‘I’m A Little Bit Sensitive About It’: Tony Gilroy Explains Why There Aren’t More Alien Creatures In Andor

One of the things that makes the Star Wars galaxy so appealing is the alien creatures that populate it. While humans are still front and center of the stories most of the time, you don’t have to wait long to see them surrounded by these colorful extraterrestrials, from Chewbacca to Yoda. And yet when it comes to Andor, which premiered its second season earlier this week on the 2025 TV schedule, there are significantly fewer aliens to spot. It’s something that Tony Gilroy, who created the Disney+ subscription-exclusive series, is well aware of, but he opened up about these smaller numbers while speaking with CinemaBlend.

Gilroy addressed this topic with our own Jeff McCobb while he was seated next to Mon Mothma actress Genevieve O’Reilly, who discussed her character’s drunken dance sequence in “Harvest.” When Jeff asked Gilroy if he noticed that Andor doesn’t include as many aliens compared to other Star Wars projects, the showrunner answered:

Yeah, I’m a little bit sensitive about it. I mean, we’ve tried to do more and more and more. There’s a lot of different reasons for it. But yeah, I think there are more there are more this season than previously. And I’m always trying. I’m always trying. It’s it’s on my mind. It’s on my mind all the time.

Andor definitely gives off a Battlestar Galactica vibe to me, as that popular sci-fi TV series was lacking in aliens entirely. To be clear, the reduced presence of such creatures clearly doesn’t affect how the Star Wars show’s been received, as evidenced by the overwhelmingly positive reviews for Andor Season 2. But it is arguably the most human-centric of these shows by far, whether we’re talking about the people making up the Rebellion when Cassian Andor was around or simply the populations of the various planets visited.

At least the showrunner made an effort to include more aliens in Season 2, and when Jeff McCobb pointed out that the fewer amount of them helped make the series feel more “grounded and real,” which is why he liked Rogue One, Gilroy said:

They’re a very strong flavor when they come in, and it really shifts things. You had to be really careful about how you do it.

Jeff then said that this approach made it more “impactful” when aliens do come in, to which Gilroy responded, “I agree.” With nine episodes left to go in Andor Season 2’s run, I’m looking forward to seeing what aliens will rear their heads as this show follows along with the Rebellion and Empire in the years leading up to the events in Rogue One. However, we don’t have much longer to spend with the Andor gang, as three episodes are being released at a time weekly.

As such, this series will come to an end on Tuesday, May 13. After that, the next upcoming Star Wars TV show is Ahsoka Season 2, which doesn’t have a premiere date set yet.

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