Star Wars’ Empire has always been a fascist regime, but no film or series has showcased its tyranny as effectively as Andor.
In its first season, the Tony Gilroy-helmed series showcased the cold bureaucracy that makes the Empire tick, all without showing the Sith Lord at the head of the table. Instead, the focus was on the Empire’s lackeys, be they Imperial Security Bureau workers like Dedra Meero (Denise Gough) and Syril Karn (Kyle Soller) or the guards running the Imperial Prison Complex on Narkina 5. No Force shenanigans here, just human cogs in the machine of empire.
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That trend continues in Andor‘s much-anticipated second season, which highlights more of the insidious tools at the Empire’s disposal. Yes, we know the Death Star is in play after Season 1’s post-credit scene, but it’s the creeping propaganda, the aggressive audits, and the systemic oppression of entire planets that evoke the most dread (and feel the most prescient) here.
Andor Season 2 counters this dread with the hope of the Rebellion, to which Cassian Andor (Diego Luna), a reluctant joiner in Season 1, is now wholly committed. Star Wars fans know how Cassian’s story ends in Rogue One, as well as the fact that the Rebellion eventually succeeds in taking down the Empire. Still, knowing the destination doesn’t make the journey any less staggering, and that’s exactly what Andor Season 2 is: a staggering account not just of Cassian’s relationship to the Rebellion, but of how everyone in his orbit commits to — or, in Syril and Dedra’s cases, attempts to dismantle — the cause.
What is Andor Season 2 about?
Théo Costa-Marini, Diego Luna, and Alaïs Lawson in “Andor.”
Credit: Des Willie / Lucasfilm
Andor Season 2 opens one year after the Season 1 finale, and four years before the Battle of Yavin, when Luke Skywalker destroys the Death Star. Cassian now regularly undertakes missions for rebel leader Luthen Rael (Stellan Skarsgård). The remainder of his crew from Ferrix — Bix (Adria Arjona), Brasso (Joplin Sibtain), and Wilmon (Muhannad Bhaier) — hide out as workers on the agricultural planet Mina-Rau, hoping to escape the Empire’s gaze.
The Empire’s gaze, however, is turned toward a new target: the planet Ghorman, only home to a resource the Empire desperately needs. Modeled after interwar Europe and boasting an underground rebel group that calls to mind the French Resistance of World War II, Ghorman continues Andor‘s trend of grounded, lived-in planets like Ferrix. Over the course of the season, it also becomes a microcosm for the war being fought across the galaxy, serving both as a testing ground for Dedra and Syril as they embrace new roles within the Empire and as a possible new alliance for Luthen and Cassian. Who will prevail here, Empire or Rebellion?
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It’s fitting that Andor Season 2 spends much of its time on Ghorman, a planet famed for its twill-spinning spiders. Like said spiders (also known as Ghorlectipods), Andor‘s characters weave dizzying webs of connections across the galaxy. Yet as the season goes on, these webs threaten to come crashing down: Senator Mon Mothma (Genevieve O’Reilly) reckons with her choice to marry off her teenage daughter in the hopes of securing more funding for the Rebellion. Luthen and his assistant Kleya (Elizabeth Dulau) feel the walls closing in on Coruscant. Every thread is taut to the point of snapping, resulting in several deliciously suspenseful sequences straight out of a spy thriller.
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Andor Season 2 is a rousing yet sobering tale of rebellion in the face of fascism.
Diego Luna and Adria Arjona in “Andor.”
Credit: Lucasfilm
In Season 1, Andor found a spark in the manifesto of late rebel Karis Nemik (Alex Lawther), who wrote, “Remember this. The Imperial need for control is so desperate because it is so unnatural. Tyranny requires constant effort.”
The flip side to this statement is that rebellion requires constant sacrifice. (In the words of Luthen: “I burn my life to make a sunrise that I know I’ll never see.”) Andor Season 2’s characters are asked to make sacrifice after sacrifice to the Rebellion, to the point that the idea of making your death “worth it” becomes a refrain throughout the season. Victories, when they come, feel like the TV equivalent of a shot of adrenaline. But they almost always come with a cost, creating a bittersweet swirl of emotions that only intensifies when you recall Andor‘s endpoint, Rogue One, culminates in the ultimate sacrifice from Cassian and the Rogue One crew.
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For his part, Cassian spends much of Andor Season 2 wondering whether he should cut and run, having given so much to the Rebellion already. Due to Andor‘s nature as a prequel, we know he won’t, and while Luna does a strong job portraying Cassian’s emotional dilemma, it can sometimes feel frustrating to see characters’ roles (mostly Bix) reduced to telling Cassian the Rebellion needs him.
Andor Season 2’s structure is a blessing and a curse.
Denise Gough and Kurt Egyiawan in “Andor.”
Credit: Lucasfilm
Obviously, the show is named Andor, so Cassian remains the focus. Yet it’s the cast of characters around him who steal the show, from Mon Mothma’s politicking to Luthen and Kleya’s espionage work to Dedra and Syril’s comical domestic dealings. (What can I say, the fascists are evil, but their home lives are very fun to watch.) Bix’s trauma from her Imperial torture emerges as a heartbreaking storyline as well, only to be resolved almost too neatly and with little further discussion.
The latter is a result of Andor‘s unique structure. Every three episodes of Season 2 jump ahead a year, taking us right up to the start of Rogue One. (And I mean right up to.) Andor has no problem catching us up on what happened in the time jumps, clearly having faith that its audience will keep up and read between the lines. Yet the problem with the jumps is rarely one of plot, but of emotion. Often, I found myself wishing that I could live in the fallout from each of these arcs for longer, but that fallout becomes a casualty in Gilroy’s “four Star Wars movies” in one season of TV approach.
What Andor Season 2 lacks in connective tissue between time jumps, it makes up for in focus, with each mini arc honing in on a pivotal moment in Cassian and co.’s stories. From intelligence gathering on Ghorman to a flight mission gone astray, Andor crafts immaculate set pieces that dive into the various forms rebellion can take in the galaxy. The result is immersive, deeply felt, and a reminder of why Andor is among Star Wars’ best offerings. (Certainly the best on the TV front.) So really, my complaint about structure comes down to the simple fact that I want more of this story, for Gilroy to fill in the gaps further so I can spend extra time with these characters.
Instead, Andor goes out on its own terms, leaving a brilliant, blistering look at fascism and those who fight it in its wake.
The first three episodes of Andor Season 2 premiere April 22 on Disney+, with new episodes every Tuesday.