Star Wars: Andor, one of the best shows of the year, wrapped up its second and final season earlier this week. And while the series featured some Easter eggs and familiar faces, it didn’t include any main cast characters from the Original Trilogy. However, there were talks at one time about possibly including Leia Organa in the series, though it never happened.
In a recent interview, Andor showrunner and creator Tony Gilroy was asked by Screenrant if he and Lucasfilm ever thought about including a Leia cameo. In the show’s first season she would have been around 16 years old and hanging around the senate. But according to Gilroy, the idea just didn’t work.
“There were some conversations early on, there was much to be made. This is in the sketching stage,” said Gilroy. “This is in the really soggy beginning, trying to figure out what to do because trying to figure out, I was trying to make that Investiture Week idea,” he said, referring to an idea for a storyline involving Leia and Mon Mothma during a period of celebration around the senate. “I was trying to get the most out of that investiture week and those parties, and we have Alden’s party now… and we’re making a thing out of it. And we were trying to find out on the timeline where she would be in the Senate.”
“There were some nutrients for a scene between her and Mothma that if she was going there at 16 and Mothma had gone to the Senate when she was 16, there was some basic cool things for a scene, but it never got past that, and it never went to the casting stage, or it never got more real than that,” confirmed Gilroy.
“I remember talking to [Lucasfilm’s] Kathy [Kennedy] about it and talking to Pablo [Hidalgo] about it, but it never got traction, and then it became a distraction.”
While I know some people might be sad that we didn’t get a Leia cameo, I think Gilroy was right to realize it would have been a distraction. This story didn’t need to have Leia pop up for a cameo and overshadow everything else happening. I still think that a moment between a young Leia and Mothma in the senate could be cool, but that’s something I’d rather read about in a Star Wars novel or comic.
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