Gilroy recently spoke about the topic in an interview, finally offering some insight as to why a Star Wars show set in a galaxy far, far away seems to focus entirely on humans. Maybe it’s to avoid drawing attention away from dramatic elements like Syril Karn’s (Kyle Soller) vicious obsession with Cassian Andor (Diego Luna). Or perhaps it really does have something to do with not having the means to design and outfit so many alien characters. However, it turns out Gilroy has at least one lesser-known reason.
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Specifically addressing the prison scenes on Narkina 5, Gilroy offered a rather humorous explanation. “In some places, people were saying, oh, ‘Why is Narkina 5 all humans?’” he said in an interview with Collider. “Well, I don’t know how you would work out the bathroom on the floor with eight different varieties of genitals or whatever. I mean, it has to be that way, a system like that, maybe there’s Narkina 2 where there’s different things. We’re probably a little bit shy about it because it’s such a behavioral show and most of our principles are in this particular world. And certainly, the Empire doesn’t have a surplus of aliens on their side.”
It’s difficult to deny that this explanation makes sense, at least in terms of those specific scenes. But it turns out that Gilroy’s mention of the Empire may have more to do with the lack of aliens than expected, as he went on to suggest that the Rebellion-focused second season of Andor will feature more diverse races. “There’s some [in Season 1], and we’ll probably have more,” he added. “It’s a very strong flavor when it comes in. It’s not just a visual flavor, it’s a very strong character flavor. You have to deal with it politically. We will have more, and we’ll have them in the appropriate places. We try to pick our shots and make them cool, I guess.”
It’s certainly possible that the theories fans hold about budget and costumes getting in the way of adding more aliens to the show. But Gilroy’s words sort of help along the idea that too many non-humans would distract from the story and character moments more than they would enhance them. With people like Soller and Denise Gough (Dedra Meero) bringing such complexity to the antagonists in Andor, it isn’t too farfetched to suggest that the first season needed this unimpeded human element to effectively tell its stories. Plus, season 1 has been focused much more on settings with heavy Imperial influence, and the Galactic Empire tends to have a pretty intense aversion to aliens in general.
Aside from all that, it’s difficult to suggest that a Star Wars show with Disney money couldn’t afford to go all out. If Gilroy and his team wanted to add more aliens, they likely would have. But even knowing that, it will be very interesting to see how Andor handles what is sure to be a much more colorful group of characters when season 2 rolls around.
Star Wars: Andor season 1 is available to stream on Disney Plus.
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Source: Collider
