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Tony Gilroy, the showrunner of Andor season one and two, has halted his production services on the second season of the critically acclaimed Star Wars series. Last week it was revealed that Tony Gilroy had completed writing duties on Andor season two ahead of a planned Writers Guild of America strike which began on May 1st, but it was said that Gilroy would continue his producing duties away from the set which did not contain writing elements. Shortly after, Gilroy came under fire from a fellow WGA member, Abdullah Saeed, who took to Instagram and seemingly accused Gilroy of scabbing, adding that a writer-producer cannot finish writing and begin acting solely as a producer. He demanded that the WGA take a look at the scripts Gilroy submitted ahead of May 1st and if there’s one word that’s different on screen than what’s on the page, then Gilroy should be kicked out of the Writers Guild of America.
“This is scabbing. There’s no way a writer/producer can “finish” writing and begin solely producing. And if the scripts truly are finished, let’s see ‘em. If there’s one word different in the finished product, kick Tony Gilroy out of the WGA. One of the biggest writers in Hollywood could stand with his union and halt production on his hit show, thereby forcing a major studio to consider WGA demands a little harder. Instead he has chosen to SCAB. We all want Andor s2 but not at the cost of fairness to writers.” – Abdullah Saeed
Last week Disney urged showrunners continue their obligated non-writing services during the WGA strike in letters sent out to various productions. The Writers Guild of America called this request a union busting tactic from Disney and reiterated to the showrunners, as stated in the WGA strike rules, that cutting for time, minor changes to dialogue or narration made before or during production, along with changes in technical or stage direction, are considered breaches of the strike rules. Members of the WGA who are acting as producers on television or feature films for example are allowed to continue their producing work, but are forbidden to perform any duties that may be considered as writing, as was mentioned in the WGA’s response to Disney’s letters.
Tony Gilroy has now sent a statement to The Hollywood Reporter following the scabbing accusation and revealed that he is stepping away from his producing duties and had informed the co-chair of the Writers Guild of America’s negotiating committee, Chris Keyser, of his actions, which Keyser confirmed to THR. Gilroy said the following:
“I discontinued all writing and writing-related work on Andor prior to midnight, May 1. After being briefed on the Saturday showrunner meeting, I informed Chris Keyser at the WGA on Sunday morning that I would also be ceasing all non-writing producing functions.” – Tony Gilroy via THR.
The second season of Andor has been filming since November and is due to conclude production in August, ahead of an August 2024 release on Disney+ .
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