TCTTS said:
People aren't genres. A good storyteller should be able to tell a good story, no matter the genre. Tony Gilroy hadn't made a single space/sci-fi thing prior to Rogue One/Andor, and look what he did. Why weren't y'all raising this kind of fuss when *he* was hired? Again, it's a crap shoot more often than not. That said, Russian Doll had a huge fantasy (if not borderline sci-fi) element. That, and everyone in town was salivating to work with Headland, based on her success. At that point, to not let her take her moon shot would have been malpractice. Turns out, she blew it. It happens.
Well, for one, Gilroy was brought in as a writer to fix Rogue One and direct reshoots. He wasn't just given the reigns at the outset. Considering the final product, he did a phenomenal job and earned Andor. He obviously understood the overarching story, the characters, their motivations, the rebellion... really just everything.
Gilroy also had a much longer history as a writer prior to Rogue One and Andor. A lot of his credits were for political dramas or action movies (the Bourne franchise), so his past work was pretty relevant to a movie like Rogue One and a series like Andor, where the focus is much different than the rest of the franchise and the force and Jedi are basically absent. In that sense, Star Wars is almost window dressing for the political and spy narrative being told as a part of the wider rebellion. He also had experience in making parts and pieces of a franchise and what consistency between them looked like.
He also wrote and directed Michael Clayton, getting academy award nominations for best original screenplay and best director, and The Bourne Legacy. He wasn't just the latest shiny thing in Hollywood.
Headland had a successful 2 season Netflix show that she co-created, a dozen and half, half hour episodes for various and largely unsuccessful series, and some middling, forgettable films. The Acolyte was supposed to be a part of the wider narrative in Star Wars and have that more traditional focus, and she had no real relevant experience with that. She also had no franchise experience whatsoever.
You keep falling back on Headland being super qualified for this based on one thing that she co-created and wrote/directed a few short episodes for, and that's... not a lot. That's like promoting a low level manager to Executive VP because he did well on a joint project.