By George & Josh Bate
Before Tony Gilroy took over creative duties on Andor and steered it to becoming one of the greatest television series of all time, another acclaimed filmmaker was developing a version of the series that would have looked quite different than the final product fans have fallen in love with.
As revealed in The Art of Star Wars: Andor, Jared Bush wrote a detailed series bible for Andor in 2018. Bush currently serves as chief creative officer of Walt Disney Animation Studios and is best known for co-writing and co-directing Zootopia and Zootopia 2. He also wrote the screenplays for Moana, Moana 2, and the upcoming live-action remake.
Bush’s original pitch for Andor is as follows:
“The fledgling Rebellion experiences a crippling setback when an Imperial mole hidden within its ranks decimated a series of rebel bases. Cassian Andor, a young intelligence operative, is one of the few who survive, only to be falsely accused of being the mole himself. Out in the cold, Cassian discovers the only way to clear his name and find the mole is to infiltrate an Imperial planet which holds the key to uncovering the mole’s identity.”
Bush’s planned version of Andor was described as a “spy drama, in the same vein as the original Mission: Impossible,” according to Andor lead graphic designer Dominic Sikking. “The series would follow Cassian Andor and a group of rebels, infiltrating the Empire using Cold War-style spycraft.”
Cassian’s primary relationship in Bush’s show was with K-2SO, his droid companion introduced in 2016’s Rogue One: A Star Wars Story. Seemingly the sassy droid voiced by Alan Tudyk would have played a far greater role in Bush’s show than what ultimately came of Andor under Gilroy’s supervision.
Aside from K-2SO, Cassian’s primary relationship in the series was going to be with a “non-allegiant mercenary named Avnee, who lives on Okara obtaining and selling intel to the highest bidder. Cassian and Avnee have a history that was probably romantic.”
Concept art shows Avnee as a blue-skinned alien with blonde hair. Her face bears a strong resemblance to English actresss Gugu Mbatha-Raw, who is known for her roles in Loki, Doctor Who, and The Morning Show.
Unlike the final version of Andor, which largely centered around the planet Ferrix in its first season, Bush’s take on Andor would have focused on Okara, an Imperial planet far from the dangers of the battles with the rebels. “It’s much smaller than Coruscant [think the size of Quebec City or Prague] and surprisingly charming and almost romantic,” described Bush in his series bible.
Some of the names that Bush considered for the show were Star Wars: Alliance and Star Wars: Andor Five.
Ultimately, no one is complaining that Andor ended up the way that it did – the show is the pinnacle of Star Wars stories crafted in the Disney era. But it is certainly interesting to ponder how the show could have looked had Bush’s take came to fruition. A Mission: Impossible-inspired espionage story about a wrongly accused Rebel trying to find a mole sounds like it would make for a great Star Wars series, even one not headlined by Cassian Andor.
The Art of Star Wars: Andor is available now, courtesy of Abrams Books
