Season 2 of Andor, one of the best Star Wars series (read our review here), is currently streaming on Disney+. One scene from the second episode particularly struck viewers, but didn't please showrunner Tony Gilroy at all: it's the "Thanksgiving dinner" that turns into hell!
Andor: the couple Syril & Dedra stuck in a dinner from hell
When we find them at the beginning of the second (and final) season of Andor, Syril Karn (Kyle Soller) and Dedra Meero (Denise Gough) are now a couple. It's now time for parent introductions, and the two lovers host Syril's mother, Eedy (Kathryn Hunter), for dinner. And that's when things go south. On the menu? A pinch of sharp remarks, a zest of passive-aggressive behavior, a lick of sharp, cruel criticism. All done in a way that's subtle enough so his "victims" can't retort head-on. Defeated, Syril leaves the table and goes to his room. But that was without counting on Dedra, who confronts her stepmother and demands that she immediately stop her toxic game.
Andor: a disturbing scene for Tony Gilroy
The shot of Syril lying on the bed, completely defeated by her mother, was Kyle Soller's idea: when director Ariel Kleiman asked him what he thought Syril would do at that moment, he saw it as a return to adolescence and collapsed on the bed. A sequence that was not at all to the liking of Tony Gilroy, the showrunner, as he explained to EW:
I remember watching the rushes of that shot. I hated seeing him lying on the bed. I was like, "Oh, man, what are you doing?". Ariel [Kleiman, the director] was really adamant about it, and I wasn't convinced. I was like, "Oh, this is too much, this is too much, this is too much." But we went and cut it, and the things he added—like the adjustment of the fork on the table—made it truly amazing. It's really all him, it's all the stuff he blocked out.
On the other hand, viewers of the show loved the sitcom feel of this unexpected sequence!
The last thing I was expecting from #Andor S2 was a Syril and Dedra home life sitcom, but I absolutely loved every second of it.
— Seth (@Psychomanglor) April 23, 2025
Also, absolute mood: pic.twitter.com/Q5TRbjODtA
The last thing I expected from Andor Season 2 was a sitcom about Syril and Dedra's family life, but I loved every second of it. Also, mood.
#andor
—Emily | syril karn defection arc save me (@_stardustem) April 23, 2025
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He’s the funniest man alive pic.twitter.com/oRaaCSXHm6
He's the funniest man in the world world.
syril karn doing that thing where you say you're just going to lay down for a minute or two pic.twitter.com/9GDaxNK6Pp
— kay #Andor (@jeronandor) April 24, 2025
Syril Karn does that thing where you say you're just going to lie down for a minute or two.
And you, what did you think of the scene?
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