While there's no denying that Andor was a phenomenal series, it doesn't seem unfair to say there were also some missed opportunities. Showrunner Tony Gilroy has already explained why Cassian and K-2SO's bromance didn't get more screentime, but what of Jyn Erso?
Rogue One: A Star Wars Story established that she was raised by resistance fighter Saw Gerrera, and while he was repeatedly featured in the series, Jyn didn't even get a passing mention.
For Gilroy, it boiled down to not being able to find a place for the future Rebel in the story he was telling across seasons 1 and 2 of Andor.
"When I was building season 2 after season 1, I was looking at everything," he told Backstory Magazine (via SFFGazette.com). "Felicity [Jones] is just a fantastic actor and a really great person, and I know how much love there is for her online and how many people were begging for that to happen. If I could have thought of a way that didn't tip everything upside down, I don't think Lucasfilm would have had a problem."
"But I could never...once you start it, what do you do with it? You got to go all the way," Gilroy continued. "Is she some connection to Saw, and then you get into that, but then you go back, and what does he say in Rogue One? It just never pulled together."
Original plans called for Andor to run for 5 seasons, with each of them devoted to a year in Cassian's life. Lucasfilm and actor Diego Luna baulked at the idea, which is why years two, three, four, and five only received three episodes each rather than twelve.
Had Andor got a longer run, there's no doubt every chance that Gilroy would have found a way to tell more of Jyn's story before she met Cassian. However, in a separate interview with Entertainment Weekly, he said, "In the end, I realized if people didn't absolutely have to be there, they shouldn’t."
"And it would've been lame to bring Jyn back as a cameo. That would've been really disrespectful in a way. I'd rather honor Rogue and keep it straight."
Elsewhere in the conversation, Gilroy also addressed his decision to only touch briefly on how the Rebel Alliance chose Yavin as its base.
"I think there were probably more ambitions in the beginning to show a little bit more development of Yavin," he confirmed. "The story of Yavin is interesting and probably slightly undernourished in the story, not because we don't know what it is, or I think each time we dropped a needle we're showing a progression and we're showing you how it's moved forward."
"You make the most out of the little moments we have, when Wilmon shows up and all of a sudden they're asking people to check in and go see the doctor, and you know intake officers, you see Vel. So we're making the most out of every moment that we have, but we don't have a lot of real estate for that, you could probably do more with that, but I don't miss it."
Gilroy had limited room with Andor season 2, so it was inevitable that some ideas would fall by the wayside. Many fans have also questioned why neither Emperor Palpatine nor Darth Vader appeared; in a separate interview with Deadline, Gilroy simply said, "If I’d needed them, I would’ve brought them in."
The Andor showrunner didn't appear keen on using any character who wasn't grounded in the same level of reality as the series' lead. Still, it's a pity that Darth Vader never made his presence felt in the ISB, with Palpatine's absence from the Senate another shame.
You can hear more from the showrunner on the Star Wars series in the player below.