There has never been a Star Wars property that understands the dangers of the Empire better than Andor. That includes the original movie, which prominently features an explosive case of Alderaanian genocide. That was an act of monstrosity, for sure, but a big laser beam blowing up a planet tilts more towards the classic moustache-twirling, vaguely British end of the villainy scale. The Empire/First Order is certainly evil, but they’re more cartoonish foes in the mainstream films. As depicted in both seasons of Andor, the Empire’s evil is more systematic, bureaucratic, sloppy yet sinister. The Stormtroopers and Sith lords are mostly offscreen. The evil of Andor is represented by the officers in suits, scheming to tear apart the galaxy from the inside out.
Tony Gilroy’s understanding of the true power of fascism, the emboldening of bad normal people with selfish ambitions, gives the rebellion a vitality that goes beyond good guys versus bad guys. The worry before Andor’s first season was that the show would suffer from its mere existence. Who would care about a prequel show starring a supporting character of a prequel movie whose destiny was to die in a fiery implosion? Never tell Gilroy the odds, though, as the Michael Clayton filmmaker and secret reshoot maestro behind Rogue One delivered a first season that defied all expectations. That freshman year for Andor was thrilling, complex, mature and devastating in ways that Star Wars has never been. From the very first scene, where the main character murders a pair of Imperial officers in cold blood, this show announced itself as the first Star Wars piece of pop culture that felt exclusively made for adults.
The long-anticipated Season 2 of Andor builds upon the complexities that were established in that first season, extending the branches of intrigue through the various characters introduced on both sides of this brewing conflict between the Empire and the… people of the galaxy. I phrase it that way because it’s hard to call what we see in this series an organized rebellion. When Jyn Erso meets Cassian in Rogue One, she immediately becomes a crucial cog in a very well-oiled machine, an organized rebel attack that works like one military challenging the Empire’s power. In Andor, the rebellion could not be more isolated, with different leaders, different agendas, and sometimes hostile intentions getting in the way of any sort of cohesion. The only thing unifying these factions is a hatred for the Empire. “We’ll bring them down or die trying,” Stellan Skarsgård’s Luthen Rael growls halfway through the second season’s twelve episode run.
Season 2 picks up about a year after the climax of season one and about four years before the Battle of Yavin, aka when Luke Skywalker shot his shot into the heart of the Death Star. Narrowly escaping a firefight on his home planet of Ferrix, Andor (Diego Luna) officially joined the scheming Luthen as one of his top agents. The season opens with a fun action scene where Cassian infiltrates an Empire base and steals a TIE fighter, clumsily flying it into space and away from danger. Andor, his girlfriend Bix (Adria Arjona) and a few other Ferrix stragglers have been camped out on Mina-Rau, one of many galactal systems that are either noncommittal or too underfunded to resist the Empire’s oppressive rule. Luthen runs his own operation, using his alias as a Coruscant art dealer and his relationship with government spies like Mon Monthma (Genevieve O’Reilly) to facilitate his own plans. His more stealthy approach is in direct opposition to the guerrilla warfare of some of the other rebels, in particular the brutal militia of Saw Gerrera (Forest Whitaker).
Like the first season, Andor is best absorbed in small chunks, as Gilroy and his team script these mini 2-3 episode arcs that pay off with terrific and rousing climaxes (like last season, Episode 3 is a particular highlight). But there’s also an overarching storyline that develops with a more patient approach, as the Empire targets the vulnerable planet of Ghorman for their own nefarious needs. All we’re told by Director Krenic (Ben Mendelsohn, back from Rogue One) is that the planet is of “great interest” to the Empire. That means it’s of great interest to Dedra (Denise Gough) and Syril (Kyle Soller), everyone’s favorite fascist couple who found love in hatred last year. The two hatch a plan to incite and then destabilize the budding rebellion on the planet, utilizing covert tactics that we’ve never seen the Empire use before.
Imperial leadership in this show is portrayed as much more cunning than the random officers that Darth Vader chokes out. The show very realistically captures the structure of power within regimes, both on the “good” and “bad” side. Some people are smarter than others, and the smarter people, the Cassians, Luthens and Dedras of the world, usually survive. The less competent characters that survive are often more emotionally volatile and dangerous, however, which makes them just as compelling. This especially applies to Bix, who is deeply affected by the intense torture she faced in season one. Andor doesn’t just let the character throw that baggage away, and Adria Arjona continues her notable rise through the ranks of Hollywood with one of the many knockout performances of this show.
Bix’s storyline is a highlight of a season that leans into an incredible amount of maturity. Andor features acts of shocking violence, drug abuse and even a hint of sexual menace, something that I can confidently say has never been a prominent theme in any other Star Wars show or movie. These are decisions that don’t feel gratuitous, but earned in the universe that Gilroy wants to tell his story within. The show has the look, feel and swagger of a prestige drama like Game of Thrones or The Last of Us. All three of those shows and a number of others have mastered the balancing act of taking its fantasy story very seriously without feeling too self-serious, maintaining the entertainment value that’s needed to make the show worth watching in the first place.
Anyone worried that Andor was going to be a one-hit-wonder can rest easy. This is a very confident show that is excelling in all categories. The acting, the writing and the technical elements all come together for a second and final season that is as surprising and intense as Star Wars has been in a very, very long time (if ever). There is of course value to shows like The Mandalorian and popcorny blockbusters like The Force Awakens, but Andor is a flavor of a galaxy far, far away that tastes delicious on its own.
Season 2 of Andor premieres with three episodes on Disney+ tomorrow, then releases in batches of threes for the next few weeks.
