The latest art tome from Abrams Books offers fans a peak at how one of Star Wars‘ best series came to be, with great art and even better insight from the show’s creators.
The Art of Star Wars: Andor (The Complete Series)
Written By: Phil Szostak
Published By: Abrams Books
Release Date: June 30, 2026
Purchase [Affiliate]: https://amzn.to/4xUlEd9
Phil Szostak, who’s penned the majority of the Abrams Art of Star Wars books, is back and this time pulling the curtain back on both seasons of Andor. Because it spans the complete series (rather than an individual season) it manages to be even thicker than other volumes. These things are already tomes, so the extra meat makes this all the more eye-popping when you first get your hands on it.
Generally speaking, all of these Art of books have been phenomenal. From the start with The Force Awakens through the more recent Acolyte one, these do a great job of filling the “making of” behind the scenes gap. They’re all interesting in their own way, and Andor is no different in this regard. If you have any interest in the show itself and how certain elements came together, this is an essential reference book—again, like the others.
The art on display is obviously the major focus of the book. As always, the large scale of it allows for full page spreads that not only look gorgeous, but allow for a greater level of detail in everything. Going along with all this, however, is a treasure trove of insights thanks to interviews from Tony Gilroy, the artists on the team, and even Diego Luna himself.
Szostak does a great job of pulling information from them and organizing it in a way that makes for a great story all on its own. In that way, it makes it easy to sit back and enjoy the art book cover to cover as a general reference/making of book. Moreso, it ensures fun tidbits of information are easily found on just about every page. So even for readers using the coffee table book approach to it (just flipping to random pages and such), you’ll get plenty out of the experience.
For me, I loved learning more about Gilroy’s overall process. It was neat to see how the ideas for Andor have been ruminating in his mind since Rogue One launched. Despite the gap between them, it’s impressive to see how strong the vision remained from those early ideas to the final product in these two seasons.
Gilroy, in general, is a lot of fun to read. Even during the promotional tours for the show, he was refreshingly candid in his interviews. There was no “mystery box” approach for him, and it made the lead up to the show feel more intimate and open to fans. Here in this book, where the sole focus is on how the show came together, Gilroy manages to be even more open about the show.
I won’t dive into all of it here, obviously, but there are so many great tidbits he provides. Not just about Andor—though seeing all the story ideas for other seasons we never got was amazing—but the filmmaking process overall. It may not reach the level of a full, step-by-step ‘making of’ account, but it gets into some interesting nitty gritty aspects. He openly discusses things they had to compromise/pull back on (for story or budget reasons), and through this, we’re able to see the amount of love and care that went into making this series so great.
What I really enjoyed about this specific book, is how all the information is laid out. With many of the Art of books things are laid out chronologically in terms of how the story played out. For Andor, however, it’s separated by locations/planets—and seasons.
The series jumped around between a few different planets, each of which brought something unique to the table while being emotionally important for the characters and story. From Aldhani’s atmospheric display, to the oppressiveness of Narkina-5, the cultured beauty of Chandrila, and the sweeping megalopolis of Coruscant. It’s all visually distinct.
Even though some of these locations are places we’ve seen many times before, the way Andor brings them to life leaves a lasting impression and helps audiences know where they are as the story bounces around. As such, it makes a lot of sense for this art book to be laid out in such a way.
All in all, The Art of Andor is a phenomenal look behind the scenes of the show. Not only does it give me an excuse to return to the various characters/planets from the series, it offers keen insight into how it came together. That Andor exists at all feels like something of a miracle and it’s fascinating to get a glimpse into the magic that made it happen. Even if you aren’t as hyperbolic about the show as many others, this tome is still essential just for the insight it offers.
