For all its thrilling spycraft and tactile environments, “Andor” has catapulted to the front of the cultural conversation this spring through its depiction of a rousing — and relatable — rebellion. Fans and critics alike have noted the “contemporary politics” in Tony Gilroy‘s Disney+ series, admiring the parallels between galaxies far, far away and our own “world [that’s] collapsing under corporate-fueled autocracy” — a forceful sentiment made all the more so by the franchise’s relatively tame recent entries.
One such high point is a scene in which Mon Mothma (Genevieve O’Reilly) delivers a speech to the Galactic Senate and describes the Empire’s recent actions as “genocide.” Featured in Episode 9, “Welcome to the Rebellion,” the moment drew a noticeable reaction when it debuted earlier this month. Many critics applauded Gilroy (and episode writer Janus Metz) for having the courage to use a term so often suppressed or denied in real life. That it comes from Mon Mothma, a beloved character who, in the very same speech, also decries the continued manipulation of truth, only emphasizes her choice of language.
At the ATX Television Festival on Thursday, during a panel with “Andor” writer Beau Willimon, Gilroy was asked about including the word and if he thought carefully about using it.
“Ultimately, yes,” Gilroy said.
“Can you talk about that decision?,” asked Vulture critic Kathryn VanArendonk, who moderated the panel.
“Pretty effortless,” he said.
Gilroy, who had been verbose and open throughout the rest of the panel, remained pointedly silent after each two-word response.
“You have been doing a lot of press about this show over the last several weeks,” VanArendonk continued. “What has it been like to hear people respond to this show? I assume this is a moment you’ve been asked about quite a bit.”
“It’s really sad how many people can find a place to put this [word] in some place that’s meaningful for them,” Gilroy said. “And, you know, I’ve been allowed to start using the word ‘fascism’ the last couple weeks. That’s liberating. But I don’t think it should be any surprise or even be too slippery or complicated for people to understand the road I have to walk to do all this; to maximize the audience and protect the investment of a really brave [company.]”
“I mean, [for] Disney this is $650 million,” he said. “For 24 episodes, I never took a note. We said ‘Fuck the Empire’ in the first season, and they said, ‘Can you please not do that?’ … In Season 2, they said, ‘Streaming is dead, we don’t have the money we had before,’ so we fought hard about money, but they never cleaned anything up. That [freedom] comes with responsibilities.”
“But it is sad how many people can find a place to put ‘genocide’ into their vocabulary,” he said. “I don’t think you need me to say anything else, do you?”
From there, Willimon said it was “heartwarming to hear how many people are inspired” by the scene.
“Rebellions are built on hope, right?,” he said. “And hope is a hard-won thing. You don’t wake up in the morning with a bucket full of hope. You have to earn it.”
Willimon added there are “real-life … people on the streets” and “it connects with them, and that’s important.”
“Careful,” Gilroy said, before the conversation shifted to a new subject.
Earlier in the panel, Gilroy also discussed another rarity for modern “Star Wars” projects: sex.
“I worked on ‘Rogue [One]’ so I knew what the [permissable] levels of violence were, and actually the rules loosened up considerably,” Gilroy said. “Yeah, we can’t have skin, but I very consciously started the first scene in a brothel just to see what would happen and how far we could go. There’s sex. … It’s something that probably seemed at some point like it was going to be a big anxiety, and it really turned out to be a nothing-burger all the way through.”
It’s certainly not nothing for fans still fascinated by Syril (Kyle Soller) and Dedra (Denise Gough), whose “turn out the lights” scene started the conversation about sex in “Star Wars.” But that, in itself, speaks to the power of acknowledging reality onscreen — even in science-fiction.
The ATX Television Festival runs May 29 – June 1 in Austin, TX.
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