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The Star Wars franchise is at quite a crossroads in terms of content and fan appreciation for its new stories. The most recent projects released have been a television series on Disney+ — “The Mandalorian” and “The Book of Boba Fett” — with no forthcoming films.

While Star Wars fans are always hard to please, recent films like “Star Wars: The Last Jedi” and “Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker” as well as recent shows such as “The Book of Boba Fett” and “Obi-Wan Kenobi” have been particularly divisive.

Thus, there was a lot of skepticism surrounding the release of “Andor,” a Disney+ series that focuses on Cassian Andor, the obscure lead character of the 2016 anthology film “Rogue One: A Star Wars Story,” a film that ends with Andor dying while fighting the empire.

An early trailer confirmed to fans that this would be a completely new story with mostly new characters. And naturally, people doubted that this show would be able to capture the hearts and minds of Star Wars fans in the way that other Disney+ shows have.

Not only did “Andor” exceed expectations, but it also cemented itself as one of the most unique pieces of Star Wars content ever made, and pushed the story to new levels.

The show was created by critically acclaimed screenwriter and director Tony Gilroy, who also helped to write the end of “Rogue One: A Star Wars Story.” Gilroy is a master at stories that revolve around spycraft (The Bourne franchise) as well as government deception (Michael Clayton). Andor was a showcase for both of those genres, which Star Wars stories have not featured up to this point.

Taking place around five years before the events of “Rogue One: A Star Wars Story,” the show follows Cassian Andor (Diego Luna) as he transitions from a scoundrel to one of the tentpole heroes of the growing galactic rebellion.

Throughout the show, we see Andor change from a selfish man without a purpose to someone who believes so strongly in the rebellion cause that he is willing to do anything to help facilitate the downfall of the empire.

“Andor” examines the many trials that Cassian must go through in order to achieve this new mentality and purpose.

One of the many unique parts of the show is its narrative structure. Each major storyline in “Andor” is written and told in three-episode arcs, making the show feel more like it contains four movies instead of 12 episodes. This storytelling style allows the audience to get to know the many characters that help inspire Andor throughout his journey.

As previously mentioned, Andor does not start out this series fully believing in the idea of rebellion. While he is openly not a fan of the empire, it does not seem realistic to him that they could ever really be defeated. It is not until later in the series does it become clear to him that the Empire must be defeated, no matter the costs.

One of the characters who help him come to this ultimate conclusion is Luthen Rael (Stellan Skarsgård), a man who has been secretly leading the start of the rebellion. Luthen is one of the most interesting and complex characters that Star Wars has ever produced.

He is truly someone who will sacrifice anything and everything important in life to ensure that the empire is defeated. Skarsgård’s performance expertly matches the tone of this character and every single scene with Luthen feels powerful.

A key moment for Luthen’s character comes in episode 10 when he is asked about how he has lost in his efforts to help build the rebellion. In response, his monologue instantly reached iconic status — “Calm. Kindness, kinship. Love. I’ve given up all chance at inner peace, I’ve made my mind a sunless space…”

Luthen represents a side of the Star Wars universe that fans had not seen up to this point. He is truly a man who lives in the moral gray, and although actively fighting for the rebellion, his actions and beliefs mirror those of the Empire.

The finale of the show was nearly flawless, and a perfect representation of the themes of the show. The show ends on Andor’s homeworld of Ferrix, which the empire has taken over and terrorized with its fascist regime.

A riot breaks out and the people of Ferrix turn on the Empire. Although there are many deaths, the Imperial Forces are clearly distraught and their supposed control has been tampered with.

The people of Ferix may have been outnumbered and outgunned, but they were able to hold off the Empire by sheer force of will, want and need for freedom from unlawful oppression.

One of the aspects of “Andor” that made it so special was the portrayal of how human lives are affected by fascism and how that oppression can empower people to stand up for themselves and fight for what’s right.

Throughout the show, we saw different people become empowered to fight against the Empire and work toward a brighter future for the galaxy. No character embodied this change better than Andor himself.

At the beginning of the show, Andor was shown to be a scoundrel who only fought for himself and never wanted to be a part of the bigger cause. As the series progressed, the audience was able to see Andor begin to understand how dangerous the Empire is and how vital it is to promote change and lead people in a fight against Imperial control.

When we meet Andor in “Rogue One: A Star Wars Story,” not only is he a freedom fighter, but he is also one of the leaders of the Rebel Alliance and we can see that forming towards the end of season one.

The creator of the show Tony Gilroy has said that season two will show the rest of Andor’s journey over the course of four years, and the end of season one indicates that many of those adventures will be with Luthen by his side.

It will be very fun to see how these two interact over time and work together to help form the future of the rebellion. “Andor” brought new life into the Star Wars franchise and I am excited to see where the storytelling goes from here.

Published on November 27, 2022 at 9:58 pm