Tony Gilroy Recognized by WGA East for His Decades-Long Career, Stellan Skarsgard Praises ‘Andor’ Season 2
The outlook for Andor is looking increasingly bright these days. Series creator Tony Gilroy has just been chosen to receive an award from the WGA and Stellan Skarsgard, one of Andor‘s lead actors, has begun talking up the quality of the show’s upcoming second season.
The WGA East, of which Gilroy is a proud member, has just announced (hat tip Deadline) that the Andor showrunner will receive its Ian McLellan Hunter Award for Career Achievement. The award is intended to recognize a particular WGAE member’s writing work in film or television. Seeing as Gilroy has been active as a screenwriter since the early 90s and has worked on many acclaimed projects over the decades, the choice makes plenty of sense. Notably, Gilroy’s father, Frank D. Gilroy, also earned the award in 2011.
Lisa Takeuchi, the President of WGA East, explained the guild’s decision:
“Tony embodies the best of what it means to be a Writers Guild member. He is an extraordinary talent who has written some of the most thought-provoking and exciting screenplays of the last 30 years. He is also a staunch union ally, one of our most trusted voices when it comes to advocating for writers’ rights, and he gave one of the best damn speeches on the picket lines last summer. We all wish we were Tony, but short of that we are thrilled to present him with this award.”
As some readers may remember, Gilroy was an outspoken supporter of last year’s Hollywood labor strikes. During the work stoppages, he gained particular recognition for a speech he gave at a WGA/SAG-AFTRA protest. In his speech, the Andor showrunner explained his family’s long association with the WGA and emphasized that the future of the screenwriting profession was at stake. He concluded his speech by shouting “One way out!”, an Andor reference that both fans and media outlets certainly didn’t miss.
However, that’s not all of the recent goings-on for Andor. Actor Stellan Skarsgard, who plays the Rebel spy and organizer Luthen Rael on the series, recently spoke about the forthcoming final season while doing press for his new movie, Dune: Part Two (hat tip GamesRadar):
“It’s the last season of it. It ends where Rogue One starts so it’s up to that point. I think it will be very good as already the first one was satisfying for me because it’s sort of Star Wars for grown-ups – it’s a more realistic and complicated society that they’re living in and the claustrophobia of the fascist regime is palpable. I think we have a good season ahead of us.”
If Skarsgard’s words are anything to go by, viewers will be in for quite a treat. As for when fans will finally be able to see the second half of Andor‘s story, it seems some secrets elude even a Rebel spymaster. Per Skarsgard:
“It will probably be out towards the end of the year or early next.”
It’s too bad that we still don’t know exactly when Andor will return with its final episodes, but at least we got confirmation recently that principal photography has concluded. Besides, with The Bad Batch currently in the middle of its last season and The Acolyte around the corner, Star Wars fans will have plenty to watch while they wait.
Sources: Deadline, GamesRadar
Eric has been a fan of Star Wars ever since the age of five (or so) when his parents sat him down in front of a TV with pizza and a Sprite and showed him the original trilogy. He keeps trying to convince more fans to read the amazing 1980s Star Wars newspaper comics by Archie Goodwin and Al Williamson. When he's not reading, watching or playing Star Wars media, he's often enjoying other great fantasy and science fiction sagas or playing roleplaying games with his friends.
