Andor showrunner Tony Gilroy explains his biggest inspiration for the series

Andor isn’t going to be like any live-action Star Wars series we’ve seen on Disney+ yet — showrunner Tony Gilroy is going to make sure of that.

In a recent interview, Gilroy told Total Film that he didn’t want the series to be like your average action adventure. He was inspired by the Bourne franchise — in addition to screenwriting on Rogue One: A Star Wars Story, he also wrote the screenplays for the first four Bourne films. He directed Bourne: Legacy as well.

“I had been trying to get people to make an acoustic action movie,” he explained to the outlet, “because action movies had gotten so bombastic in the ’80s, they were just enormous. So, when Bourne came along, we went way down to nothing.”

The director and writer has previously explained that the upcoming series, which takes place over the five years leading up to Rogue One, will have a different feel — it’s the story of people going about their lives trying to survive. He further clarified about what made working on Bourne so unique, and the element he wanted to carry over into Andor:

"“It was about making it real. Keeping someone you really understand and really care about in a place that you understand the geography of, with stakes, is much more involving than a guy on a train with 15 machine guns and a helicopter coming down… It’s one man’s odyssey through the center [of the story] and then all these peripheral characters surrounding him and spinning around. I mean, God, it’s looking to be entertaining. It’s heavy material, heavy things are happening, but it’s an adventure story, too.”"

Diego Luna (Cassian Andor) previously discussed how the show is largely the story of an immigrant — a man who was forced away from his home and had to find his own way in the galaxy. There is a lot of heart to modern Star Wars storytelling — as there has always been — but this show won’t rely on action to drive its points home. That doesn’t mean it won’t show viewers a fight when it’s warranted. But things will play out differently, and showcase another way to tell a Star Wars story.

Star Wars: Andor is set to premiere its first three episodes on September 21, exclusively on Disney+.

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