So much of the appeal of the Star Wars franchise is the allure of the Jedi Order. It’s why every movie in the Skywalker Saga features at least one good guy with a lightsaber duking it out against some nefarious villain. However, there are Star Wars projects that feature Jedi that don’t need them to be successful. The Mandalorian is a great example because, while Ahsoka Tano and Luke Skywalker’s appearances are fun, the show still works without them. Unfortunately, Star Wars rarely takes the opportunity to cut itself off from Jedi completely, even when Star Wars: Andor proves there’s so much more to a galaxy far, far away.
Not every Jedi survives the events of Order 66. Emperor Palpatine wipes nearly all of them off the map, so during the events of Andor, while Cassian Andor and Luthen Rael work to build the Rebellion, there aren’t many Force-users to call upon in times of need. However, even if there were, Andor wouldn’t take the bait and doesn’t need to.
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Andor Actively Avoids Referencing Jedi – And It’s Better for It
Like Rogue One: A Star Wars Story, Andor shines a light on the work that goes on behind the scenes to make change happen. And with an enemy as formidable as the Empire, everyone has to mind their Ps and Qs to ensure that the Imperials don’t catch on to what’s going on right under their noses. Fortunately, working in the shadows is Luthen’s specialty, as he spends his time recruiting people with influence to his side, such as Mon Mothma. She plays a major role in the first two seasons of Andor, which makes sense given her status in the Rebellion in the original trilogy. But she has no issues with calling on a Jedi to finish the job in Star Wars: Return of the Jedi, making her movements in Andor feel like she’s playing an already difficult game with her hands tied behind her back.
What makes Andor so great, though, is that it’s a product of its time period. It’s easy to forget that, at the end of the prequels, when the Jedi Order falls, the galaxy loses faith in its peacekeepers. So, even though Mon Mothma is close to Bail Organa, who knows Obi-Wan Kenobi’s whereabouts, the thought of reaching out to him never crosses their minds. Star Wars Rebels also confirms that, whether Luthen knows it or not, he’s working on building the Rebellion with two Jedi, Kanan Jarrus and Ezra Bridger. However, those aren’t the stories that Andor wants to focus on, and the rest of the franchise should take cues from the Disney+ series.
Star Wars Can Survive Without the Jedi
Outside of a couple of movies that are set to explore the Jedi Order’s past and future, respectively, and Ahsoka, there really isn’t much room for Force users with a sense of justice in Star Wars right now. The next big projects for Lucasfilm are The Mandalorian & Grogu, which may feature a Jedi cameo or two but won’t let them take over the story, and Star Wars: Starfighter, a film from Deadpool & Wolverine director Shawn Levy that takes place a few years after Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker. Neither is likely to have Andor‘s serious tone, but they don’t need it if they borrow the one thing that makes the Disney+ series stand out: fleshed-out characters.
Not a single character in Andor is one-dimensional, with all of them having major flaws and dealing with serious moral conundrums because of them. Some of the characters in the Skywalker Saga, especially a decent number of the Jedi in the prequels, fail to earn their spot at the table, and it takes supplementary material like Star Wars: The Clone Wars to make them interesting. If the powers that be at Lucasfilm start to be proactive instead of reactive, they can ensure that no one misses lightsabers and mind tricks when their next batch of projects drops, and they’ll have Andor to thank for it.
Andor Season 2 is streaming now on Disney+.
Do you think Andor is better for not having Jedi in it? What do you think the future of Star Wars will look like without Jedi? Let us know in the comments below!
The post Andor Proves That Star Wars Can Leave the Jedi Behind Entirely appeared first on ComicBook.com.
