.
"It's not what I would have done with that," he continued. "And I think that's a really important piece of what we do in this industry, which is you do want a storyteller's point of view and perspective. And, obviously, Tony's work on so many films, but especially Rogue One, which I thought was tremendous, that's why I was excited about Andor in the first place, because of that work.
"So, you know, I think so often I think that the narrative is sort of these battles between folks. We're all creative people that are just trying to make something that matters."
Next up for Star Wars is The Mandalorian and Grogu, which arrives in theaters this May 22. As for Zootopia 2, the animated sequel has crossed $1.6 billion at the worldwide box office.
While you wait for the return of Din Djarin and Din Grogu, check out our guide to all the upcoming Star Wars movies and shows for everything else that's in store. You can also check out our interviews with the Zootopia 2 cast and filmmakers on bringing the animal world to life and introducing reptiles to the series.
