Star Wars: Cassian Andor Showrunner Exits Disney+ Series, Replaced by Rogue One Co-Writer Tony Gilroy

Production on the Rogue One: A Star Wars Story spinoff series focusing on Cassian Andor might be halted, but co-writer of the original film Tony Gilroy is stepping in to serve as the series' showrunner, replacing The Americans producer Stephen Schiff, per The Hollywood Reporter. Schiff, however, is still part of the series' writing team. No details were given for the reason behind the replacement, with Gilroy having previously been announced to serve as a writer, in addition to directing the pilot episode of the series. Interestingly, this isn't the first time Gilroy has stepped in to assist a Star Wars project, as he helmed the reshoots for Rogue One after principal photography was helmed by Gareth Edwards.

The series will see Diego Luna and Alan Tudyk reprising their roles of Cassian and K-2SO, respectively, with it also being confirmed that Genevieve O’Reilly is returning to reprise her role of Mon Mothma. The series has also recently added Stellan Skarsgard, Kyle Stoller, and Denise Gough in unspecified roles.

The prequel is described, "The rousing spy thriller will explore tales filled with espionage and daring missions to restore hope to a galaxy in the grip of a ruthless Empire."

Ahead of the release of Rogue One, audiences knew that the narrative would lead towards the events of Star Wars: A New Hope, with star Luna recently revealing that one of the challenges of the series is telling a story where the viewers know the end result., as he sacrificed himself on Scarif in order to get the Death Star plans to the Rebels.

“The thing I can tell you, and it’s a nice challenge and it’s a great way to approach a show, but what happens when you already know the ending?” Luna shared with IndieWire. “Then it becomes about the story. Everything is in how you tell the story and how many different layers you can find. This can’t be a show now where at the end we surprise you with like, ‘Oh no it wasn’t him!’ We’ve already seen the ending.”

Luna continued, “If you think about it, Rogue One started with the same task. The last scene of Rogue One is a scene we all know. It makes another part of your brain work [as a storyteller]. You can’t use the same formulas for storytelling you’ve known all your life with this because it’s very different. The big thing is now we start with a character that people already know what he’s capable of.”

Stay tuned for details on the Rogue One prequel series.

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