If you’re a Star Wars fan, you’re probably aware Kathleen Kennedy is not the most popular name among your fandom. Kennedy is often critiqued for the sequel trilogy’s lacklustre appeal to nostalgic fans, and is often the target for a lot of hatred.
Someone who certainly has a more positive outlook about the Lucasfilm president, though, is Andor creator Tony Gilroy, who recently praised Kennedy in an interview with Vanity Fair. Speaking about how he almost canned Andor, Gilroy revealed Kennedy was one of the show’s biggest supporters from day one.
“She has protected the show and protected me and wrangled a team together. When we started challenging Kathy, Kathy just kept saying yes,” he said. “‘Oh, I’m going to put the first scene in a brothel.’ ‘Okay.’ ‘I’m going to have them kill two cops.’ ‘Okay.’ ‘We want the production designer from Chernobyl.’ ‘Okay, good idea.’ She backed our play and got everything that we were doing.”
“We’ve been through everything, she and I, on this—all the good and all the bad. There’s no show without her,” Gilroy continued. “For all the shit that she takes online, it’s just insane. This show exists because she forced it to happen. What a tough job she has, man.”
Andor has currently wrapped its second and final season, with the latest episodes being out now on Disney+. Read our review of Season 2 here.