This was the first panel on the Celebration Stage that I attended over the weekend and it didn’t disappoint. I have to admit that I was expecting a roster of stars from the show to come out. After all, Andy Serkis was in attendance just down the autograph hall, but what we were treated to was something much more in-depth and serious. The three big names in attendance for this panel were Creator/Executive Producer Tony Gilroy, Lucasfilm President/Executive Producer Kathleen Kennedy and Andor himself/Executive Producer Diego Luna while the panel was hosted by self-confessed Star Wars nut Edith Bowman.
Rounding out the panel for a truly fascinating discussion was composer Nicholas Britell, editor John Gilroy, production designer Luke Hull and costume designer Michael Wilkinson.
The panel kicked off with Tony Gilroy announcing that he initially said ‘no’ to making this series. The vision he had in mind was something that he was convinced Disney/Lucasfilm just wouldn’t want to make. All concluded that making this series was going to be a big risk but then Kathy Kennedy chimed in to remind the audience that this is what Star Wars is going to need as it continues to expand into the future. Risks are going to have to be taken.
As we got deeper into the panel it was like watching a DVD documentary from the Lucasfilm heyday of behind-the-scenes that occurred with home releases from The Phantom Menace to Revenge of the Sith and the 2004 release of the Original Trilogy. We learned that over 7.5 hours of music was conducted for this series and the constant ‘elephant in the room’ as Gilroy put it was John Williams with whom everyone holds to the highest esteem. There was talk of how Ferrix itself was excruciatingly detailed and Luna cracking a joke that when he opened one of the draws in his home he noted that he could actually have cooked a real meal with the food that was inside.
From there we moved onto the stunning locations of Scotland that were used for Aldhani and how the crew, and Kennedy herself, got extremely taken with the dams that were built up there. Shooting went deep inside these dams for real shots and Edith Bowman was especially happy to hear the love and warmth shown for Scotland.
As we moved onto the prison break, Luke Hull noted that this sequence was conceived in a week. While thrashing out the story in a hotel room it was said between them all that; ‘if we’re going to do a prison break sequence it needs to be the best prison break sequence ever shot or at least different and interesting and something that the audience has never seen before’ The main takeaway here for me was Gilroy’s comment about the reveal in the post-credits sequence that they’re actually constructing parts of the Death Star. ‘He’s making the weapon that’s going to kill him.’ Superb storytelling.
As a writer, the most appetizing part of the panel for me was to hear the writer’s process and it was John Gilroy’s comments that Tony Gilroy has to know the set before he can write. He has to know the location and how it works. ‘He writes with the set as if it’s another character and this then spills over to the editing.’
Looking ahead to season 2, if I understood this correctly, Gilroy announced that there would indeed be 12 episodes and each of the three episodes would cover a year and then drop and then there would be another three that would drop and so on. We’ve seen this happen before with the likes of Stranger Things on Netflix so this isn’t a new style for streaming. He also confirmed that the final moments of season 2 would lead us straight into the opening moments of Rogue One. He also confirmed that Cassian Andor is absolutely in the rebellion with everything he has. He’s picked his side and he’s not moving from it. This got big cheers from the crowds.
Finally, after heartfelt thanks from the guests to the crowd, the lights went out and we were treated to an exclusive teaser to season 2 with more glorious production design and beautiful music to accompany it.
- Hardcover Book
- Córdova, Zoraida (Author)
- English (Publication Language)
- 352 Pages - 09/05/2023 (Publication Date) - Random House/Star Wars (Publisher)
