COVID-19 has put the brakes on damn near everything for the time being but that doesn’t mean studios aren’t planning ahead for what comes next as coronavirus filming restrictions ease up. Disney in particular has been pretty busy scheduling projects for the weeks and months ahead, assuring viewers that they’ll have a few things in production ASAP. The dry spell won’t last long for Disney.
Disney+ has especially been productive as it slowly brings its shooting schedule back to life. They recently cast their She-Hulk series as well as finished post-production on season two of The Mandalorian all while working on The Falcon and The Winter Soldier and WandaVision. They’re also hard at work on that Obi-Wan Kenobi series. Oh, and the Rogue One spin-off show that’ll revolve around Diego Luna’s character, Cassian Andor.
Speaking of that Rogue One spin-off, we have news about it. Deadline says that Tony Gilroy, long-attached to direct the series, has stepped aside from directing duties and has been replaced by Black Mirror’s Toby Haynes. Apparently Gilroy’s departure from the director’s chair has to do with the coronavirus. He lives in New York and was having a hard time traveling to the UK to shoot the show. Haynes, on the other hand, was already overseas and was ready to take over. No hard feelings though, Gilroy will still produce the show and be heavily involved. Haynes is set to direct the first three episodes of the series. His previous work on Black Mirror and Brexit suggest he will be a good fit and will find the right tone for the project, which is being pitched as a spy thriller set in the Star Wars universe years before Rogue One.
A whole slew of actors are set to star in the show including Luna, Genevieve O’Reilly, Stellan Skarsgard and Alan Tudyk. It’s been one of the projects promised to Disney+ viewers since before the streaming service even launched. Now, all these years later, it’s about to go into production next month and we will finally see just how much more story there is to tell for this particular character. I won’t lie, a spy thriller set in the Star Wars universe sounds awfully intriguing to me although I would still love to see Disney+ programming branch out a bit more and try a few more new ideas. Still, I am ready to see what Haynes and his team come up with.