A lot has been written about the two seasons of Andor on Disney+ and for good reason. It’s not just a good Star Wars show, it’s a good show period. It’s brilliantly acted, written, and directed by some of the best artists in the business. Andor has much more in common with prestige shows like Game of Thrones or Breaking Bad than it does with many of the shows in its own universe.
Although it’s set in a galaxy far, far away Andor seemingly meets the moment of the current political time. Like The Boys on Amazon Prime, it’s tough to ignore the obvious parallels between the erosion of rights and consolidation of power by the Empire in the show with the daily news stories depicting similar things happening all around us. What Andor does best is address the powerless feeling of simply being outgunned.
The main argument for people not watching the show seems to be with the plethora of Star Wars TV on Disney+ so that it’s impossible to catch up, or “I’m not as familiar enough with the Star Wars franchise to understand what’s going on.”
I would normally agree with both of these trepidations when it comes to other shows in the universe, but not with Andor. While it’s true the intimate knowledge of certain moments will go over the head of even the most die-hard Star Wars fan, ultimately it doesn’t matter. I knew little to nothing about the Game of Thrones universe having never read the book series but was still easily engrossed in the world of the show. Andor will do the same. A viewer doesn’t have to be a student of Star Wars to like the show.
If you are one of those viewers coming in completely blind, Andor is a prequel to a prequel.
Back in 2016 Rogue One: A Star Wars Story told the story of a gritty group of rebels who helped liberate the secret plans to the Death Star (a planet-killing weapon developed by the Empire) in order to help destroy it before it destroyed them. This film which buttressed literally up to the 1977 Star Wars: A New Hope shows how the group of rebels SPOILER ALERT ultimately give their lives in order to steal the plans to the Death Star.
In Star Wars: A New Hope those plans are hidden inside R2-D2 before being found by a farm boy on a desert planet who would later SPOILER ALERT pilot the final destruction of the Death Star (using the knowledge provided by the stolen plans) delivering a huge victory for the rebellion.
This victory would jump start the war over the next two films (1980 Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back and 1983 Star Wars: Return of the Jedi) in the franchise. Okay, even as a writer I can see that might be a lot to take in, but it really boils down to people fighting back against oppression in a moment that’s become bigger than themselves.
What is unique about Andor, or any prequel for that matter, is the thrilling notion of seeing a character before their fates have been sealed. For those of you who may not have seen Rogue One: A Star Wars Story the name Andor refers to Cassian Andor played by Diego Luna. Cassian Andor, along with Jyn Erso played by Felicity Jones SPOLIER ALERT give their lives in order to complete their mission. The entire Star Wars canon starting with Episode Four (A New Hope) onward would not exist if not for their sacrifice. I personally love this film and feel it’s the closest in tone and spirit to the original trilogy.
When the television show Andor was first announced it came with a good degree of skepticism. The recent spate of Disney+ Star Wars shows had begun to lose their luster with fans and critics alike. With the notable exception of The Mandalorian, a lot of the Disney+ Star Wars lineup had failed to strike a similar chord with the fanbase.
By the time Andor came around it was fair to say people were starting to suffer from Star Wars fatigue. Even shows with beloved characters like Obi Wan Kenobi and Boba Fett didn’t seem to hit quite as hard as they did in their film incarnations. With the waning popularity of legacy characters, the notion of furthering the adventures of a lesser-known character like Cassian Andor didn’t really seem like the best move to make. This would prove to be very wrong.
Andor works for many reasons. First and foremost, Diego Luna, who reprises his role from Rogue One: A Star Wars Story, does a masterful job showing us a three-dimensional character who goes from zero to hero.
Cassian Andor, who is often referred to as Cass by those closest to him, is a low-rent hustler who gets mixed up in one thing too many leading him to run afoul with the Empire. On-the-run Andor goes from rebel button man/disposable errand boy to leader of the rebellion over the course of the series. Luna’s portrayal of Andor takes us on the full range of human emotion. During the series we not only get to see Andor essentially grow from child to man but get to see what kind of courageous man he eventually becomes. Luna’s Andor is perhaps one of the most relatable fleshed-out characters in the entire Star Wars universe. He delivers a gut-punching morally ambiguous anti-hero/hero that grows into a force, no pun intended, with the help of those around him.
The performances in Andor are a masterclass of actors who should all be household names. Stellan Skarsgaard, Genevieve O’Reilly, Denise Gough, Kyle Soller, Adria Arjona, Elizabeth Dulau, Faye Marsay, Varada Sethu, Muhannad Ben Amor, Robert Emms, Joplin Sibtain, Andy Serkis, Fiona Shaw, and Anton Lesser lead an international cast that should all be number one on any call sheet. Like Luna’s Andor, each character emerges into what will ultimately seal their fates in the Star Wars universe. Each aforementioned actor has given, even in small moments, so much with just a glance or a gesture to serve the passion of the overall story.
O’Reilly’s Mon Mothma (a role she reprised from Rogue One: A Star Wars Story, earlier played by Caroline Blakiston in Star Wars: Return of the Jedi ) goes through a moral, ethical, and reputational dilemma that forces her to give up everything for the cause.
While Mon Mothma doesn’t do the dirty side of the rebellion the way Andor does, her status and visibility make her sacrifice every bit as harrowing. O’Reilly’s speech to the senate in Season Two Episode Nine’s “Welcome to the Rebellion” has become a meme shared countless times around the internet for good reason.
Denise Gough and Kyle Soller as the Empire’s ambitiously cold-hearted couple Dedra Meero and Syril Karn are so damn entertaining in their awkwardness, I’d lobby for a stand-alone film of the couple attempting to vacation or waiting to meet a dignitary who never shows up. Better yet, Dedra and Syril do a production of Albee’s Who’s Afraid of Virginia Wolf to a sleeping Emperor Palpatine. I simply can’t say enough about how good these two actors are and what they bring to the story.
Like Luna and O’Reilly, Ben Mendelsohn, Forrest Whitaker, Alistair Petrie, and Alan Tudyk all reprise their roles from Rogue One: A Star Wars Story. Only Jimmy Smits, unable to return as Bail Organa due to scheduling conflicts, is deftly replaced by Benjamin Bratt. I personally think it’s a great thing when original actors, most of whom often move on to bigger things, return to a role. It is a wonderful grace for the fans.
Much of the credit for Andor is in the writing. Tony Gilroy, who famously helped bring in Rogue One: A Star Wars Story, serves as creator of Andor along with the super talented writing team of Dan Gilroy, Beau Willimon, Stephen Schiff, and Tom Bissell. Bissel for his part had the yeoman’s task of landing the ship, so to speak.
Bissell wrote the last three episodes of Season 2, melding the series directly into Rouge One: A Star Wars Story. Tom Bissell, along with the rest of the extremely talented writers, managed to please many masters including a rabid fanbase, critics, and people who just want great TV. Each one of these writers should show-run their own Star Wars series and help keep the franchise as relevant and worthy as Andor.
In season two, episode 10, written by Bissell, entitled “Make It Stop” we are introduced to the beginning of the relationship between Luthen and Kleya revealing SPOLIER that Kleya has been with Luthen since she was a child. We witness just how far back their acts of rebellion go and what it must have been like to grow up in Luthen’s care.
With the monster success of HBO’s Last of Us which has a similar Father/Daughter dynamic pursing this series seems like a no brainer. One of Stellan Skarsgard’s talented sons could even play him as a younger man. Regardless of what direction the team of Andor artists decide to take us I encourage them not to stop, it’s simply too good.
I hope Andor continues to get discovered by fans the same way Breaking Bad and The Wire did over time. Hopefully that will happen on Disney+ but maybe it will happen if it makes its way to Netflix or even launched on network TV like ABC. But I hope you don’t wait that long. It is worthy of your time right now and in the current climate it will hit you hard in the right place.
To quote Mendelsohn’s marvelously evil Director Krennic, “What a swell party this is.”
Fred Shahadi is an award-winning filmmaker,
playwright, and television writer living in Los Angeles.
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