Disney+’s Rogue One: A Star Wars Story spin-off series centered on Diego Luna’s Cassian Andor has seen a wave of behind-the-scenes troubles getting to the starting line and now it’s hit another minor bump in the road as Tony Gilroy has stepped down from directing the first three episodes of the series, according to Deadline.
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Sources report that Gilroy’s departure from the position is simply a manner of pandemic-related travel issues, as the series’ co-writer lives in New York and had to make a quick decision on whether he would head to the U.K. for the shooting and decided to stay home and hand over directing duties to Black Mirror‘s Toby Haynes, who was already on the list of potential directors for future episodes. Despite the departure from directing, Gilroy is still set to remain very involved with the project as executive producer and showrunner.
The cast for the series is set to feature the returns of Luna, Genevieve O’Reilly, Denise Gough, Stellan Skarsgård, Kyle Soller and Adria Arjona, with Alan Tudyk expected to return as Cassian’s droid sidekick K-2SO. While character details for Gough and Arjona’s roles are currently being kept under wraps, O’Reilly is set to return to her role of Republic senator and co-founder and leader of the Rebel Alliance Mon Mothma after first appearing in Star Wars: Episode III — Revenge of the Sith in a non-speaking role and then a more prominent supporting turn in Rogue One. She was also voiced by O’Reilly in Star Wars Rebels and Kath Soucie in Star Wars: The Clone Wars.
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Gilroy, who directed the reshoots for Rogue One, reportedly rewrote the pilot episode for the series with Stephen Schiff (The Americans) originally set to serve as the series’ showrunner before leaving the series, but sources previously reported that Schiff has since returned and is working with Gilroy to develop the project.
The series will follow the adventures of rebel spy Cassian Andor during the formative years of the Rebellion and prior to the events of Rogue One. The spy thriller series will explore tales of espionage and daring missions to restore hope to a galaxy in the grip of a ruthless Empire.
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In Rogue One, a group of unlikely heroes bands together on a mission to steal the plans to the Death Star, the Empire’s ultimate weapon of destruction. This key event in the Star Wars timeline brings together ordinary people who choose to do extraordinary things, and in doing so, become part of something greater than themselves.
Luna starred alongside Felicity Jones in the film with Mads Mikkelsen, Donnie Yen, Jiang Wen, Riz Ahmed, plus Forest Whitaker and Ben Mendelsohn. It remains to be seen if any of these characters will appear in the series.
(Photo Credit: Theo Wargo/Getty Images)
