Andor: Season 2

Streaming on: Disney+

Episodes viewed: 12 of 12

When the first season of Andor arrived, it blew away Star Wars newbies and long-time fans alike. Focusing on an unexplored character from a spin-off prequel, it surpassed all expectations, tracking the first half of Cassian Andor’s (Diego Luna) radicalisation from street thief to full-blown revolutionary. This second season charts the second half, between Cassian joining the ranks of Luthen Rael’s (Stellan Skarsgård) network of rebels and the events of 2016’s Rogue One — and despite us knowing how this ends, every step along the way is urgent, compelling, excellent television.

Season 2 begins four years before the Battle of Yavin. We find Cassian stealing an Imperial test ship, before being ambushed by a gang of rudderless rebels. Bix (Adria Arjona), still traumatised from her torture in Season 1, is hiding in the outer rim with droid B2EMO and co. Imperial supervisor Dedra Meero (Denise Gough, on scene-stealing form once again) is being recruited for a new project on Ghorman by the ruthless Director Krennic (Ben Mendelsohn, returning to the role), and playing house with the power-hungry Syril (Kyle Soller). Senator Mon Mothma (Genevieve O’Reilly) is preparing for her daughter’s wedding, while facing mounting pressure from those around her. From there, the season is delivered in three-episode chunks, each moving forward a year in time, getting ever closer to Cassian heading to the Ring of Kafrene to start his final mission.

Andor’s first season was a kind of awakening — for the character, for those around him, for the rebellion itself. The second is a clear-eyed look at what it takes to fight against the kind of oppressive, corrupt, genocidal power that the Empire yields (complete with chilling real-life parallels). It’s about sacrifice, selflessness, and giving up what you love for the greater good. From Cassian himself through to the wider ensemble — Mothma, Dedra, Luthen’s assistant Kleya (Elizabeth Dulau), fellow rebel Vel (Fay Marsay, who gives a spine-tingling speech in a moment of grief) — everyone is given a chance to shine, and no-one escapes paying a price for their part in this terrible, terrible war. When it comes to fighting what they hate or saving what they love, those in Andor often aren’t given a choice.

It will make you fall in love with Star Wars, whether for the first time or the 50th.

Luna’s performance communicates the burden of this on Cassian’s shoulders entirely — he is a brooding but fiercely capable character, constantly battling between his desire to fight and to walk away, and his utter resistance to being controlled sees him clash with the increasingly militaristic structure of the Alliance. His bond with Bix is strengthened as they’re given more time together on and off screen, making our knowledge of his eventual demise all the more heartbreaking.

Connecting this show with Rogue One is an immense task for Gilroy and his writers, but one they absolutely pull off. The script weaves in Andor characters with existing Star Wars storylines, and introduces familiar faces from Gareth Edwards’ film. It recontextualises deep cuts from the galaxy’s lore, with two standout episodes depicting a horrifying massacre on Ghorman and Mon Mothma’s extraction from Coruscant in the aftermath — both likely to induce gasps. The moments in time Gilroy chooses to focus on tie in threads that Star Wars scholars will be familiar with, but are also effective for those who don’t know their kyber crystal from their K-2SO. Only the finale groans slightly under the weight of set-up, but the core story is so well crafted, it all still works.

In one pivotal, prophetic scene, Cassian is identified by a Force healer as a “messenger”; someone gathering things as they move through life, all for a distinct purpose. The same could be said for Andor itself. It isn’t rewriting Cassian’s story: it’s filling it out, enhancing it. In watching it, we are gathering information about how the sparks of this rebellion turned into a raging flame, and deepening our connection to a man in the middle of it all. Part of what makes Andor so great is that you could strip away the Star Wars-ness, the blasters and the jargon and the droids, and it would still soar as a top-tier political thriller. But at the same time, the blood of this iconic franchise — the heart, the values, the triumph over evil — runs through its veins. It will make you fall in love with Star Wars, whether for the first time or the 50th.