Andor’s second season already found itself embroiled in the early days of the WGA strike, when series showrunner Tony Gilroy faced criticism due to alleged misunderstandings that he was continuing to work on the series in spite of the WGA strike’s demands of union members. Now, as Hollywood finds itself facing another, Andor is once again in the spotlight.
Deadline reports that production on the second season of the show, currently filming in England, has been paused “just weeks away” from a wrap on principal photography—but only for members of its cast that are members of the U.S. unions currently striking. Deadline further notes that the series will continue to shoot as much material as it can with local actors involved in the production, although just how feasible that is for what remains to be filmed remains to be seen. The UK’s equivalent to SAG-AFTRA, Equity, operates under different contracts, and members of the UK union have been warned that they can be sued for breach of contract should they strike in solidarity with their SAG-member crewmates.
Gilroy has, for his own part, used Andor’s recent press highlights in the wake of a raft of Emmy nominations for the critically acclaimed series to advocate for a swift end to both the WGA and SAG-AFTRA strikes, and a fair deal for writers and actors alike.
“You have this massive community of creative people in all departments everywhere. They’ve spent their lives, and some of them are second and third generation, some of them are just brand new; whatever it is, they’ve all come there, and they’re all part of this thing,” Gilroy recently told Collider. “Sadly, we’re in the place right now where the unions are the people that are trying to preserve this industry, this amazing American industry that grew up this incredible system that we have.”
“And who’s trying to protect it? It’s left to the unions to try to protect this industry,” Gilroy concluded. “That sense of community, I think, is the thing that will drive a successful conclusion to all this labor trouble.”
Andor season 2 was anticipated to release some time in the summer of 2024, with Gilroy previously stating at Star Wars Celebration earlier this year that there was approximately a year of post-production planned after the conclusion of principal photography. With this stall, whether that timeframe remains accurate remains to be seen—but it’s just another example of an industry being force to reckon with the impact of the strikes in any way other than negotiating with the unions.
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