Andor
Andor
The series will explore a new perspective from the Star Wars galaxy, focusing on Cassian Andor's journey to discover the difference he can make. The series brings forward the tale of the burgeoning rebellion against the Empire and how people and planets became involved. It's an era filled with danger, deception and intrigue where Cassian will embark on the path that is destined to turn him into a rebel hero.
Brolaire reviewedMay 16, 2025
Star Wars as a franchise has a complicated history. For many of my generation, it stood as peak Sci-Fi - the original movies were crowning achievements not only in special effects but also in characters and world-building. When word got out in the nineties that Lucas was returning to produce prequel movies, we were jazzed to put it lightly. Unfortunately, those movies for the most part critically fell flat at release, and only many years later, after the excrement of the Disney "final" trilogy, would we finally look back at how good we had it. Christopher Lloyd quit acting altogether because of how much he was made fun of. Hayden Christiansen got endless amounts of shit for how he portrayed adolescent Anakin - only very recently receiving the recognition he deserves.
The mainstream of Star Wars always was rather simplistic thematically. Lucas famously said that he wrote these stories for his children. But with the Extended Universe content developed through the books, and later, some of the games, would Star Wars as a galaxy truly begin to flesh out and explore more realistic adult themes, characters, situations, and play in the grey much more than Lucas himself dared to.
This is the era of Star Wars I loved that Disney killed.
To say that I considered Star Wars dead is an understatement. The Mandalorian briefly rekindled hope for a time, but in many ways remained safe. Only Rogue One began to introduce this more gritty Star Wars some of us knew to the mainstream. Ask many non-fans what their favorite movie in the franchise is and they'll likely say Rogue One.
Why? It leaned into themes of loss, sacrifice, and doing the right thing even when it's difficult. The ending, [won't spoil it here] is a bold narrative choice rarely seen in big-budget blockbusters, let alone Star Wars. It felt more like Saving Private Ryan or Black Hawk Down than a space opera. The lack of the iconic and fantasical elements of the franchise, namely the magic space wizards, are nonexistant, making the production more relatable and the protagonists feel more grounded.
Like Rogue One, Andor doesn't require its audience to know Star Wars. It explores topics like authoritarianism, rebellion, propaganda, and what it means to resist evil from within a flawed system. It provides much more backstory to the events that led to Rogue One, and by extension, the original trilogy. Unlike Rogue One, it has so much more time to breathe, having and spending way more time introducing, developing, and intermingling its themes, its universe, and its complex characters.
What appeals to me so much is, despite being a fan of the franchise, is that this story could exist in any other setting. It's objectively a great story - it just happens to be told using Star Wars as a backdrop. Given our current events and recent history, its story is all the more impactful and the gravitas of what happens that much more profound. Every single performance is exceptional, making it all the more incredible.
"The death of truth is the ultimate victory of evil. When truth leaves us, when we let it slip away, when it is ripped from our hands, we become vulnerable to the appetite of whatever monster screams the loudest [...] the monster screaming the loudest, the monster we’ve helped create, the monster who will come for all of us soon enough."
Never in my wildest years would I ever have expected mainstream Star Wars to hit quite like this.
Exceptional.