“Star Wars” has always been more than spaceships and laser sword-wielding wizards. The franchise has played in the realms of romance, action, and, most recently, good old-fashioned spy and political thrillers in “Andor.” Now, the creator of that Disney+ show has revealed that the next genre that’s going to be tested in the galaxy far, far away will be a terrifying one.
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While attending the UK premiere of “Andor” season 2, Tony Gilroy told Business Insider that one project in the pipeline will be horror-themed, potentially bringing the scares to “Star Wars” in a way that even Lord Vader and his wrinkly boss, Emperor Palpatine, couldn’t match. When asked if and how he would handle a horror-based story in the “Star Wars” universe, the showrunner confirmed that something was already in the pipeline. “They’re doing that. I think they’re doing that. I think that’s in the works, yeah,” he said.
We got a tiny and rather tame take on horror in the debut season of “Ahsoka,” when the titular hero and her rebel pal, Sabine Wren (Natasha Liu Bordizzo), took on an army of night troopers. These guys were an unstoppable force that took a lot to stay down and were very much like the basis of Joe Schreiber’s 2009 book, “Deathtroopers,” which followed a squadron of Stormtroopers transformed into zombies. But while Gilroy gave very little away about what terrors could be heading into the “Star Wars” universe, he did admit that getting that (or anything else) right in this franchise all comes down to the parties involved.
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Tony Gilroy believes anything can be done in the Star Wars universe as long as the right people are involved
It might be a daring effort to bring a story of this nature into the mostly family-friendly realm of “Star Wars,” but Tony Gilroy believes there’s no limit to what can be explored if the right name is spearheading the project. The showrunner of the “Rogue One” prequel series is cold, hard proof that this can happen, having turned the backstory of a doomed rebel hero into one of the most compelling chapters in the franchise’s history. “The right creator, and the right moment, and the right vibe, you can do anything,” explained Gilroy. “So, my hope is that the show connects, and then we can pass along the favor that we were given from ‘[The] Mandalorian,’ and we can pass along a good healthy backwind to someone else who wants to do something else cool.”
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Who that someone might be in relation to this horror project is unknown. The most notable talent that has expressed interest in bringing more than the chill of outer space into the world of Jedi and Sith Lords is Mike Flanagan, who openly declared that he wanted to make a “Star Wars” horror movie if he got the chance. For now, we can only wait and see if this mystery horror story does come to pass. By then, we’ll have most likely bitten our nails down to the bone in dread thanks to the tension in “Andor” season 2, which arrives on Disney + on April 22, 2025.
