Andor is one of the most decorated and well-received Star Wars projects of the modern era, but the award-winning sci-fi show is falling short of its original five-season plan, with just two seasons under its belt.
The show was originally planned to have each season chronicle one year of events, leading up to the story told in Rogue One. However, the series producers and showrunners pivoted in season 2, opting to have the last season cover four years of events instead of the aforementioned one.
Now, series writer Dan Gilroy, who is the brother of showrunner Tony Gilroy, has revealed on Script Apart [via Total Film] that had the show stuck to its original five-season plan, Emperor Palpatine would have likely appeared.
"So what else would we have explored? Oh my god, where would we have gone? I mean, I can't imagine over five years we wouldn't have shown the Emperor at that point," said the writer.
He added, "I think we would have gotten closer to that world. I think we would have gone, like, we're really getting a good sense of opposition forces here, but let's go deeper into the power at the moment, the halls of power. I think we would have gone deeper into the halls of power and explored that. That would have been the natural way to go, I think, the progression of it."
Previously, Tony Gilroy stated that he didn't have any interest in including Darth Vader in the series, as he felt there wasn't any storytelling ground that hadn't already been covered. "That was never on my agenda. Writing for Darth Vader is really limiting. I've done it. He doesn't have a lot to say." By extension, one has to think that would include Palpatine.
In its second and final season, Andor has secured a total of 14 Emmy nominations- including a nomination for Outstanding Drama Series, Outstanding Guest Actor in a Drama Series (Forest Whitaker), and Outstanding Character Voice-Over Performance ( Alan Tudyk).
The show received 7 Emmy nominations for its first season in 2023 but did not take home any golden trophies.
The Star Wars franchise now appears to be looking to the future, with several projects set to follow Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker, including Ryan Gosling's Star Wars: Starfighter (set 5 years after Episode IX) and Simon Kinger's upcoming trilogy (whose first film is going to reportedly be given the designation (Episode X).