In season two of episode three in Andor, a shocking scene appeared: an Imperial officer tried to force himself on Bix Caleen, played by Adria Arjona.
The scene is a far cry from what generally is a family-friendly Star Wars universe.
Despite some backlash, Tony Gilroy, the series creator, held his ground, explaining in an interview with The Hollywood Reporter that in war-like situations, rape is not uncommon.
“I get one shot to tell everything I know — or can discover, or that I’ve learned — about revolution, about battles, with as many incidents and as many colors as I can get in there, without having [the story] tip over,” he added.
The creator continued, “I mean, let’s be honest, man: The history of civilization, there’s a huge arterial component of it that’s rape. All of us who are here — we are all the product of rape. I mean armies and power throughout history [have committed rape].”
“So to not touch on it, in some way … It just was organic and it felt right, coming about as a power trip for this guy. I was really trying to make a path for Bix that would ultimately lead to clarity — but a difficult path to get back to clarity,” Tony concluded.
Andor season two first three episodes are airing on Disney+.
