Andor Creator Fights for $650M as Disney Kills Streaming

Tony Gilroy, the acclaimed creator behind the Star Wars series Andor, revealed he had to vigorously negotiate for the second season's budget after Disney informed him that "streaming is dead."

During his appearance at the ATX Television Festival (via IndieWire), Gilroy confirmed that Andor's production costs reached a staggering $650 million. This figure surpasses the budgets of the recent Star Wars sequel trilogy films and is nearly double the cost of Star Wars: The Last Jedi.

Despite the series' lower viewership compared to Disney+ hit The Mandalorian, and broader industry concerns about the profitability of high-budget streaming projects following several expensive but underwhelming Marvel series, Gilroy stated that Disney ultimately agreed to finance the equally costly second season of Andor.

"For Disney, this represents a $650 million investment," Gilroy remarked, highlighting the studio's hands-off approach to Andor's creative content. The series notably explores themes uncommon in the Star Wars universe, such as discussions of rape and genocide, and includes scenes set in a brothel.

"Throughout all 24 episodes, I never received a single note," Gilroy continued, though he acknowledged one instance where a change was requested. "We originally included the line 'F*** the Empire' in the first season, and they asked if we could remove it." (This refers to dialogue spoken by Maarva in the first season finale, which was later changed to "Fight the Empire.")

"For Season 2, Disney told us 'Streaming is dead, and we don't have the same financial resources as before,' so we had intense negotiations about the budget. However, they never interfered with the creative content. That artistic freedom comes with significant responsibilities."

Every IGN Andor Review

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These responsibilities primarily involved delivering a series whose quality matched its substantial budget—an achievement most critics agree Gilroy successfully accomplished.

"Andor's second season expands on nearly everything that made the first season so effective, further developing the prequel era of Star Wars," IGN noted in its spoiler-free review of Andor season 2. "Gilroy and his team skillfully incorporate the dramatic irony inherent in prequel storytelling, making this season the most compelling the Star Wars franchise has been in years."