Or, in this case, what I was watching since the season for the latest Disney+ Star Wars show ended last week and I just caught up with it last night. Now, with the season finished, I’ve come to the conclusion that Andor might be the best thing since the Original Trilogy to hit this galaxy from that other one far, far away.
All twelve episodes were filled with action and intrigue and immersed you Star Wars in a much different way than any of the other shows or movies have been able to do. Andor offers a grittier look at the Star Wars universe filled with people who feel more real than most characters in George Lucas’s creation. From the working-class people of Ferrix like Cassian and Maarva Andor and Bix Caleen to the high society wealthy Coruscanti Luthen Rael and Senator Mon Mothma to evil middle manager Syril Karn and Space Gestapo officer Dedra Meero everyone is a person struggling to make their way in a world of crushing oppression. Some, like Karn and Meero, are trying to exploit that oppression for their own professional advancement and benefit. Others, like Luthen and Senator Mothma are trying to avoid the gaze of the Imperial Security Bureau while they foment rebellion right under their nose. And then there’s Cassian Andor, who, at the beginning of the series, and like many other citizens of Ferrix and the Empire, are just trying to keep their heads down and survive under the boot of their oppressor, only to learn that keeping your head down will result in being crushed by that boot in the end anyway. And unlike most of the rest of Star Wars there are no prophecies, chosen ones, or Space Wizards to thrill us with laser swords, mind tricks and telekinesis. Instead, as we watch the fledgling rebellion take root, it’s just normal people for whom the stakes feel tangible and the consequences, even if, at first, their participation is out of self-interest, are dire. All of this adds up to Andor having a pathos that grounds it, humanizes it, in the way the rest of Star Wars isn’t.
Frankly, it’s everything I’ve wanted in Star Wars since Disney bought the franchise—a story mostly unencumbered by the Skywalker Saga and all the heavy-handed callbacks to the Trilogies that have been present in the other Disney Star Wars shows. I’m a huge Star Wars fan and I loved Kenobi, The Book of Boba Fett and The Mandalorian but each of those stories has suffered because of the desire to overstuff them with easter eggs and nods to the Luke, Leia and everything else that came before them. The lack of that in Andor was refreshing and gave it freedom to explore new things. It let it feel like its own thing.
They’ve already announced a second season. I suspect that it may also be the last one since they need to lead us directly into Rogue One and Cassian Andor’s final, irrevocable end and didn’t leave a lot of time between when the show ends and the movie begins. If that’s all there is I’m fine with it because it’s been a story really well told. I’d hate to see them try to (blue) milk it for too many seasons and diminish the characters or their stories.