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Andor season 2 has wrapped filming, and it’s expected to drop on Disney+ sometime in late 2024 or early 2025. The second season of the critically acclaimed Star Wars series will wrap up Cassian Andor’s story, leading straight into Rogue One. If you saw Rogue One, then you know that Cassian dies after stealing the Death Star plans. In other words, there will be no Andor season 3.

However, according to Cassian Andor actor Diego Luna, a third season was initially considered…along with a fourth and fifth. Why didn’t they do it? It turns out filming a Star Wars television series takes a long time. Diego Luna explained it all during a spotlight panel at ACE Superhero Comic Con 2024.

“At the very beginning before we even started, we thought we were going to manage to do multiple seasons," says Luna. " And then the first season took two and a half years of our lives."

Andor was greenlit in 2018 for a planned 2019 filming window, but it was delayed due to a change in showrunner, then the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic. The series managed to be filmed during the pandemic, but was prone to severe delays due to safety protocols as well as the showrunner Tony Gilroy stepping back from directing duties due to not wanting to travel to where it was being filmed.

Related: Why Andor feels more mature than other Star Wars (and no, it's not body count)

"So, we said, ‘There’s no way we can do five seasons of this. I’ll be with my cane pretending to be on my way to Rogue One,'" Luna continues. "Tony came up with a great idea of doing four blocks, and each block is a year before Rogue One."

As Diego explains it, whereas the five-season plan for Andor was to document the five years leading to Rogue One, season 2 is consolidating seasons two through five into four three-episode arcs, or mini-movies - with a different director and lead writer for each. Even in the filming of this one season they also experienced severe delays due to the directors' and writers' strike.

"It’s the last four years basically. So, there’s a time jump every three episodes of a year," says Luna. "It’s fascinating for you because there’s a whole chunk you’re going to have to come up with, because there’s always this kind of jump in time. It’s a great tool and narratively it’s very interesting to watch.”

For those lamenting about not having a full five seasons of Andor, consider that at the current rate of a season coming every three years, a five-season Andor wouldn't be finished until 2034.... and Diego Luna would be 54, filming the moments before Rogue One - which he filmed at the age of 36.

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