'Rogue One's Tony Gilroy will write and direct the Cassian Andor 'Star Wars' series for Disney+

Tony Gilroy will write and direct the forthcoming Star Wars spin-off series based on Rogue One hero Cassian Andor.

A series plotted around the rebel spy, played by Diego Luna in Rogue One, was announced last year as part of the various Lucasfilm spin-offs from the Star Wars franchise.

It will be an espionage thriller exploring the scrapes Andor and his droid companion K-2SO (voice by Alan Tudyk) got into prior to the events of Rogue One, in which he played a key role in stealing the plans for the Death Star.

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But Gilroy, who will be working alongside show-runner Stephen Schiff (who made The Americans) is a safe pair of hands for the show, having bailed out Rogue One back in 2016 when it ran into problems.

Gilroy, predominantly a writer who had moved into directing with movies like Michael Clayton and The Bourne Legacy, was reportedly paid $5 million to re-work what British director Gareth Edwards had produced, which reportedly didn't pass muster.

He told The Moment with Brian Koppelman podcast last year that he was able to complete work on the troubled project because he had no investment whatsoever in the franchise.

“That was my super power. I’ve never been interested in Star Wars, ever,” he said.

“So I had no reverence for it whatsoever. I was unafraid about that. And they were in such a swamp… they were in so much terrible, terrible, trouble that all you could do was improve their position.”

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The series will air on Disney+, the new Disney streaming channel which will also be hosting Jon Favreau's Star Wars spin-off series The Mandalorian.

Whether the two could cross over at any point is not yet known.

The Cassian Andor series is likely to emerge some time in 2021.