There is a reason why only a handful of characters from Rogue One: A Star Wars Story appeared in the prequel series Andor, and that is because showrunner Tony Gilroy simply wanted to avoid disrespecting the fan-favourite film. He has recently spoke about the challenges and pitfalls of trying to incorporate so many existing characters into Cassian Andor’s origin tale, something he explains his reasoning about leaving Jyn Erso, Galen Erso, Tivic the Spy, and many others from the project in an interview with Entertainment Weekly.
When asked why some Rogue One characters were missing, Gilroy explained, “I couldn’t think of a way to get anything else from Rogue One, really. I always thought, ‘Oh my God, I’m going to have to deal with Tivic the spy!’Should I deal with Galen Erso? And was there anybody else? I really thought I was going to have to use Danny Mays as Tivic. I thought, ‘Well, we probably should.'”
He continued, “In the end, I realized if people didn’t absolutely have to be there, they shouldn’t. And it would’ve been lame to bring Jyn back as a cameo. That would’ve been really disrespectful in a way. I’d rather honor Rogue and keep it straight.”
It’s hard to disagree with that reasoning and seemingly it paid off too, as Andor seems to be a unanimous hit among fans and critics alike.