Andorcreator Tony Gilroy concedes that Lucasfilm was right to cutStar Wars' first F-bomb. The dramaticend ofAndorseason 1featured a holo-recording from Fiona Shaw’s Maarva Andor, in which she inspired the people of Ferrix to rise up against the Empire. It originally featuredStar Wars' first F-bomb, with Maarva shouting, “F*** the Empire” rather than “Fight the Empire.” DIsney cut the line late in the day, overruling director Benjamin Caron and even showrunner Tony Gilroy,who went so far as to write a legal brief trying to win the House of Mouse over.
Speaking toMashable, Gilroy has conceded thatDisney made the right call. “That one word… It was always like, ‘Hey, we’re going to put it in there, it kind of works, and here’s why we think you should do it,” Gilroy recalled. “It wasn’t a fight,” he clarified. “It was a discussion, the way it should be.” What’s more, he’s now persuaded they were right.
“The whole experience with Kathy [Kennedy, Lucasfilm president] and Lucasfilm and Disney, all the way through fromRogue One… I mean, nobody has ever messed with us at all. The gamble they’ve taken with us, the way they’ve backed our play, it’s extraordinary. It’s the thing every filmmaker dreams about.
“They’ve been unbelievable. So yeah, they were right.”
Why Disney Cut Andor’s F-Bomb
It’s worth notingStar Warsdidn’t just cutAndor’s F-bomb for censorship’s sake; it would have raised a lot of difficult questions. If the word exists in theStar Warsgalaxy, why hadn’t it ever been heard before? That’s particularly problematic when you remember how much time the franchise has spent in the underworld, in everything from the Mos Eisley Cantina toPort Borgo.
Star Warshas, instead, established its own pattern of curse words. Some of them are rather amusing; the old Expanded Universe had “Emperor’s Black Bones,” for example, and I always find “Sithspit” quite entertaining.Din Djarin is well known for “dank farrik,” which has since become commonplace in theStar Warsgalaxy.
Andor Season 2 Will Continue To Push The Boundaries
Gilroy is, of course, doing the rounds promotingAndorseason 2right now. There can be no doubt this will continue to push the boundaries ofStar Warsas far as possible, although it’s already clear it will have a lot stronger ties to existing canon. That’s inevitable, given it is now moving into a part of the timeline that is well trod. Still, it sounds as thoughAndorseason 2 isn’t going to give us an F-bomb - but, to be fair, it really doesn’t need it.
