‘Andor’: Tony Gilroy Pauses His Producing Duties in Solidarity With the WGA Strike
Showrunner Tony Gilroy decided to temporarily step away from producing Andor as the Writers Guild of America continue to strike, in a show of solidarity, until their demands are met. Production on the show’s second (and final) season is currently expected to continue.
Exclusively revealed via The Hollywood Reporter, Tony Gilroy has decided to support the strikers by ceasing work on Andor, and actually has not been on set since the strike began on May 2, 2023, and he has ceased any non-writing duties on the series after a meeting with showrunners that happened on May 6. He issued the following statement in response to claims by Deli Boys writer Abdullah Saeed that he was engaging in strikebreaking:
“I discontinued all writing and writing-related work on Andor prior to midnight, May 1. After being briefed on the Saturday showrunner meeting, I informed Chris Keyser at the WGA on Sunday morning that I would also be ceasing all non-writing producing functions.”
It was previously indicated that Disney’s productions in the United Kingdom will be mostly unaffected by the strike, which includes both Andor and The Acolyte on the Star Wars front. But stateside, they’ve played a different tune as they’ve opted to paused filming on two Marvel productions: the long-gestating Blade film reboot starring Mahershala Ali had its production start delayed indefinitely, and the Disney Plus television series Daredevil: Born Again starring Charlie Cox and Vincent D’Onofrio had a day of filming cancelled due to picketing – and it’s possible that without the commitment of the series showrunner, Andor may follow suit in halting filming.
In any case, Tony Gilroy already completed his work on the last few screenplays for Andor mere days before the strike began, meaning that he may not actually be needed for the remainder of filming should they decide to press on during the strike. However, if on-set revisions are needed, then they will either have to be improvised by the cast, or possibly rewritten on-set by parties who are not participating in the strike (since UK writers are not necessarily beholden to the WGA’s protest). Filming is expected to wrap in August 2023, meaning that there should be about three more months of shooting before the series wraps, barring a possible need for additional photography.
The first season of Andor is available to watch on Disney Plus right now, with the second season currently filming and set to release in August 2024.
Grant has been a fan of Star Wars for as long as he can remember, having seen every movie on the big screen. When he’s not hard at work with his college studies, he keeps himself busy by reporting on all kinds of Star Wars news for SWNN and general movie news on the sister site, Movie News Net. He served as a frequent commentator on SWNN’s The Resistance Broadcast.
