Andor Wouldn’t Have Happened in a World Without Baby Yoda

In an interview with Empire Magazine ahead of the premiere of Andor season two, showrunner Tony Gilroy discussed why he believes a show like theirs “will never happen again.” Thanks to The Mandalorian‘s success, there was a shift with Lucasfilm to go all in on a risk with long-form story telling, as well as being the push that allowed the Star Wars canon to open up in ways that aren’t as feasible in this current era of television.

“No one’s ever gonna start a show on this scale again, and shoot it practically, and have the resources and the protection to do something like this,” Gilroy said. “We were protected all the way down the line.”

And yes, Kathleen Kennedy was leading the charge on championing the Andor at Disney. “Kathy [Kennedy] protected us. Lucasfilm protected us. Bob Iger protected us. The audience protected us. The Mandalorian protected us. We had all these people out there backing our play,” he explained. “The success of The Mandalorian gave us the platform to jump off,”

Gilroy continued. “Their success is what would fuel the whole thing. I mean, no Baby Yoda, no Andor. Seriously. Don’t think that we don’t know that.”

He then went on to celebrate the collaborators who paved the way with—yes, the cutest little green companion formerly known as Baby Yoda, now Grogu, who fact of the matter is the money maker for a wider audience. In order to belong to many, Star Wars has to belong to all in order for the sections of the fandom to get more of what they want.

“Online, [people] try to drive a wedge all the time between us, and [Jon] Favreau and [Dave] Filoni,” Gilroy said, calling out how the toxic part of the Star Wars fanbase tends to come out very loudly against concepts they don’t want to support. “It’s horrible what people say; it’s terrible. And the truth is, we don’t have a show without them. They gave us the muscle to go.”

Want more io9 news? Check out when to expect the latest Marvel, Star Wars, and Star Trek releases, what’s next for the DC Universe on film and TV, and everything you need to know about the future of Doctor Who.