Ahead of the release of Rogue One: A Star Wars Story, fans of the galaxy far, far away were cautiously optimistic about how the first big-screen outing in the series that didn’t focus on the Skywalker Saga would pan out. A billion dollars later, that optimism paid off, but with all of the main characters of the film dying in its finale, fans were left scratching their heads when the prequel TV series Star Wars: Andor was announced for Disney+. Again, the creative minds at Lucasfilm fully surpassed expectations, with Season 1 of the series being an emotional and harrowing exploration of Cassian Andor’s past. Expectations for Season 2 of the series, which is confirmed to be the final batch of episodes, are entirely met over the course of 12 installments, and while this season is as compelling as ever, it doesn’t land with quite the same impact as the initial narrative.
Showrunner Tony Gilroy replicated his storytelling approach with the first season — breaking 12 episodes into four, three-episode arcs — for this second season, but this time around, each batch of episodes takes place a year apart. With the first arc picking up a year after the Season 1 finale in 4 BBY, the final three episodes unfold in 1 BBY.
Without divulging too much information about what transpires this season, the crux of the overall narrative centers around the planet Ghorman, a location the Galactic Empire is particularly interested in for a number of reasons. Since we last saw Cassian (Diego Luna), he and Bix (Adria Arjona) have left Ferrix and struggle with their place in the Rebel Alliance. Cassian still feels loyal to Luthen (Stellan Skarsgård), even though the rest of the Rebellion doesn’t know if they can trust him. In the Empire, Dedra Meero (Denise Gough) and Syril Karn (Kyle Soller) have continued their romantic relationship, even if their roles within the Empire are tasking them with different and disparate responsibilities. All of these figures come and go from Ghorman, understandably putting them all on a collision course for the planet.
Andor was originally conceived as sprawling across five seasons, with each season jumping a year, only for that concept to be condensed into two seasons. Gilroy has described this second season as being less like one overarching narrative and more like four entire movies, and he’s not entirely wrong. This storytelling approach brings with it both pluses and minuses, though ultimately feels detrimental, as it feels like Star Wars is borrowing a page from the Marvel Cinematic Universe: there’s less of a distinction between a movie, a limited series, and an ongoing series, instead all feeling like various forms of content that merely vary in length. By the time we get to Episode 12, the overall experience feels like the conclusion of a three-episode arc as opposed to the payoff to two entire seasons of television. Given that we know Cassian’s fate in Rogue One, these narrative limitations stacked the cards against Andor from the beginning, but with Season 2 having to deliver more connective tissue to that movie, it faces a hindrance that Season 1 didn’t have to compensate for.
With the announcement of any sequel, spinoff, prequel, or reboot of any beloved property, fans inherently ponder, “Why did we need this?” The simple answer for every project is, “We didn’t need this,” and a majority of the time, unexpected extensions of familiar stories end up falling far short of the accomplishments of their predecessors. No one needed Rogue One, but it was a hit both financially and critically. It was an ancillary tale that recontextualized certain elements of Star Wars: A New Hope, while also not having to lean on that film’s familiarity to tell a bold tale full of all-new heroes.
By design, Rogue One wasn’t meant to deliver all-powerful, deeply complex characters, as audiences were meant to see the variety of figures whose power came from their commitment to fight fascism, making them even more relatable than any Force-wielder. Of Rogue One‘s ensemble, Cassian himself wasn’t necessarily a standout figure, so the announcement that he would get his own TV series took audiences by surprise, as it felt like another franchise expansion that no one needed. That said, Andor absolutely succeeds in what it set out to do and no viewer will ever look at Rogue One, or Cassian himself, the same way again.
The Cassian we first met in Season 1 was focused mostly on the well-being of those closest to him, but he evolved over those 12 episodes into someone dedicated to the Rebellion. Throughout Season 2, we see him further embed himself in the Rebel Alliance, while still carrying out Luthen’s wishes, in addition to trying to ensure the safety of Bix. Each batch of episodes sees Cassian pulled in a variety of different directions, struggling to figure out where his allegiance lies and where people expect him to focus his passion. When he focuses on Bix, he’s pulled to the Rebellion, and when he commits to the Rebellion, he resents these missions and how they separate him from his family.
Cassian isn’t the only one who we see undergo a personal transformation, as Dedra and Syril’s trajectories echo the journey of Cassian and Bix, as the pair also struggles to determine if they’re more invested in each other or in the objectives of the Empire. As more Rebels are recruited to assist Luthen and Saw Gerrera (Forest Whitaker), we see people transform from reactionaries to extremists. One of the more effective narrative arcs is the one that focuses on Genevieve O’Reilly’s Mon Mothma, even though audiences know where her ultimate trajectory will place her by the time of Star Wars: Return of the Jedi. She’s devoted to the Rebellion, yet has to participate in high society to avoid drawing suspicion from Emperor Palpatine. One sequence, in particular, depicts Mothma resorting to a substance-fueled and frenzied dance at a wedding, reflecting the inner turmoil she faces for the privileged life she leads while Rebels elsewhere are hunted down and killed.
Along the lines of the Disney-fication of even the most beloved brands becoming delivery systems for recognizable content, fans have grown accustomed to wanting to check out the next Star Wars or Marvel movie or TV show not just to enjoy the experience, but to discover Easter eggs, cameos, and post-credits scenes connecting to other corners of lore. The first season of Andor had some freedom from these expectations, in that audiences knew Cassian’s trajectory would lead him towards his death in Rogue One, though that film’s Ben Mendelsohn and Alan Tudyk have been announced as appearing in the new season as Director Orson Krennic and K-2SO, respectively. Luckily, both characters are integrated into this new season organically, and for better or worse, are used sparingly. Krennic and K-2SO aren’t merely glorified cameos, yet also don’t factor into the plot as heavily as various other supporting characters first introduced in Season 1.
Regardless of what Star Wars fans who lack media literacy might claim, Star Wars has been political since its inception (unless you don’t consider a group of rebels fighting against an all-powerful, fascist regime attempting to control the galaxy to be a political act, for some reason). Of course, there have been ebbs and flows in how overt the political messaging has been, as things like Caravan of Courage: An Ewok Adventure or various LEGO video games avoid more direct allegories to political struggles. Season 1 of Andor leaned much more heavily on depicting the day-to-day struggles when living under horrifying organizations seeking to rule everything in sight, and Season 2 dives even deeper into these themes and to an even more effective degree.
Gilroy and his collaborators aren’t overtly trying to conflate a fictional storyline featuring space wizards and laser swords with real-world atrocities, but it’s hard not to draw these parallels. Watching stormtroopers doing home-to-home inspections to see if residents are harboring Rebels, organizations using violence to exploit citizens to the brink of chaos, or media companies sharing only certain perspectives on altercations to spread propaganda, Andor depicts real-world methods of control that viewers have seen used throughout history to a horrifyingly effective degree. The scripts and the direction make the Empire overtaking of communities and wiping out of citizens feel more explicitly like genocide, as compared to how A New Hope blew up an entire planet just to set an example and then moved on from that fact a few minutes later. In this sense, Andor isn’t nearly as fun of a watch as something like Star Wars: Skeleton Crew, but it showcases that a variety of stories can be told in this franchise that appeal to a variety of audiences.
Much like Season 1, Season 2 of Star Wars: Andor leans heavily into the “wars” part of the franchise’s title, elucidating on one of the saga’s most unassuming and complex heroes. Cassian reminds us we don’t have to be born into royalty or possess supernatural gifts to fight back against injustices, while also reminding us that the world is far more complex than black-and-white distinctions between good and evil. The performances, scripts, and direction are all as gripping and nuanced as the debut season, even if the overall structure of these 12 episodes make the end of Cassian’s journey on the small screen feel a bit disjointed. Still, Andor has rightfully earned its place as one of the smartest and riveting adventures we’ve ever seen in the galaxy far, far away.
Rating: 4 out of 5
Star Wars: Andor Season 2 premieres on Disney+ on Tuesday, April 22nd.
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