Fiona Shaw Describes New Star Wars Series ‘Andor’ As “Great, Scurrilous Take On The Trumpian World,” Says Showrunner Created “A Whole New Morality”

John F. Trent |

Aug 2, 2022

Andor actress Fiona Shaw made it abundantly clear that the upcoming Star Wars series will be a political commentary on Donald Trump rather than a Star Wars adventure.

Andor is described by Lucasfilm as a series that “explores a new perspective from the Star Wars galaxy, focusing on Cassian Andor’s journey to discover the difference he can make. The series brings forward the tale of the burgeoning rebellion against the Empire and how people and planets became involved. It’s an era filled with danger, deception and intrigue where Cassian will embark on the path that is destined to turn him into a rebel hero.”

The series is created by and showrun by Tony Gilroy, who wrote Rogue One: A Star Wars Story, Michael Clayton, as well as the Bourne trilogy and The Bourne Legacy.

Shaw, who plays a character named Maarva, spoke with Empire about the upcoming series telling them, “Tony [Gilroy] has written a great, scurrilous [take] on the Trumpian world.”

“Our world is exploding in different places right now, people’s rights are disappearing, and Andor reflects that. [In the show] the Empire is taking over, and it feels like the same thing is happening in reality, too,” she explained.

Shaw later praised Gilroy for implementing real world politics into Star Wars, “I was impressed by Tony’s social-realist intentions.”

She then revealed that Gilroy has created a “whole new morality” and put it into the show. She said, “He’s created a whole new morality. It’s very deep and humane – there is grief, mourning, hope, fear. It’s not just primary colours here.”

As for Gilroy, he previously indicated the show would be contradicting previously established Star Wars canon.

He told Vanity Fair back in May, “There are certain events that happen in these five years that are important and need to be paid attention to. There are certain people, characters that are legacy characters, that the audience, the passionate audience, really feels that they have an understanding of and know.”

“In some cases, they’re right. And in some cases, what we’re saying is, ‘What you know, what you’ve been told, what’s on Wookieepedia, what you’ve been telling each other…is really all wrong,” he then relayed.

Gilroy then added, “It’s upside down, or it’s sideways, or it’s the opposite of what you thought was true. Or it’s way more interesting than you had ever thought. Or that’s a lie and there’s a reason for it. I would say that there’s some surprises in store.”

He then specifically referenced Mon Mothma and her role in the fourth episode of the show, “I bet that when episode 104 plays, when Mon Mothma finishes the episode, that there’ll be people tweeting about Mon Mothma.”

Gilroy would further detail that the show is aimed at passionate Star Wars fans explaining, “The really passionate Star Wars community…all those people have a lot of people in their lives that are Star Wars hesitant, or Star Wars averse, or Star Wars reluctant. Their roommate, their husband, the guy at work, whatever.”

However, he also notes, “I mean, I want my wife to be watching this show. She couldn’t care less. She’s not that interested in it. She hasn’t been interested in it for the last two years. But my goal is that she really is like, Oh, my God, I’ve got to see the next episode. Without losing anybody, it’s really about enhancing what we have.”

Andor is expected to debut its first three episodes on Disney+ on August 31st. Along with Fiona Shaw the show stars Diego Luna, Genevieve O’Reilly, Stellan Skarsgård, Adria Arjona, Denise Gough, and Kyle Soller.

What do you make of Fiona Shaw’s comments about Andor?

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Mentioned This Article:Andor Disney Fiona Shaw Lucasfilm Star Wars Tony Gilroy

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