The creator of Andor is tying the show’s theme of “fascism” to President Trump and modern U.S. politics, pulling Disney’s only modern Star Wars critical hit into divisive political rhetoric.
For a franchise that has struggled to win back longtime viewers, Andor was widely seen as the rare bright spot in Disney’s modern Star Wars era. The grounded spy drama earned strong critical praise and — perhaps more importantly — a level of fan goodwill that many recent entries failed to capture.
Now, however, series creator Tony Gilroy is stirring controversy after explicitly tying the show’s themes to modern American politics in a candid new interview with The Hollywood Reporter.
And some fans are already asking the obvious question: why risk politicizing the one project that seemed to unite the audience?
Gilroy Draws Direct Parallels
In the wide-ranging interview, Gilroy made it clear he sees strong real-world echoes in the story he crafted.
“You get out your Fascism for Dummies book for the 15 things you do, and we tried to include as many of them as we could in the most artful way possible,” he said. “How were we supposed to know that this clown car in Washington was going to basically use the same book that we used?”
Mon Mothma in Andor – YouTube, Star Wars
He continued by downplaying the idea that the show was prophetic: “I don’t think it’s prescience so much as the sad familiarity of fascism.”
While Gilroy never mentioned President Trump by name, his repeated references to “Washington” and current U.S. leadership leave little ambiguity about the political direction of his comments.
Tarnishing The One Disney Star Wars Win
What makes the remarks particularly notable is Andor’s unique position within Disney’s Star Wars slate.
Unlike several recent entries that sparked heavy online backlash, Andor was broadly praised across much of the fan spectrum for its mature tone, tighter writing, and reduced reliance on legacy nostalgia. Even many viewers critical of Disney’s broader direction acknowledged the show as a step up in quality.
Cassian Andor (Diego Luna) in Lucasfilm’s ANDOR, exclusively on Disney+. ©2022 Lucasfilm Ltd. & TM. All Rights Reserved.
That goodwill is exactly why some observers are raising eyebrows now.
In an era where franchise fatigue and audience fragmentation are already major concerns for Disney, injecting overt real-world political commentary into one of the brand’s few consensus successes carries obvious risks.
Gilroy’s Most Blunt Comments
Gilroy did not mince words when discussing his broader concerns about the United States.
“Yeah, it’s the same s**t all the time,” he said. “Get rid of truth, get rid of a free press, destroy communities…”
U.S. President Donald Trump sits for an interview with ABC News – YouTube, ABC News
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At one point, he went even further, saying: “I think the overall goal is to stop elections and to have a complete fascistic state.”
And in perhaps his starkest warning: “Fascism is just a total fail in the end… an incredibly dark period in America’s history that it may never recover from.”
Disney Previously Tried to Keep Politics Away from Andor
Interestingly, Gilroy also revealed that Disney had previously urged restraint around the show’s political framing.
Bob Iger via New York Times Events YouTube
According to the showrunner, the studio asked him to avoid using the word “fascism” during early promotional efforts — a move that suggests Disney was well aware of the potential culture-war crossfire surrounding the series.
That earlier caution makes these current comments stand out even more.
Gilroy Previously Claimed Stalin Was “Glamorous”
Gilroy’s recent political framing is also drawing renewed attention to comments he previously made about the historical roots of Andor’s rebel storyline.
As previously reported, the showrunner confirmed that the Aldhani heist was partly inspired by the infamous 1907 Tiflis bank robbery carried out by Bolshevik revolutionaries tied to a young Joseph Stalin. Notably, the Aldhani crew are positioned as the sympathetic protagonists of the Disney+ series.
Gilroy even remarked in an earlier interview: “If you look at a picture of young Stalin, isn’t he glamorous? He looks like Diego!”
He also cited Simon Sebag Montefiore’s Young Stalin as a major research source, praising its depiction of the robbery as an “incredible movie sequence.”
The contrast is striking. The creative force behind Disney’s most critically praised modern Star Wars entry has drawn from the early exploits of a Soviet dictator while now warning about the dangers of rising “fascism” in contemporary American politics.
For some observers, that juxtaposition is likely to raise eyebrows.
A Familiar Franchise Tightrope
Star Wars has always drawn from political and historical inspiration — going back to George Lucas and the original trilogy’s Vietnam-era influences. But the modern media environment is far more polarized, and fan tolerance for overt contemporary parallels is often thinner.
(L-R): Tony Gilroy and Diego Luna on the set of Lucasfilm’s ANDOR, exclusively on Disney+. ©2022 Lucasfilm Ltd. & TM. All Rights Reserved.
For Disney, the bigger strategic question may be simple: Is it wise to reopen political fault lines around the one recent Star Wars project that managed to avoid them?
Because once real-world comparisons enter the conversation, audience reactions tend to follow.
How do you feel about the Andor creator tying the series to Trump after its release? Sound off in the comments and let us know!
Fascism is LEFT wing. The left’s propaganda stating the opposite is, in my view, their greatest propaganda victory of all time.
As for Andor, I never saw the point of watching it. It’s like this DEI, politically correct corporate Star Wars “product”. ugh!
Beyond my blanket boycotting, anyway, where I pay them nothing.
Same broken record. Let’s try to enlighten him. First of all he’s British, I think you need to fix your country before you try to school all of us silly Americans. Or maybe just go back. Second we had 4 years of Fascism already. Puppet regime with a scarecrow “leader” who would give statements then shuffle off stage not answering questions. So much for transparency. Horribly open borders letting in 20 million unvetted people which in and of itself is illegal. But hey it’s votes. Record inflation we’re still trying to recover from. Anyone wanna go back to $5+ gas? . Infantile foreign relations which lead to unnecessary wars. Those are being fixed currently. Whew…let me look up the definition of this Fascism again. Hmmm. 🤡
His nickname in pedo circles is Baloney Tony because he can’t keep his mouth off of a young boy’s genitals.
Duh! It was obvious that this show was woke garbage and pretentious twats hailed it as the greatest thing since sliced bread. Much like all the rest of Disney Star Wars this is non-canon.