Tony Gilroy says that the art department snuck in those familiar items in Luthen’s gallery, unbeknownst to him

Coming into the premiere of Andor there was talk about how the show was staying away from easter eggs, but it turns out that wasn’t true in the slightest. The series is packed with them, but they’re simply done in ways that feel fitting for this show, and often they’re simply in the background.

The sweet spot for these is Luthen Rael’s antiquities collection, as there are tons of fun inclusions in the background there – not just for Stars Wars fans, but also for fans of Indiana Jones. The funny thing is that Andor’s showrunner, Tony Gilroy, didn’t even realize all that was snuck in there.

He has said before that one of the things he has to offer in making Star Wars is the fact that he’s not a big Star Wars fan – he wants his team to focus on telling the best story and not the most nostalgic moments. But Gilroy is also surrounded by people on the show who are big Star Wars fans, and he’s leaned heavily on people like Pablo Hidalgo to help ensure that everything fits together in this expansive universe. It’s worked splendidly. But it also means that he didn’t catch some of the easter eggs in Luthen’s place right away.

Every now and then, they sneak shit in there that even I didn’t know,” he recently told The Hollywood Reporter. “I was reading online about the antiquities in Luthen’s gallery, and the provenance of some of those antiquities was news to me. (Laughs.) So it was fantastic that the art department snuck those things in there, but by and large, it’s a collaborative, organic, rolling process.”

He’ll be quickly forgiven for not catching everything, as there are plenty of obscure references and deep cuts, but that’s part of what makes it so great. These aren’t things that distract you from what’s going on between the characters, but they are fun connections and rewards for the eagle-eyed viewers who are familiar with them.

In fact, I think that Andor is setting the standard for how Star Wars shows can and should reference other stories from this universe, making it feel so inter-connected, without being distracted by them or by the thirst for nostalgia. The priority here is on the story, and if there are known things that can still fuel that, great! Even if the showrunner doesn’t realize it right away.