Andor wins five Emmys, including the first ever major writing award for Star Wars

Andor’s brilliance needs no justification, but it’s nice to see it receive some accolades anyway.

At this year’s Emmys, the second season of Andor won five awards in total, an incredibly impressive showing for a Star Wars series in the awards circuits. Most notably, the episode “Welcome To The Rebellion”, written by Dan Gilroy, won for Outstanding Writing For A Drama Series. That always seemed like a no-brainer, as it was the episode where Mon Mothma gave an impassioned speech to the Senate decrying Emperor Palpatine for the Empire’s atrocities on Ghorman (inexplicably, however, Genevieve O’Reilly wasn’t even nominated as an actress for the series).

This is made all the more significant by the fact that this is the first Star Wars project to ever receive a major award for its writing. No Star Wars movie has ever won an Academy Award for its writing, and no Star Wars series before Andor had ever won an Emmy for its writing. The franchise (as well as other fantasy and sci-fi franchises in Hollywood) has never fared particularly well in awards settings, mostly winning for special effects, costumes, and music – all of which is significant and represent important achievements. But a Star Wars project being recognized like this for its writing is something entirely different, and something we’ve never seen before.

But, of course, those who watched Andor already knew it was something special. It’s just nice to know the awards voters watched it too.

Additionally, the episode “Harvest” won for Outstanding Fantasy/Sci-Fi Costumes, the episode “Who Are You?” won for Outstanding Production Design For A Narrative Period Or Fantasy Program (One Hour or More) and Outstanding Picture Editing For A Drama Series, and the show as a whole won for Outstanding Special Visual Effects In A Season Or A Movie.

All in all, this marks a significant achievement for Andor, and a significant step forward for Star Wars in terms of critical success at awards shows. It has broken new ground in winning for its writing, but there is obviously a ways to go with voters still not recognizing the franchise for its acting or considering it an equal to other non-fantasy shows.