It's no secret that Rogue One: A Star Wars Story went through some big changes as production continued, with filmmaker Tony Gilroy enlisted to fix a third act that was ultimately completely transformed during reshoots.
Lucasfilm may not have entirely trusted Garth Edwards' vision for the story, but the studio was impressed enough with Gilroy to bring him back into the fold as Andor's showrunner. It's a decision which paid off too as the series has been widely hailed as the Star Wars franchise's best TV series.
During an interview with Deadline (via SFFGazette.com), Gilroy revealed that, shortly after Rogue One's release in 2016, he received a surprise call from Star Wars creator George Lucas.
"George Lucas called me after Rogue, I had a 45-minute conversation with him after he saw Rogue, and that's the only time I've ever spoken to him," the filmmaker recalled. "He loved it. He really did. He had a lot of things to say that I...it was like a call from the President."
That's high praise indeed from Lucas, especially as he's mostly kept his thoughts on the new Star Wars movies to himself.
Later in the interview, Gilroy also discussed his approach to the franchise's toxic fans when he decided to return to this Galaxy Far, Far Away in order to take charge of Cassian Andor's origin story on Disney+.
"I was really blown back by what was going on [while working on Rogue One] and this that I hadn't paid attention to. So I knew about it when I came back, I knew what to expect," he explained. "[You've] gotta have pretty thick skin to do that."
"But I pay attention. I don't think we made any real adjustments because of it, but it's been interesting to watch."
In fairness, even the most fickle Star Wars fans have had nothing but good things to say about Andor, particularly after it's expanded this property in new and exciting ways (without a single lightsaber in sight to boot).
Andor season 2 is expected to premiere on Disney+ in August 2024.