Andor Director Is Proud Of Helping Make Star Wars Series "The Most Political Show Out There"

3 days ago 9

Diego Luna as Cassian Andor in Disney+'s Andor.

Published Feb 8, 2026, 12:18 PM EST

Months after the dramatic and critically acclaimed conclusion to Andor, director Janus Metz calls it "the most political show out there."

While all of Star Wars is political, the Tony Gilroy-created story received a particularly positive reception for the ways it explored the rise of fascism and the resistance against it. Many reviews for Andor have praised how it pushes the franchise's usual boundaries and provides important commentary on real-world events. Metz directed season 2, episodes 7, 8, and 9, and for episode 8, he received a Directors Guild of America nomination for Outstanding Directorial Achievement in a Dramatic Series.

In an interview with ScreenRant's Ash Crossan on the DGA red carpet, Metz was asked about how he and the show's creative team approached the parallels to real-world events and if they expected the strong reactions from viewers. He explained that he was not surprised by the reactions due to the contemporary and historically universal topics of the series. The universal nature of the story within the Star Wars IP appealed to the filmmaker and made it "extraordinary" to work on. Read Metz's comments below:

We all knew that it was going to have an effect and [create] a reaction because, obviously, Andor is a story about authoritarianism and resistance, and that story is universal through history. But it's obviously also very contemporary, and it's a very present thing right now. It was very hard not to draw those parallels in quite a literal sense while shooting it.

One of the things that drew me to the show when I spoke to Tony Gilroy was that he said, "Look, we're really trying to use the brand and the universe of Star Wars to talk about real issues." I think the strength of it is the specificity, which talks about right now, but there's also a universality to it. That's the beauty of the craft and the art, and why it's good filmmaking, because it's also a bigger universal truth about who we are as human beings among power struggles and politics.

Of course, it registers right in with the current moment. I think it's extraordinary that the most political show out there right now is Star Wars. I mean, who would have thought? It's a special thing to be part of, and it's an important thing to be part of.

Episode 8, "Who Are You?", particularly struck a chord with its politics while revolving around the Ghorman Massacre, in which the Empire kills civilians and uses propaganda to depict them as the aggressors, all so the authoritarian regime can seize the planet's abundance of kalkite. Along with a DGA nomination, the Emmy Awards also nominated Metz for his direction of this episode, and it is the show's highest-rated installment on IMDb with a near-perfect 9.7/10 score.

The second highest-rated Andor episode on IMDb is season 2, episode 9, "Welcome to the Rebellion." After the devastation of episode 8, the follow-up is also deeply political, as Senator Mon Mothma (Genevieve O'Reilly), responds to the Ghorman Massacre by making an inspiring speech to the Senate condemning Emperor Palpatine and the Empire itself. This speech is a pivotal turning point that helps unite the Rebel Alliance in the fight against the Empire. The Emmy Award for Outstanding Writing for a Drama Series went to Dan Gilroy for writing this episode, which features Mothma's speech and Cassian Andor (Diego Luna) helping her escape from the Senate.

In addition to Luna and O'Reilly, the cast of Andor includes Stellan Skarsgård as Luthen Rael, Elizabeth Dulau as Kleya Marki, Denise Gough as Dedra Meero, Kyle Soller as Syril Karn, and Adria Arjona as Bix Caleen. The Golden Globes nominated Luna for Best Performance by a Male Actor in a Television Series — Drama for his season 2 performance.