LOS ANGELES — Brothers and filmmakers Tony, Dan and John Gilroy credit their late mother for their creative drive.

Growing up in upstate New York, they were kept busy at home by their mother, Ruth, with a variety of activities that included crocheting, knitting, doing embroidery, building walls, planting trees and even beekeeping. They described her as curious, adventurous, creative, "the smartest of all of us" and someone who was "always trying something new."

"Our mother was the person who made everything in her house and who taught us how to make everything," says Tony Gilroy, the creator and executive producer of the Disney+ series "Andor." "I don't even remember when the satisfaction of making things wasn't part of [us]. I'm not happy if I'm not making something."

"I think that's much more about the fabric of who we are and what we do, and why we get along and why we keep doing what we do than anything else that [our father] Frank had to say," he adds.

So it's no coincidence that one of the most significant characters introduced in "Andor" has been a resourceful mother whose strength of spirit and sense of justice helps spark the flames of resistance against the oppressive Empire.

The Gilroys latest collaboration — set in a galaxy far, far away — is perhaps the biggest thing the they have made together so far. A prequel series of a prequel spinoff film of an ever expanding franchise, "Andor" follows Cassian Andor (Diego Luna) and other key figures on both side of the nascent war during the formative years of the Rebel Alliance. The second and final season, which premiered Tuesday, will lead directly into the events of the 2016 film "Rogue One: A Star Wars Story."

The first season of the gritty, grounded spy thriller, which launched in 2022, was hailed by critics and audiences for its mature storytelling and political themes. Among Andor's accolades were eight Emmy nominations and a Peabody Award.

"This show has … all the stuff that I did when I was a kid, but for real," says Tony Gilroy, who broke into the "Star Wars" franchise as a co-writer for "Rogue One" before being tapped as "Andor's" showrunner. John Gilroy joined him on the show as an editor and also served as an executive producer for Season 2 (after also editing on "Rogue One"). Tony tapped Dan Gilroy, who wrote Episodes 4 through 6 of the first season as well as Episodes 7 through 9 of the second, even before officially convening the writers room.

It's far from the first time the brothers have worked together. John Gilroy was the editor on both his brothers' directorial debuts — "Michael Clayton" (2007) for Tony Gilroy and "Nightcrawler" (2014) for Dan Gilroy — as well as other subsequent films; the trio worked together on "The Bourne Legacy" (2012).

But, as Tony Gilroy explains, they're "always kind of working together."

Over drinks in a curved booth at the Polo Lounge on a March afternoon, the Gilroy brothers reminisced about the roundabout way they all wound up in the family business: Hollywood. Their father, Frank D. Gilroy, was an award winning playwright, known for "The Subject Was Roses," who also wrote for television and film.

Among their memories growing up is how their father would come out to Los Angeles for months at a time, living and working out of hotels as he tried to land gigs or put movies together. Dan and John Gilroy also remember staying with him at the Beverly Hills Hotel for a couple of weeks during one of these trips while he was working on the 1976 film "From Noon Till Three," starring Charles Bronson and Jill Ireland.

Having this close-up view when they were younger "demystified the job of being a writer," says Dan Gilroy. "It was watching my father go upstairs to his office and type away for eight or nine hours and then come downstairs. Or we didn't see him for two or three months."

However, none of the brothers had any interest in following in their father's footsteps. John Gilroy went to college thinking he would become a lawyer, only to eventually find himself in a cutting room as a film editor after he became interested in directing. Dan Gilroy worked as a journalist at the trade publication Variety, but eventually started screenwriting. Tony Gilroy, who was an aspiring musician, saw Dan get into screenwriting and thought he could do it, too.

"It's much more difficult than I had anticipated," says Tony Gilroy of screenwriting. "But during that time, [Dan and I] started writing together occasionally. Sometimes we would, sometimes we wouldn't, but we started as a team, sort of."

They joke about how their desire for separate paychecks led them to pursue their individual careers. But they still tend to show each other what they are working on, sending their earliest drafts for feedback.

"We trust each other very much creatively, and we do send each other our things," Dan Gilroy says. "At this point in our career, we're all so in tune creatively."

"It's huge actually, to be able to pass around work like that to each other," says John, of that level of trust.

Exchanging honest feedback is one of the things that was instilled in them from their father, the Gilroys say. They also inherited his "epic" work ethic.

Still, Tony Gilroy admits that when he signed on for "Andor," he had no idea the amount of work that it would be. This is because just about everything mentioned in the script — objects, languages, customs, locations — need to be designed before they could be introduced. There was so much he had to figure out with production designer Luke Hull that Tony Gilroy says Hull deserves as much credit as anyone in the writers room.

Season 2 will see Cassian and his adversaries and allies in new locations, including those that have been previously mentioned in "Star Wars" lore but remained unseen. The world building for this 12-episode season, which is broken up into four three-episode arcs, also included crafting new historic anthems and traditional ceremonies.

"You're making cultural ethnography" when working on "Star Wars," says Tony Gilroy.

The stories within the "Star Wars" franchise are also often a family affair. The core series of film trilogies center generations of Skywalkers and their legacies. "Andor's" adventures started off with Cassian's search for his long lost sister, and also features the (troubled) family dynamics of a number of characters.

In addition to the usual challenges that come with working on a TV show with the scale of "Andor," the project has faced additional obstacles during the production of both of its seasons. The first season of the show was delayed because of the COVID-19 pandemic, which then required Tony Gilroy and his crew to pivot because of the new realities such as limited crowd sizes and travel when production finally moved forward. (Though, Gilroy credits COVID for saving the show because it prevented him from directing the initial episodes while trying to juggle all of his other responsibilities as showrunner.)

For Season 2, the dual Hollywood strikes in 2023 meant the showrunner had to step away from the show for five months. While Tony Gilroy had finished working on the scripts before the WGA strike was called, all 12 episodes of the season were essentially shot without his presence.

"It was a spooky thing for everybody," says John Gilroy, who Tony says helped "build the show in the most fundamental way" with him. "He normally weighs in on a lot of things. Now, everybody had to step up, but everybody knew their job from the from the season before."

When the strike was over, John Gilroy immediately delivered the rough cuts of all 12 episodes to Tony. He was confident that his brother would be happy with what he saw and that they "didn't break his show."

"I was really terrified to look at it," says Tony Gilroy, but that soon dissipated. "I binged it after two days, and I got to be able to watch the show in the most unusual way. … I'm not sure if I ever would have gotten there if I didn't have the freshness as an audience and gone, 'I'm confused here, I don't get that there.'"

After generating what he estimates were around 200 pages of notes, he headed to London, where four cutting rooms were open with all of the directors and editors for what he describes as "the most exciting two weeks ever, creatively."

While the Gilroys are mindful of spoilers, they do tease some of what's to come in Season 2.

Dan Gilroy says he particularly enjoyed Mon Mothma's (Genevieve O'Reilly) arc and backstory — which is fitting because his episodes include a significant moment for the Chandrilan senator. Tony Gilroy teases how complicated Syril Karn's (Kyle Soller) story becomes as well as episodes exploring the events around the Ghorman massacre, a brutal clash between Imperial forces against peaceful protesters that led to the formal rise of the Rebel Alliance.

"Living with these characters for four and a half years was the most comfortable thing," says John Gilroy. "I never got bored. I'm in a dark room all the time by myself, mostly, and just spending time with those characters. They're my biggest hang. So I do love them."

Both John and Tony Gilroy credit their time on "Rogue One" as helping to inform their approach to working on a "Star Wars" project.

"I just knew that we were working on something a lot of people were counting on us to do a good job [on], and I've never felt that before," says John Gilroy, adding he was immediately conscious of the built-in audience and sense of responsibility that came with working on the project.

"On 'Rogue' we learned how much people cared, and the depth of the passion," adds Tony Gilroy. "Sometimes it's scary, but mostly it's really beautiful. … We decided in the very beginning we're never going to mess with that. Our secret formula is, we are never going to wink, we're never going to joke, we're never going to be cynical. We're going to take it more seriously than anybody else ever did."

For them, this meant taking every opportunity to stay within and underscore "Star Wars" canon and making sure to avoid things that undermined the story or doing things just for the sake of nostalgia.

In "Andor" Season 2, for example, audiences will learn the backstory behind an iconic line from "Rogue One." It's a callback to events fans will recognize that expands upon existing lore. (Tony Gilroy credits his son for bringing the opportunity to his attention.)

And while Tony Gilroy is ready for his time on "Andor" and in "Star Wars" to be over, he does admit he misses it.

"I've been hiding out in this show for five years," says Tony Gilroy. "It was a really powerful drug to be in that because you're just creating s— from morning to night."

"What a great place to get lost in," adds Dan Gilroy.

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