Andor

It feels like something out of Blade Runner, as Cassian Andor (Diego Luna) trudges through the streets of Morlana One, with his hood drawn up due to the ...

Every character has a name, even those not yet seen; every location is flush with names and spaces, and it really shows the dedication of the writers to create a fully-actualized story. They are slow-moving fires that burn quietly, lighting kindling along the way, and giving birth to a forest fire of potential. While the premiere plays it close to the chest, the tone and aesthetic of Andor allude to the fact that this series has the potential to become one of the most nuanced, insightful, and smartest Star Wars series to date. Though the slowburn nature of the plot may not be for everyone, especially those who expect characters to go charging into a firefight in every episode, Andor fully flips the script and approaches the story with a focus on character and expansive worldbuilding. Within the first ten minutes of the premiere, [Andor](http://collider.com/tag/andor/) reintroduces a character that captured the heartbroken masses in Rogue One: A Star Stories—and not much has changed. Rogue One and its subsequent tie-in novels and novelizations didn’t provide a lot of information about who Cassian Andor was outside of being six years old when the Empire first impacted his life and a steadfast and morally dubious member of the rebellion.

It's all laser guns and hoverbikes in this gritty, kinetic spy thriller which gives us the backstory to one of Rogue One's heroes.

Such theorising can’t sustain a Star Wars show on its own, which is why it’s such a relief when Andor whips out the laser guns and hoverbikes in episode three. But the underling is Syril Karn (Kyle Soller), who sees the case as his chance to ascend to the rank he believes he deserves. Andor’s earthy wisdom extends to more general observations, too, such as the explicit identification of rampant commercialism as a key component of the malign force that is about to reach tipping point. [Obi-Wan Kenobi](https://www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio/series/obi-wan-kenobi--episode-by-episode), has been replaced with something gnarlier. As Andor begins, it’s five years earlier and Cassian – still played by Luna – is merely a thief who likes to liberate Galactic Empire spaceship parts. When word of mouth spreads about a new streaming show, viewers tend to tell each other not how many episodes are in the season, but how many you have to watch before the thing gets good.

The latest Star Wars series has just landed on Disney Plus. Learn what truly went down here in this Andor episode 3 ending explained.

Fans will need to stay tuned for the entirety of season 1 to see how Cassian Andor grows as the Rebel Alliance starts to form with him. Meanwhile, just as the task force has caught up with Andor and Luthen, the former gains an advantage over Syril and destroys his radio. At this point, Cassian communicates with the droid, giving his location to Syril and his men while compromising Maarva. She comes up with the decision to take the young Andor and hide with him before those affiliated with the ship’s men soon arrive. After the events of episode 1 and 2, Andor’s third installment starts with Kassa exploring the remains of a crashed ship in Kenari as the other members of his tribe have returned to camp. With that promise in mind, there are a lot of things to unpack from this Diego Luna-starrer and what this series holds for the overall franchise.

The second episode of Andor begins a short time after the final moments of the premiere, as a young Kassa (Antonio Viña) sets out with his Kenari peers to ...

The second episode of Andor winds down as Luthen gets to experience the joys of public transportation, and that one weird guy that always wants to chit-chat and overshare. His arrival causes new problems for Bix who has to lie to Timm over a cup of caf about why she needs him to open the yard for him. Unaware that he is a wanted man, Cassian heads home to see his mother Maarva Andor (Fiona Shaw) who has waited up for him alongside a fretful B2EMO to tell him that the Pre-Mor Authority is looking for a Kenari man. The flashback gives way to nightfall on Ferrix, which sees Cassian ( [Diego Luna](http://collider.com/tag/andor/)) stealthily make his way through the backstreets of the town, while the rest of the cast of characters clocks out of work and closes up shop. On Kenari, the children make their way to the crash site, weapons in hand, as the eldest girl (Malini Raman-Middleton) ventures down to the vessel to investigate. [Andor](http://collider.com/tag/andor/) begins a short time after the final moments of the premiere, as a young Kassa (Antonio Viña) sets out with his Kenari peers to locate the crash site.

Andor episodes 1-3 serve as an extended introduction to Cassian Andor, star of the latest Disney+ TV show, and set up his Rebel Alliance career.

It's a reminder of how little a life is worth in the Dark Times, a minor event compared to the Trailers have suggested the Imperial Security Bureau will be drawn into the story somehow, and the loss of the Imperial Starpath unit in Andor episode 3 sets that up nicely. He unwisely leads an attempt to capture Cassian after the deaths of two of his officers, and he underestimates the hostility of Ferrix as an environment. Their exploration went wrong when they killed a Republic officer who had survived the crash, and scavengers who arrived to loot the ship took Cassian before he became one of the victims of an act of reprisal when a Republic frigate arrived to clean up the mess. This would be a tremendously valuable asset to the Rebel Alliance, allowing them to watch for any evidence one of their cells had been discovered and potentially giving them a chance to extract operatives before they were caught. Like Han, he doesn't wind up with the Rebel Alliance by choice; rather, by the end of Andor episode 3 it's clear the Rebel Alliance is the only way for Andor to escape Ferrix. There's a sense in which Cassian Andor is a darker version of Han Solo. [Andor](https://screenrant.com/tag/andor/) episode 3 ending sees Cassian Andor recruited on a mission for the Rebel Alliance. Though he does not know it, he is being pulled along by the current of history, and has begun a journey that will lead him to the Death Star. There's a strong sense of inevitability to the first three episodes of the Disney+ TV series, because it's clear the planet Ferrix is going to get too hot for Andor - even if he doesn't realize it. A prequel to [Rogue One: A Star Wars Story](https://screenrant.com/tag/rogue-one/), the Andor Disney+ TV series is set five years before the events of the first [Star Wars](https://screenrant.com/tag/star-wars/) film. They're set in the Preox-Morlani Corporate Zone, a sector of space allowed a degree of independence by the Empire that is essentially run by a galactic company rather than by a government.

Diego Luna stars as Cassian Andor on the 'Star Wars' prequel series "Andor.'

It’s that need that leads him to a brothel-like establishment (yes, a brothel in a “Star Wars” property) away from his home planet. Gilroy, a Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright, also penned “Rogue One,” so he obviously knows the character. But there is an inherent risk in exploring a character that was so embraced by fandom in “Rogue One.” The fact that he now appears in his own series is a testament to that popularity. It, along with “Obi-Wan Kenobi,” however, may be the first fully realized series on the platform. Initially told in flashbacks, we meet Andor after he’s taken in as a boy by Maarva (Fiona Shaw from the “Harry Potter” series), a woman who makes her living scavenging. Yes, the character does have more than one expression and one emotion. In the case of “Star Wars” on Disney+, it is apparently growing up. In that respect, the message is clear: This isn’t your grandfather’s “Star Wars” nor your mom’s. He has one prized possession, something acquired from an empire ship years before, that could serve as the currency for his trip. He makes a calculated risk and shoots the other. The two properties couldn’t be further from one another, which makes “Andor” look jarring. However, those moments aren’t like anything seen in “Star Wars” prior.

Andor is a Star Wars prequel to the prequel Rogue One, but it certainly helps, since the show (like The Mandalorian) takes a look at the Empire and Rebels ...

Some of the Jedi and Inquisitor activity during this period is covered in [Rebels](https://www.polygon.com/2019/11/13/20959862/star-wars-watch-order-disney-plus-movies-shows-chronological-skywalker-saga), the TV miniseries [Obi-Wan Kenobi](https://www.polygon.com/reviews/23180150/obi-wan-kenobi-review), the video game Jedi: Fallen Order, the novel Ahsoka by E.K. [Star Wars](https://www.polygon.com/2019/11/13/20959862/star-wars-watch-order-disney-plus-movies-shows-chronological-skywalker-saga) as kids’ stuff, because, frankly, so much of it is. Andor offers an opportunity to dig deeper into the nuance of the Star Wars dystopia, arguably its most intriguing and relevant facet, and flesh it out for a mass audience. While Ahsoka, Rebels’ Kanan Jarrus and Ezra Bridger, and Fallen Order’s Cal Kestis and Cere Junda all eventually come out of hiding to fight the Empire (to say nothing of Obi-Wan Kenobi and Luke Skywalker), the Jedi who made the earliest and most violent contribution to the nascent Rebellion is Ferren Barr, who within a year of the Empire’s birth secretly orchestrates a war between the Imperial Navy and the planet Mon Cala. Though they’re not seen much in the films, Mon Mothma and Organa are the key architects of the Rebellion, connecting isolated pockets of resistance into one formidable whole. [the first season](https://www.polygon.com/star-wars/22418649/star-wars-the-bad-batch-review) of the animated series [The Bad Batch](https://www.polygon.com/star-wars/23146713/star-wars-bad-batch-season-2-trailer-release-disney-plus-streaming-celebration). In a subplot deleted from Revenge of the Sith, Senators Padmé Amidala, Mon Mothma, and Bail Organa establish the Delegation of 2,000, a political caucus that challenges Palpatine to relinquish his wartime powers once the Separatists are defeated. Andor kicks off at 5 BBY, tracking the formation of the Alliance to Restore the Republic (better known as the Rebel Alliance) though bits and pieces of this story have been depicted across other media over the years. [Andor](https://www.polygon.com/23311750/andor-star-wars-diego-luna-interview-preview), the new live-action limited series that premiered on Disney Plus on Wednesday, is pitched as a gritty adult spy drama, the rare mass-marketed entry into the canon to frame Star Wars as the story of a political revolution on a galactic scale. [Clone Wars animated series](https://www.polygon.com/star-wars/2020/3/14/21179020/star-wars-clone-wars-rex-episodes-trooper-stories-expanded-universe), Supreme Chancellor Sheev Palpatine spends years orchestrating the conflict that would destabilize the Republic and enable him to seize power. The Imperial Navy demolishes the cloning facility and uses the remaining clone troopers to train a new generation of soldiers recruited the old-fashioned way: by exploiting poverty and fostering jingoism and xenophobic paranoia. The degradation of the Republic into the Empire takes place over the nearly four-year span of the war, and its roots go much deeper than that.

Andor is live on Disney Plus today with the first three episodes available to watch, and this being the fourth live action Disney Plus series as more and ...

Given that Rogue One was my favorite of the new Star Wars blockbusters, I’m certainly looking forward to checking this out later today. We already know a whole bunch of series that are coming, but Andor’s success, or I suppose theoretical failure, could alter their plans. I know many will look for audience scores, but it’s so early (only 36 total people have scored it on Rotten Tomatoes) that I’m going to wait and see what that number settles at over time. So, as you can see I’m including the animated series in there, and those have been generally well-received. Here’s how it stacks up compared to the other Disney Plus series we’ve seen out of the Star Wars universe so far: - The Mandalorian Season 1 – 93%

Spoiler Alert. ©2022 Lucasfilm Ltd. [WARNING: The following contains MAJOR spoilers for Andor Season 1, Episodes 1-2.] Raise your ...

[The Mandalorian](https://www.tvinsider.com/show/the-mandalorian/). He and his friends make it to the ship, but one of the crew members wasn’t dead, and he shoots one of the children. There’s a catch, though: Timm sees Cassian and Bix meeting to discuss this, and at one point, Cassian makes the mistake of putting his hand on her arm. [Diego Luna](https://www.tvinsider.com/people/diego-luna/)) isn’t trying to “rule with respect,” nor is he taking care of a child with ties to the larger saga. She and Cassian obviously have a history, despite the fact that she’s with another acquaintance of his, Timm (James McArdle). Not for the leader of the sector, who maintains that the deaths should be covered up, but for his Deputy Inspector, Syril Karn ( When his boss leaves for an Imperial Regional Command review, he opts to continue the investigation in secret. Once Cassian returns to the planet Ferrix, we’re introduced to his cute little droid. As with any first episodes, much of Andor’s first two installments devote themselves to putting the major characters on the board and explaining why they’re important. The closest existing comparison to his character might be Han Solo (Harrison Ford), since both are “hotshot pilots” who owe people money. He seems hellbent on finding his sister — hence the visit to the brothel — who it’s implied he lost contact with after something mysterious and presumably very, very bad happened on their home planet of Kenari. These adult-oriented details immediately make this Rogue One prequel feel like a more grown-up show than, say,

The Empire is everywhere, except they're not. Here's how the Preox-Morlana Corporate Zone fits into the Star Wars galaxy. Lucasfilm. Ryan Britt. 1 hour ago.

In the early days of tie-in Star Wars books and comics, it was important that nothing in them directly contradicted the events of the films. In The Empire Strikes Back, Lando even says that his Cloud City mining operation “doesn’t fall into the jurisdiction of the Empire.” The Empire is massive, but it’s not everywhere. [“company town,”](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Company_town) where everything is owned by the same corporate entity. For the Brian Daley books, that was the entire point. Here’s the deal with [Andor’s](https://www.inverse.com/entertainment/andor-star-wars-villains-interview) Preox-Morlana Corporate Zone, and how it’s similar to largely forgotten Han Solo comics and novels. Even the Morlana-One brothel is regulated, and Cassian wasn’t supposed to be there because he’s not a Pre-Mor employee. The entire “Corporate Zone” is patrolled by Pre-Mor law enforcement. During its brief rule of the galaxy, [Palpatine](https://www.inverse.com/entertainment/star-wars-leak-palpatine-return) ensured every planet was directly under Imperial control — or maybe not? Although the Empire makes the laws these blue-uniformed guys abide by, they are not faux-Stormtroopers. And although the Empire nominally regulates this sector, the Pre-Mor employees are not Imperial officers. The Empire is everywhere, except they’re not.

Looking some context as the new Disney Plus series begins? We'll get you up to hyperspeed.

Worried that her true identity as the daughter of Death Star engineer Galen Erso might be discovered, Saw leaves her in a bunker with just a blaster and a knife for protection, promising to return. That makes sense, since Emperor Palpatine is the supreme leader of both, though his alternate identity as Darth Sideous is still a secret to everyone but a handful of his most devout followers. As his apprentice, Darth Vader is the most visible Sith lord within the regime, and he reports only to his master. The other is Senator Mon Mothma, who hasn’t yet given up on the idea of democracy and is trying to change the system from within as a member of the Imperial Senate. The core philosophy of the Sith religion involves harnessing strong emotions like anger and fear into absolute power. Under the leadership of Darth Vader, agents of the Imperial Inquisition hunted down the last remaining Jedi and eliminated them, one by one. At the end of the Clone Wars the Emperor accused the Jedi of treason and activated Order 66, which compelled the clone troopers to execute any Jedi on sight, but that was just the beginning of the Jedi purge. There are isolated groups of insurgents throughout the galaxy, especially in the mid and outer rims, where the Empire has less control. One of them is Senator Bail Organa, who has been keeping tabs on underground rebel activity through a network of intelligence operatives using the code name Fulcrum. As is typical of any totalitarian regime, the Empire has reached its tendrils into every aspect of public life. There are some areas, however, where the Empire wields less power than others. Since then, Imperial forces have been gradually transitioning from peacekeepers to occupiers in the territorial outposts they once promised to protect.

The first three episodes of Andor were dropped all at the same time on Disney+ and you can see why. These first three stories are only “episodes” from a ...

This is also true, to varying degrees, of [The Book of Boba Fett](https://www.denofgeek.com/tv/star-wars-the-book-of-boba-fett-ending-cad-bane-spoilers/) and [Obi-Wan Kenobi](https://www.denofgeek.com/movies/star-wars-obi-wan-kenobi-makes-a-new-hope-better/), both which are chock-full of fan service in a way that Andor isn’t. And in a world where people are named “Skywalker” and “Darth Maul,” having a story this grounded is a huge risk. The slow-burn of Andor’s first three episodes rewards the audience with a thrilling escape sequence, which is under-cut with the final flashback. The vast majority of characters in Star Wars are archetypes, which in a sense, makes them the opposite of what literary characters are in novels. He’s a frightening character obsessed with what he perceives to be his higher calling, when really, in the grand scheme of Star Wars, he’s basically the Empire’s version of a gas station shift leader. In the first three episodes of Andor, Luna plays the titular character with a variety of shades. But by the time Cassian and Luthen are riding a speeder bike and blasting their way to safety, you hardly care. [Rogue One: A Star Wars Story](https://www.denofgeek.com/movies/how-diversity-makes-rogue-one-a-better-star-wars-movie/) back in 2016, the feeling of seeing him on screen again in 2022 in [Star Wars: Andor](https://www.denofgeek.com/andor/) can’t be described as nostalgia. Even though its setting is spun-out from complex Star Wars lore, Andor feels like the most anti-nostalgia Star Wars project ever made, and as a result, the most refreshing story from this galaxy in years. Cassian isn’t thrust into a bigger story because the story forces him to, instead, his character is the story. One of them is accidentally killed in the fight, and in order to cover his tracks, Cassian executes the other guy. The present-tense day is primarily confined to two planets: Ferrix and Morlana One, both part of a “corporate sector” of the galaxy guarded by a private security force called Preox-Morlana.

Andor, the highly-anticipated Original series, has arrived on Disney+. The spy thriller stars Diego Luna, reprising the role of Rogue One's Cassian Andor.

[Andor](https://www.disneyplus.com/series/star-wars-andor/3xsQKWG00GL5?cid=DTCI-Synergy-StarWars-Site-Acquisition-StarWars-US-DisneyPlus-NA-EN-BlogArticleEmbed-Generic-NA), the highly-anticipated Original series, has arrived on [Disney+](https://www.disneyplus.com/series/star-wars-andor/3xsQKWG00GL5?cid=DTCI-Synergy-StarWars-Blog-Acquisition-PreSales-US-StarWars-DisneyPlus-EN-BlogPost) with a three-episode premiere. It’s a story that has the most to do with us. “This is the story about the people. Created by Tony Gilroy, the spy thriller stars Diego Luna, reprising the role of [Cassian Andor](https://www.starwars.com/databank/captain-cassian-andor) in a tale set five years prior to the events of Rogue One: A Star Wars Story. It’s about what we can do, it’s about the power we have.” New episodes will arrive on Disney+ every Wednesday; following a 12-episode first season, Andor will return for Season 2, leading directly into Rogue One. [Star Wars ](https://www.starwars.com/news/swca-2022-20-highlights-from-lucasfilms-studio-showcase) [Celebration Anaheim 2022](https://www.starwars.com/news/swca-2022-20-highlights-from-lucasfilms-studio-showcase).

The new series leans less on lightsaber showdowns and more on the messier interactions between good and evil.

But after so many films and television shows set in the same galaxy far, far away, Andor manages to carve out a new path to understanding that galaxy’s complicated moral stakes. Luna continues to have fantastic screen presence as Cassian, imbuing him with a naivete that is gone by the time Rogue One begins. And the antagonists feel like real-world villains, driven more by ego, workplace politics, and a misguided sense of duty than by a cartoonish pursuit of evil. Still, Andor is not so different from the rest of the franchise that it risks alienating longtime fans. This Star Wars project examines how a person’s needs, fears, and wants can be molded into a taste for revolution—or submission—depending on the (lowercase-f) forces at play. The prequel charts the evolution of Cassian Andor (played by Diego Luna) from an unmoored cynic to the rebel captain viewers met in the 2016 film The violence is grittier, less lightsaber-dependent: The first 10 minutes of the pilot include a character’s accidental death and the cold-blooded murder of another at gunpoint. Unlike the main characters of Disney+’s other Star Wars shows, Cassian is not a stoic loner or an ambitious leader. A show that’s more concerned with portraying life under an oppressive system than with inspiring awe, Andor is an unusually mature entry in the Star Wars franchise. He seemingly [wanted](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=THKzwzieF40&ab_channel=PuddingAsgard) to build a sci-fi fairy tale, the kind with dichotomies—good versus evil, right versus wrong, light versus dark—that children could easily grasp. It’s a confident and sophisticated drama that asks for—and rewards—a grown-up kind of patience. The series observes a familiar setting from an unfamiliar ground level: Most characters are trying to save their own skin, not the entire galaxy.

The first episode of 'Andor,' the new Disney+ series that brings back Diego Luna's character from 'Rogue One,' is a different sort of prequel.

The first episode takes place in “BBY 5,” meaning five years before the Battle of Yavin — the Rebel/Empire dust-up that results in the destruction of the Death Star at the end of A New Hope. • Will Andor be the first Star Wars show that winds up feeling too cool to show us weird aliens and stuff? The episode also begins what will presumably be a series of flashbacks to Cassian’s childhood on the planet Kenari, focusing on his relationship with the sister he seems to be searching for early on. There’s plenty of intrigue in this first episode, but the most unexpected, and maybe kind of hilarious, aspect of Gilroy’s grounded/serious take on Star Wars is that it also winds up pretty closely resembling Solo, Rogue One’s sibling Star Wars Story that wasn’t nearly as successful, and basically caused the whole spinoff cottage industry to pivot to TV. Andor also feels like a pivot from the Stagecraft sets, Clone Wars expansion, and pandemic-era minimalism of recent Star Wars TV — a bid to show that the franchise can accommodate more subtlety than Boba Fett riding a rancor. It’s equal parts creative experiment and savvy self-marketing of that experiment: Here are some new corners of the galaxy to explore, on our way to a well-documented destination.

If you purchase an independently reviewed product or service through a link on our website, Variety may receive an affiliate commission.

The best way to access Disney+ content is through the Disney Bundle, which wraps in Disney+, ESPN+ and Hulu for only $13.99/month. Instead, it does something more surprising still: It tells the story of people who have nothing to do with Solos, Skywalkers or Palpatines, but whose lives matter nonetheless.” It’s mostly set five years before the events of “Rogue One” with the exception of some flashback scenes tracing Andor’s childhood.

Cassian Andor meets with Luthen Rael (Stellan Skarsgård) and must battle Syril Karn's forces to escape Ferrix. Plus, his backstory on Kenari is further ...

You could even argue that this three-episode arc forms its own prequel to the prequel to the prequel, spending a feature-length amount of time on five or ten minutes’ worth of backstory. They wind up leaving the precious box behind, though Cassian does briefly agitate for bringing it along, which will surely be read by Rael as a testament to his grit and determination — also, one assumes, proof that Cassian is the real prize Rael was hoping to score here. But he’s more interested in the how than the what of this device, specifically how Cassian was able to steal it from the Empire. Ferrix may be a comparatively minor planet, but it quietly serves as a test case for the Rebel Alliance following the “how democracy dies” despair of Revenge of the Sith: People can band together and fight off fascist encroachment. But give some credit (maybe even some Republic credits?) to Andor for making Ferrix’s secondhand nature, with its industrial workers and big scraps of metal everywhere, feel evocative in a way that has eluded some other recent additions to the ever-expanding list of Star Wars planets. It’s too much individual rattling for 14 soldiers to silence, an expanded version of the ceremonial bell-tower figure seen in the previous episode.

Before Disney Plus' new show can figure out who or what is Andor, it has to show us the Dark Side through Syril Karn, the best villain in the Star Wars ...

He’s willing to accept that the people of Cassian’s hometown are all “bluff and bluster,” as his corporate goon tells him, because he misses how it’s solidarity in action. [The Mandalorian](https://www.polygon.com/22193147/when-the-mandalorian-season-3-comes-out) had a good enough twist on Star Wars’ good/evil dichotomy, but [the villain wasn’t what came to define the show](https://www.polygon.com/star-wars/2020/12/18/22188476/the-mandalorian-season-2-e8-finale-skywalker-saga) (even when played by [one Giancarlo Esposito](https://www.polygon.com/star-wars/2019/12/27/21038233/the-mandalorian-darksaber-black-lightsaber-bo-katan-moff-gideon)). Though he’s not dumb, one gets the sense that he’s so insulated in his position that even explaining the flaws of the system wouldn’t get through to him. And [The Rise of Skywalker’s take](https://www.polygon.com/reviews/2019/12/18/21024586/star-wars-the-rise-of-skywalker-review-spoiler-free) is... That light tailoring to his uniform is all he can do to make the powers that be conform to him, rather than the other way around. [The Book of Boba Fett](https://www.polygon.com/22903093/book-of-boba-fett-halo-ringworld-space-station) was a bit of a mess, offering up [neither a complicated antihero](https://www.polygon.com/22902664/book-of-boba-fett-episode-5-mandalorian-star-wars) nor a [particularly compelling antagonist](https://www.polygon.com/star-wars/22929592/book-of-boba-fett-hero-vs-villain) for our beleaguered hero to square off against. But in the first episodes of Andor, it’s clear Syril believes in the work. Instead, the show is the [nitty gritty](https://www.polygon.com/star-wars/23143231/star-wars-andor-trailer-release-date-celebration-disney-plus) of a galaxy far, far away. He takes the utmost pride in his presentation, modifying his uniform to make himself stand out as the shiniest apple in the bunch. It doesn’t take a leap of imagination to guess what feels so prescient about that storyline now, in a time when there’s a lot of change that needs to happen for the world to feel remotely just. [more granular way](https://www.polygon.com/star-wars/23056104/star-wars-moral-ambiguity-gray-characters) into the battles between light and dark. Syril is the sort of bootlicker who asked for extra credit to his extra credit.

The Disney+ series starring Diego Luna traces Cassian Andor's origin story before Rogue One.

Andor starts from a strong and powerful premise of how that becomes a point of radicalization, as the character is constantly being taken for a fight that may not be his own personal battle but will hopefully lead him to find what he seeks. (Thankfully, Timm gets what he deserved for being a punkass snitch.) Ferrix, however rings their bell for one of their own and it leads to a scrimmage that Karn and his troops are unprepared for and lose. The focus on Cassian’s personal journey really builds up a much needed different perspective of a marginalized, non-Force sensitive person who’s lost his home and his family and would do anything to get them back. It really takes all three episodes to ramp up the action compared to other shows or movies where we just get right into the Wars part of Star Wars, but I’d describe it as a simmer that builds up to a boil by the time we get to episode four. Cassian is thrust into helping Rael when Timm reveals that he’s really from Kanari like the girl he was looking for on Morlana One—something his mother warned would put him in danger if any outsiders realized he was a survivor of the tragedy on his home planet. When he gets back to Farrix, the planet he lives on with his adoptive mother Maarva Andor (Fiona Shaw), we discover that he’s got a bit of a reputation for doing things “the Cassian way.” He’s a skilled black market smuggler of important and stolen things, along with his friend Bix Caleen (Adria Arjona), who owns the business behind the reputable front that she runs with her clueless boyfriend Timm (James McArdle). Speaking of Mon Mothma, Genevieve O’Reilly returns as the fan-favorite character, and it’s exciting that we get to see more of her origin defecting from the high class roles she’s expected to fulfill on her journey to become the leader we know. It makes sense that he’d want to join the fight that has stripped them of their families as lost children who don’t understand the enemies who came to exploit their land. He’s played deliciously by Skarsgård, especially when it’s revealed he’s living a double life as both socialite and one of Mon Mothma’s associates. He’s a very bless-his-heart sort of fellow who doesn’t like Cassian’s closeness to Bix, so he stalks her as they close in on a deal with a buyer seeking an Untraceable NS9 (taken from the Empire to move through their blockades). Luna shines as a survivor on the fringes who finds himself instrumental to the start of the rebellion within the show’s first three episodes. The guards accost him on the way out pretty much just for the heck of it which leads to Andor to defend himself and not leave any witnesses.

Cassian Andor's troubles continue as he attempts to make a deal with Luthen Rael (Stellan Skarsgård) and escape Morlana One, and we meet his adoptive mother ...

(Props for really doing damage with those arrows.) However, what we learn in the show’s present, about the mining disaster that left the planet “toxic,” is a lot more interesting than the flashback scenes. The moments that make this episode feel most like a chunk of a longer pilot aren’t Bix’s shoe-leather negotiations but the scenelets that introduce Luthen Rael (Stellan Skarsgård). Rael does some purposeful walking, as he travels from ship to Ferrix shuttle in relative silence, with Skarsgård on the receiving end of a (sadly not literal) “hello there” movie-star face-reveal shot. Armed with this new information, Syril Karn gets pumped to apprehend Andor and assembles a hilariously dour 12-man force at the urging of his right-hand man, who enthuses that “corporate tactical forces” like theirs are the Empire’s best defense against “fomenting pockets” of rebellion. At times, this recalls some of the most striking shots from Rogue One (including at least one that’s in For example, we meet Cassian’s previously unseen mother, Maarva (given what we see of his childhood, seemingly an adoptive parent), who waits for him with his sensitive droid B2EMO (Dave Chapman provides the sometimes needy, sometimes reproachful robo-voice).

Photo: Disney+/Lucasfilm /Courtesy Everett Collection. If you purchase an independently reviewed product or service through a link on our website, STYLECASTER ...

Here’s [how to subscribe for free](https://stylecaster.com/disney-plus-free-trial/). Read on for [how to watch Andor](https://disneyplus.bn5x.net/c/256585/564546/9358?subId1=SC-&u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.disneyplus.com%2F) online for free to see the Star Wars prequel everyone is talking about. (Disney Plus costs $7.99 per month, Hulu starts at $6.99 per month and ESPN Plus costs $6.99 per month for a total of $21.97 compared to [The Disney Bundle’s $13.99 per month](https://click.linksynergy.com/deeplink?id=t1ZX7*4ybQA&mid=42392&u1=SC-&murl=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.hulu.com%2Fstart) price.) Disney Plus and ESPN Plus also come free with [Hulu+ With Live TV](https://click.linksynergy.com/deeplink?id=t1ZX7*4ybQA&mid=42392&u1=SC-&murl=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.hulu.com%2Flive-tv), which costs [$69.99 per month](https://click.linksynergy.com/deeplink?id=t1ZX7*4ybQA&mid=42392&u1=SC-&murl=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.hulu.com%2Flive-tv). You have room, you have space, you have time, and that is lovely when you have something to say.” Get More Unlimited, Play More Unlimited, Verizon Plan Unlimited, Go Unlimited, Beyond Unlimited and Above Unlimited.) If you have one of these plans, you can sign-up for a free six-month Disney+ subscription (which saves you about $42.) [Click here for Verizon’s FAQ](https://www.verizon.com/support/disney-bundle-faqs/) on how to sign up for its free Disney+ subscription. So there you have it—a way to watch Disney Plus for free. The season will lead into the events of Rogue One: A Star Wars Story. The Andor cast includes Diego Luna as Cassian Andor, who made his debut in the Star Wars universe in 2016’s Rogue One: A Star Wars Story. [$7.99 per month](https://disneyplus.bn5x.net/c/256585/564546/9358?subId1=SC-&u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.disneyplus.com%2F) or [$79.99 per year](https://disneyplus.bn5x.net/c/256585/564546/9358?subId1=SC-&u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.disneyplus.com%2F) (which saves users about $16 from the monthly price.) Disney Plus is also a part of [The Disney Bundle,](https://click.linksynergy.com/deeplink?id=t1ZX7*4ybQA&mid=42392&u1=SC-&murl=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.hulu.com%2Fstart) which includes [Hulu](https://click.linksynergy.com/deeplink?id=t1ZX7*4ybQA&mid=42392&u1=SC-&murl=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.hulu.com%2Fstart), [Disney Plus](https://stylecaster.com/disney-plus-free-trial/) and [ESPN Plus](https://stylecaster.com/espn-plus-free-trial/) for [$13.99 per month](https://click.linksynergy.com/deeplink?id=t1ZX7*4ybQA&mid=42392&u1=SC-&murl=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.hulu.com%2Fstart) for Hulu with ads and [$19.99 per month](https://click.linksynergy.com/deeplink?id=t1ZX7*4ybQA&mid=42392&u1=SC-&murl=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.hulu.com%2Fstart) for Hulu with no ads.) The bundle saves users about $8 per month (or 25 percent) from subscribing to each service individually. It’s about that need for people to unite, to articulate a reaction that involves community. The series starts with Cassian, a “revolution-averse” cynic and a thief whose home world was destroyed by the Empire, as he becomes a Rebel spy and eventual captain. [Rogue One: A Star Wars Story](https://stylecaster.com/star-wars-gifts/), which introduced fans to Cassian Andor, a Rebel captain and intelligence officer.

Andor episodes 1 to 3 are full of easter eggs and references to other corners of the Star Wars universe!

– The other ship on display is Luthen’s, which some fans have taken to calling a “lightsaber ship” for the way it activates a laser beam on each wing to cut down TIE fighters in one of the Andor trailers. This class of ship appeared quite a few times in The Clone Wars animated series. Abrams created the character) in [The Force Awakens](https://www.denofgeek.com/movies/star-wars-the-force-awakens-easter-eggs-and-reference-guide/). You’ll also spot a Luggabeast, which was the mount used by scavenger Teedo on Jakku in The Force Awakens. Said ship is called a WTK-85A interstellar transport, which first appeared in The Force Awakens and While this is all just a bunch of fancy words for a sci-fi thingy, “Starpath” does call back to the navigational unit of a Legends spaceship called the Errant Venture, a privately owned Star Destroyer that was stolen from the Empire by a Corellian smuggler, painted red, and turned into a bazaar complete with a casino. [Solo: A Star Wars Story](https://www.denofgeek.com/movies/solo-a-star-wars-story-review/). [Star Wars: Andor](https://www.denofgeek.com/andor/) opens up a whole new corner of the galaxy far, far away, one where workers clock in to their jobs at the scrapyard and corporate bureaucracy rules entire sectors of space. He also performed the roles of Lady Proxima and Rio Durant in At one point in episode 1, Timm makes a reference to Wobani, which is a planet that first appeared in Rogue One. The Rogue One prequel novel Catalyst established another one of these governments known as the Corporate Sector Authority, which ruled a part of the Outer Rim. Morlana One is a new planet created for the show.

What is "Andor"? Who is Cassian Andor? Everything you need to know before watching the new series, premiering Wednesday on Disney+.

[A New Hope](https://www.latimes.com/entertainment/movies/la-et-mn-star-wars-hails-the-once-and-future-space-western-20151202-story.html)” (1977) and 14 years after Chancellor Palpatine ends the Clone Wars by declaring himself emperor and issuing the order to exterminate all Jedi in “ [Revenge of the Sith](https://www.latimes.com/entertainment/movies/la-et-mn-revenge-of-the-sith-review-20151202-story.html)” (2005). A character originated by Caroline Blakiston in “Return of the Jedi” (1983), Mothma is a leader and founding member of the Rebel Alliance. Also, the series is set during a time when any surviving [Jedi are in hiding](https://www.latimes.com/entertainment-arts/tv/story/2022-05-26/obi-wan-kenobi-star-wars-disney-plus) because they have been hunted by the Empire. “Andor” will consist of two 12-episode seasons. the destruction of the first Death Star. Like “Rogue One,” “Andor” has been touted as a grounded exploration of how people and their everyday lives are impacted by the Empire. (Dates after the Battle of Yavin are labeled ABY.) For context, this is five years before Princess Leia sends her S.O.S. In addition to following Andor’s journey to becoming a Rebellion spy willing to die for the cause, the series will show how the unified Rebel Alliance came to be. Created by Tony Gilroy, the “Rogue One” screenwriter known for his work on the “Bourne” films, “Andor” is a spy thriller that will show how its titular hero came to be involved with the Rebel Alliance. In the context of broader “Star Wars” events, the first season of “Andor” is set in 5 BBY — Before the Battle of Yavin, a.k.a. Andor mentions having been in the fight against the Empire since he was 6 years old, after having lost everything. ‘Star Wars’ has long been a franchise fixated on the Skywalker men.

The new show follows Rebel Captain, Cassian Andor (Diego Luna), five years before the events of Rogue One. Andor explores his pipeline from a child, who was ...

[writes](https://mashable.com/article/andor-review-disney-plus) that while the show’s first few episodes may be sluggish, “Andor is unmistakably a Star Wars story. Cassian Andor is a head intelligence officer at the Rebel Alliance, and part of a small team that succeeds in retrieving the plans to build the Death Star and delivering them to Princess Leia. [ Star Wars’ films](https://mashable.com/article/star-wars-solo-ranked) and spinoff series, Andor is exclusively streaming on Disney+. Quick Rogue One recap: The Empire is building a Death Star that promises to be the greatest weapon of all time (a galactic G.O.A.T if you will). The new show follows Rebel Captain, Cassian Andor (Diego Luna), five years before the events of Rogue One. Disney’s latest Star Wars endeavor is Andor, a two-season prequel series to 2016’s spinoff film

Some fans were worried that Andor wouldn't contain the connective tissue that's so crucial to Star Wars. The show's first episodes put that worry to rest.

In Star Wars, “BBY” is an acronym for “Before the Battle of Yavin.” The Battle of Yavin was a pretty significant galactic event—y’know, that one time Luke Skywalker blew up the Death Star? This usage of BBY will become especially useful in Andor season 2, as it will be The pistol was designated as the “K-16 Bryar pistol” upon its introduction to canon. Schweighofer’s short story “Hasty Exit,” and the first usage of the term in canon was in John Jackson Miller’s 2014 novel A New Dawn. This is the very planet on which we meet adult Jyn Erso towards the beginning of Rogue One. Its appearance in Andor shows that the team behind the production isn’t afraid to reach into every corner of Star Wars to flesh out the world. Wobani is a planet used by the Empire as a detention center and labor camp. The word “caf” was Well, now that the first three episodes of Andor have been released on Disney+, we can confidently say that the galaxy far, far away is in good hands. Despite the in-universe term’s lengthy history in published material in both canon and legends, it had never before been spoken by an on-screen character until now. Sharp-eyed fans will immediately recognize a T-47 airspeeder and the yellow cockpit of a Y-Wing bomber. At approximately 32:58, the camera shows a wide overhead angle of the yard.

Read our recap of the first three episodes of Disney+'s 'Andor' and weigh in on the 'Rogue One' prequel series.

Cass pulls a gun and demands to know how Luthen knows such things, but Luthen calmly says at gunpoint that he came to this meeting “looking for something more — and I think I found it.” Luthen teaches Cass a lesson about “building your exit on your way in,” as he triggers blast charges he had affixed to the factory doors. At the factory, Cass presents the Starpath unit to Luthen, who specialties that Andor is either an Imperial spy, a front man for the true seller, or a thief himself. Indicating a personal disgust for the Empire, Cass says simply, “You just walk in like you belong.” As he explains, “They’re so fat and satisfied, they can’t imagine someone like me would ever get inside their house.” When they hear Cassian reach out to B2EMO via comms, they set out to trace the transmission and find their prey. A distraught, panicking Kravas stares down the barrel of the gun Cass is holding and begs for mercy/offers to cover up his partner’s death — but Andor instead shoots him in the head, in cold blood. Cassian insists that said money is “in play,” and that he is going to pretend that this mild shake-down didn’t happen. On Ferrix, Cassian goes to a ticket booth to secure expedient passage to Tassar, but the keen agent holds firm on asking for at least 700 credits. One of the “dead” comes to and shoots his blaster at the older girl leader, after which the others positioned at the tree line pelt him with poisonous blow darts. With his boss away, DI Karn forges ahead with an inquiry into the murder suspect and how his craft was able to slip in and out of their airspace without incident. After being urged to leave the establishment, Cassian is approached by the two sentries from the bar, Verlo and Kravas, who demand to see his ID, given it’s post-curfew in “a company town.” Slipping into a strip club of sorts, he chats up the hostess — irking a nearby pair of fellow customers/sentry guards in the process — to inquire about a “girl from Kenari,” a small mid-rim system.

The Cassian Andor we meet in the earliest parts of Rogue One was already hardly the most prim-and-proper sort of person, even for Star Wars' ragtag Rebel ...

It’s why we gravitate to characters like the heroes of Rogue One, why [Din Djarin](https://gizmodo.com/the-mandalorian-isnt-perfect-and-thats-why-hes-so-comp-1840156015) and Boba Fett’s recent turn as the [nicest, worst Crime Lord](https://gizmodo.com/boba-fett-star-wars-chump-1848498513) this side of Mos Espa are so interesting, or why Luke’s inability to grapple with the myth of his heroic legacy in The Last Jedi is so heartbreaking. It’s to watch very normal people do their best in the face of overwhelming structures of evil, because they’re mad at the world they’re in and want to do right by it. But these three episodes go even further and introduce us to a layered world of networks and relationships Cassian has made for himself on the planet Ferrix, pretty much all of which he abuses for favors and are made with people repeatedly calling him out for it. It would be enough to show us that this is a man who barely has a grasp of what he’s doing or what he wants if this act, the catalyst for everything that goes to hell across Andor’s first three episodes, was all we got. But the one we meet [at the beginning](https://gizmodo.com/star-wars-andor-diego-luna-disney-plus-lucasfilm-1849555939) of his self-titled Disney+ TV show is somehow even less put-together to a shocking degree—and that’s pretty damn great. [Andor](https://gizmodo.com/star-wars-andor-series-non-spoiler-review-disney-plus-1849559119), the first three episodes of which began streaming today, opens by taking a practically universally beloved character from Rogue One and spending the best part of those two opening hours textually having what feels like the entire universe hate [its titular hero](https://gizmodo.com/star-wars-andor-diego-luna-rogue-one-disney-plus-vader-1849442225), and kind of for good reason.

Disney+ has now dropped the first three episodes of its critically acclaimed new Star Wars show, Andor. Here's what the rest of the release schedule looks ...

[Diego Luna has certainly been impressed](https://www.denofgeek.com/tv/star-andor-revives-missing-saga/) with Gilroy’s approach to the prequel’s structure, which is a lot more thoughtful and detailed than previous Star Wars projects, and embraces a more literary vibe with its narrative. [Doctor Who](https://www.denofgeek.com/doctor-who) and [Sherlock](https://www.denofgeek.com/sherlock) director Toby Haynes, the initial three-episode Andor arc reintroduces us to Rogue One: A Star Wars Story’s rebel spy Cassian Andor, who died heroically at the end of that movie. A second season of the show is also in development! As [Andor](https://www.denofgeek.com/andor/) is a prequel to that prequel, we meet the character here at an earlier stage in his life when he is still just a shifty thief who will kill mercilessly to cover his tracks, and who doesn’t exactly have his eyes on the revolutionary prize quite yet. [LucasFilm](https://www.denofgeek.com/lucasfilm/)‘s new Star Wars series, Andor, are now officially available! Disney+ has now dropped the first three episodes of its critically acclaimed new Star Wars show, Andor.

It's a series that acts as a prequel to a prequel. It features no epic battles between Jedi and Sith, nor many familiar faces from the movies beyond the titular ...

Andor is one of the few Star Wars projects out there blazing its own trail and telling a story with no Skywalker family connections. This series only has a tenuous link to the main trilogies, yet it’s quickly shaping up to be the best live-action Star Wars series to date. But thanks to the divisive reaction to Star Wars: The Last Jedi, the jury is still out as to whether Johnson’s trilogy will ever happen. Star Wars: Andor works because it makes such a point of distancing itself from the Skywalker Saga movies and all the tropes and expectations that go along with them. Meanwhile, a young Princess Leia turned out to be a crucial character in Star Wars: Obi-Wan Kenobi, a series steeped in the Skywalker/Kenobi dynamic and Succession’s Nicholas Britell may not be the first name to come to mind for a Star Wars series, but Britell’s music truly captures the unsettling yet stylish tone the series is going for. The Mandalorian and its fellow Disney+ shows have managed to recreate that Star Wars aesthetic on the small screen largely through the help of the Volume, a digital set which projects detailed backgrounds and lighting against a video wall. But even as Andor captures the grimy side of Star Wars, it also succeeds in blazing its own stylistic trail. The scope of the series is actually pretty small by Star Wars standards. The Mandalorian broke major ground in 2019 as the first live-action Star Wars series. They have grand destinies and the power to reshape the course of the galaxy. It's a very different show from the likes of Obi-Wan Kenobi and The Book of Boba Fett.

Episode 1 of “Andor” opens with Cassian (Diego Luna) arriving on Morlana One to look for her sister at a bar. He irks a couple of sentry guards, who then follow ...

But it becomes evident that the real reason Rael is pushing Cassian to give some insight about himself (and not the Starpath) is because he is interested in him and his skills. As Cassian leaves with Rael on his ship in the present, Kassa ships out of Kenari with Maarva and Clem in the past. Bix apparently heads towards Cassian and Rael to warn them, and Salman goes to the town to alert everyone. Bix meets Rael, and they proceed to the place where the exchange is scheduled to happen. In the present, Cassian learns from B2EMO that two of his friends, Jezzi and Femmi, paid him a visit to deliver supper and Maarva’s (Fiona Shaw) medicine, while he was off on his mission. Although Bix told Cassian that she hadn’t revealed the fact that he was a Kenari to Timm, the look on Timm’s face essentially proves that he knows that the Pre-Mor is hunting for Cassian. If not, he’s going to inform Bee via the comms, and it will deliver the credits to Maarva on his behalf. After telling B2EMO (lovingly known as Bee) to lie about having information on Cassian, he goes to the town to meet Brasso and update him on the alibi. While Cassian takes a look at the NS-9 Starpath, Kassa and his friends approach the fallen ship. As a young kid, Cassian goes by the name Kassa (Antonio Viña) and is shown to be looking at a ship falling from the sky, along with all his villagers. Although Bix doesn’t want to take the risk, Cassian pesters her until she agrees to call her buyer. Under the pretext of bribing them, Cassian draws the guards in and then beats the hell out of them.

Celebrate the Star Wars series premiere of Andor, now streaming on Disney+, with an interview with creator Tony Gilroy, Diego Luna, and the cast.

“It’s a potent moment in history and a lot of people are facing a lot of really difficult times and difficult decisions along the way.” The creator and writer behind the series was drawn in by “the idea that we can do a story that takes him literally from his childhood origins and walk him through a five-year history of an odyssey that takes him to that place, during a revolution, during a moment in history in a place where huge events are happening and real people are being crushed by it. The fact that we could follow somebody as an example of a revolution all the way through to the end.” We get to flesh out not just the senator, not just the would-be leader of a Rebel Alliance, but also…We see a woman who has had to navigate her ideals and her beliefs within systems of oppression. “It gives me hope that a little girl is going to watch it and be like, ‘Oh my god, that girl kind of looks like me,’” she says. She is still that very dignified senator, but for the first time, we get to see the woman behind the role. At the same time, it’s equally important to her that her ethnicity wasn’t an active part of her casting. We get to see the private face of Mon Mothma. It wasn’t like, ‘Oh, you’re Hispanic, so you need to be in this.’ Tony was like, ‘Oh, you’re Bix.’” [Rogue One: A Star Wars Story ](https://www.starwars.com/films/rogue-one)debuted in theaters in 2016, it was lauded as a gritty new installment in the galaxy far, far away, a previously unexplored chapter that took viewers to the brink of the Galactic Civil War raging throughout the original trilogy. And that diversity, I mean, it’s what makes this — the reality I live in — very rich, you know? This previously unexplored perspective on the history of the [Rebel Alliance](https://www.starwars.com/databank/rebel-alliance) finds Andor in a raw and unflinching portrayal of the personal sacrifices made in the course of challenging the [Empire](https://www.starwars.com/databank/galactic-empire)’s rule and the people at work in the trenches on both sides.

Andor is Star Wars' best Disney+ series yet, making up for Book of Boba Fett falling short of expectations and Obi-Wan Kenobi being shoved into canon.

Andor is the more mature series that Star Wars hasn't had before -- and one that fits much better than its predecessors. [refusing to use The Volume](https://www.cbr.com/andor-the-mandalorian-vfx-tech-star-wars/). The two series proved that the [future of ](https://www.cbr.com/d23-disney-plus-star-wars-future-tv-mandalorian-andor-bad-batch-ahsoka/) [Star Wars](https://www.cbr.com/d23-disney-plus-star-wars-future-tv-mandalorian-andor-bad-batch-ahsoka/) is on the small screen. This was a clear show of restraint from the Andor writers. The idea of following a relatively minor Star Wars character for a full two seasons felt like a reach. [hesitant to commit to the cinematic future](https://www.cbr.com/star-wars-boss-wont-greenlight-new-films-report/) of the galaxy far, far away, Disney+ has been flooded with content.

Warning: This article contains spoilers about the first three episodes of Andor. Forget about Han and Greedo. Cassian Andor proved he was the character who ...

Someone that is not completely aware of the big scale and of the repercussions of his acts. That's going to keep happening, which is the beauty again, not just of this format, but of this project that took that risk of moving forward. And he has that spark that is really cool, in his eyes. And that for us was really important, to make sure we understand that we are seeing a childish version of the Cassian we met. And the beauty of these characters is that they give themselves another chance, which is something I believe important to say. And I believe is a story of someone that has been forced to migrate and is a refugee. The next time he's in front of someone with a gun in the hand, he thinks twice. One of the things I loved about Rogue One is that Cassian is a hero, and yet in the very first scene where we meet him in that film, we see him straight up murder a dude, and a dude who is actually helping him and the cause out as an informant. The problem of that second corporal is that they looked at each other in the eyes, therefore he's never going to forget that face. And what he means with the struggle, with the dark past, with being part of a fight since he was really young. The fact that one of the heroes of the film was doing this to an ally in his first scene showed he was a different type of character than we've met before in the I think the beauty of this show is that we are going to see what oppression looks like, feels like — what it is to be in a marginalized world where you can't articulate community and where all your freedom is taken away.

Diego Luna's Andor is a lot of things – the most political Star Wars show yet, an examination of both the Empire and the Rebellion in a way we haven't seen ...

But that Star Wars can go here, and do so in a way that feels not just realistic, but nuanced, is a testament to the casting of Diego Luna at the center of this story, and of actors like Adria Arjona around him. Instead, it’s their own story, and the journey of finding a place is their own journey. The story of immigrants is a story of belonging in two different places, and yet feeling like you don’t belong anywhere. For Cassian Andor, a fictional character in a fictional show about space, the same holds true. In the United States, in particular, it seems like there is no real way to be Latine enough for the stereotypes. But for those in Latin America, Andor is also something more personal, a refugee story that feels incredibly close and familiar, even with its protagonists existing in a galaxy far, far, away.

Diego Luna as Cassian Andor. Disney/Lucasfilm. At this point, even the most enthusiastic Star Wars fan might be feeling fatigued by Disney's assembly line of ...

It’s a beautifully realized world, a textured place that feels alive - and frankly, it’s a relief to get away from the dull sands of Tattoine. Kostek (Alex Ferns) to lead the charge. The two are like a couple of mall security guys on a petty power trip, wielding a terrifying amount of authority - what could go wrong?

While it's still early, the first three episodes of Andor feel more expansive than anything Star Wars has done in its shows thus far.

It is in this approach that Andor has the potential to be the antidote that Star Wars needs to continue to feel fresh as opposed to tiredly relying on its existing narrative foundations. Even the man ringing the bells every single day in the community is a nice touch. The history they have is revealed in smaller conversational character moments when he comes to her for assistance even as they no longer are nearly as close as they once were. Everyone has since been presumed dead, a grim origin story reflected in the way Cassian is willing to risk anything to find out what happened to the only family he has left. Watching Andor, a character that had largely been part of an ensemble in [Andor](https://collider.com/tag/andor/), the latest of an ever-growing number of [Star Wars](https://collider.com/tag/star-wars/) shows, we've gotten a glimpse of what this universe can be when not confined [to telling the same stories about the Skywalker saga that we've seen time and time again](https://collider.com/star-wars-beyond-the-skywalker-saga-obi-wan-kenobi/).