For all its undoubted success and a slew of 14 Emmy nominations, the lack of nominations in the acting categories (other than the always magnificent Forest Whitaker as Saw Gerrera) for the cast of Andor has clearly rankled showrunner Tony Gilroy. Not in terms of any kind of snub for the show, but rather his immaculately chosen and supremely talented cast who could use such a nomination as a springboard to move on to other significant work.
GD: For all of Andor’s great success with this year’s nomination, the show also had two of the most notable snubs, in Diego Luna and Genevieve O’Reilly. How do oversights like that feel from inside a show?
TG: It’s really painful. Genevieve O’Reilly, of the 24 episodes, she must be in 20 of them. She gives a five-year performance that’s complicated, nuanced, and breathtaking. It’s a lifetime achievement. I’m sure when you’re looking [at the nomination, you think], “When are you going to get a part like that again? When are you going to get an opportunity like that again? When are you going to ever do that kind of work again?” Especially, if you’ve been a working actor, but always on the margins, always down that list. And here’s this incredible opportunity. And really, I would trade away a lot of other things to have her there. Diego, the same thing, but I worry less about him. It’s about what [awards] can do for you and the utility of it. There are people where it will really change things for them, and they’ve done the best work they may ever do in their lifetime, and they’re going, “Why didn’t it happen?”… It really hurts, but I said it before: I do think the performances and the work that people did on the show is going to have a very long, a very long life. I don’t think it has an expiration date on it that is anytime soon
