Andor

Diego Luna returns to the role of Cassian Andor in “Andor” on Disney Plus. (Des Willie/Lucasfilm Ltd.) Listen.

“What it means is that there’s so much talent in Mexico,” Luna said, adding: “We are used to doing a lot with very little. Creativity gets triggered in a very special way when you have a lot to say and very little to do it with. “There was a lot of Spanish speaking going on,” Luna said proudly. García Bernal, Luna’s longtime friend and “Y tu Mamá También” co-star, will star in a Disney Plus/Marvel Studios Halloween special “Werewolf by Night” in October. “Gladly, Lucasfilm and Disney found this important that our voices are there for the Spanish-speaking community,” Luna said. [the cover of Vanity Fair](https://www.vanityfair.com/hollywood/2022/05/star-wars-cover-the-rebellion-will-be-televised) with “Obi-Wan Kenobi” star Ewan McGregor, “The Mandalorian’s” Pedro Pascal and Rosario Dawson, who will soon star in an “Ahsoka” streaming series as the former Padawan of Anakin Skywalker/ [Darth Vader](https://www.washingtonpost.com/comics/2022/06/23/obi-wan-kenobi-darth-vader/?itid=lk_inline_manual_28). In “Andor,” the story of Cassian Andor’s rookie rebel days are supplemented with flashbacks to the character’s youth on his home planet of Kenari. “When I got the phone call about exploring the opportunity of doing this prequel, to explore the past of this character, I thought it made complete sense, to be honest,” Luna said. “He’s a man forced to migrate and has to leave everything behind. “Andor” will serve as a prequel as well, taking place before the events of “Rogue One.” “Rogue One” was a billion-dollar hit at the worldwide box office. All he could do was smile and try not to ruin the ending of the movie for everyone.

The franchise's latest series on Disney+ sticks to the story but flushes a lot of the usual trappings out the airlock.

“Andor” has a small, decrepit, R2-D2-like figure named B2EMO, voiced by Dave Chapman and sort of a cross between a toolbox and a shop vac. It’s typical of “Star Wars” projects that the best performances tend to be given by robots. The defining feature of “Andor” is how it takes a “Star Wars” story and, without getting conceptual, transposes it in visual and tonal terms. That’s the primary narrative thrust of the early season, as a covert rebel leader played by Stellan Skarsgard tracks down Cassian and enlists him in a dangerous mission against the corporation that ravaged his home planet. The scene in which Skarsgard’s character recruits Cassian while they’re pursued by corporate goons takes up much of the fourth episode, and it’s an exciting, well-executed action set piece. Fiona Shaw stands out in a supporting role as Cassian’s rough-and-tumble mentor, and Adria Arjona is fun to watch as his sparring partner and probable love interest. Giving him a back story in “Andor” is embroidering on an embroidery. There’s no reason that such a character couldn’t be turned into something more interesting for the series, but through the early going, “Andor” doesn’t pull it off. Cassian’s antisocial tendencies, and his resourcefulness, are given a foundation in a childhood on a planet whose Indigenous people are exploited by an Empire-sanctioned mining company. (Advancing the narrative is still the province of films.) In this case it’s an even smaller piece than usual. When he joins her in a haze of self-sacrificial glory, his epiphany feels completely unearned. Following the general pattern of serialized franchise extensions, “Andor” goes back in time, fleshing out and coloring in a small, retrospective piece of the overall story.

Where “The Mandalorian,” “Boba Fett,” and “Obi-Wan Kenobi” wove their biggest reveals into the larger fabric of the Lucasfilm universe, “Andor” doesn't rush ...

In this slice of life before the Rebellion burst from spark to flame, “Andor” lays the groundwork for the uprising to come. (For as much as the specter of “Slave Leia” has loomed over “Star Wars” for decades, this galaxy far, far away has far more often stuck to subtext when it comes to sex.) As in “Rogue One,” Luna’s Cassian makes for a suitably charismatic and handsome leading “Star Wars” man, but quickly proves willing to risk everything in a much more literal way than most. “Andor” is not, it seems, all that interested in pandering to the kind of fan service that would otherwise guarantee viewers — and how much more interesting is that? So, sure: on the surface of it, it’s exhausting to realize that “Andor” — created by “Rogue One” co-writer Tony Gilroy — is a prequel to a prequel. We already know his fate — dramatic and hopeful and unforgettable in those final minutes of “Rogue One” — and that it’s well and truly sealed. [Andor](https://variety.com/t/andor/)” is, both by design and circumstance, immediately different from its “ [Star Wars](https://variety.com/t/star-wars/)” television predecessors.

A man kneeling to tinker with an object in a dimly lit room as a rectangular. Diego Luna as Cassian Andor. Image: Lucasfilm / Disney Plus.

There’s something deeply comforting in knowing that Andor’s already intentionally moving toward a specific end zone and that its journey along the way is meant to make that ultimate destination all the more satisfying. Again, Andor’s Cassian isn’t yet a man moving through the world with years of experience going toe-to-toe with the countless, often nameless faces whose sheer numbers and commitment to the Empire’s cause are what make the entire enterprise so formidable. In stark contrast to Disney’s other Star Wars shows that have tended to feel like miniaturized bursts of storytelling intended to evoke the films’ grand space-operatic qualities, Andor’s a ground-level story about how its protagonists react and persevere as they learn more about what’s happening around them. It’s because Andor’s first season spends a large chunk of time in the past with a younger Cassian, showing you just how much of his life the Empire destroyed, that the adult Cassian makes for such a compelling and sympathetic protagonist. That knowledge is why Cassian and so many of the other salvager-cum-mechanics eking out meager lives on the desert planet Ferrix are willing to keep their heads down in hopes of seeming too insignificant and defeated to draw the Empire’s attention. As part of a franchise that — at the time — felt increasingly incapable of escaping the gravitational pull of its nostalgia-logged core mythology and its players, Rogue One was a sophisticated and hard-edged reminder that there’s always been so much [more to Star Wars than the Skywalker saga](https://www.theverge.com/2022/2/2/22914062/the-book-of-boba-fett-star-wars-luke-skywalker-aging-cgi).

Diego Luna returns as Cassian Andor in the highly anticipated Rogue One spin-off series Andor, and here's how you can watch the new show.

The film's world-building made for a unique contribution to the Star Wars universe of the ragtag team of revolutionaries who rebelled against the Empire right down to the impactful end that leads to Star Wars: A New Hope. Overall, Star Wars Rebels is definitely worth watching for another impressive cast of characters who come together to fight against the Empire. Even Senator Mon Mothma (Genevieve O'Reilly) made an appearance in this series given the wide period of time that the rebellion takes place. With the mutual goal of acquiring the Death Star's schematics to stop it, Cassian teams up with Jyn Erso (Felicity Jones), the rescued daughter of Galen Erso (Mads Mikkelsen), a research scientist who was forced to complete the Death Star. The series' classic elements of course align with the integration of Luke and Leia Skywalker as children and the anticipated return of Hayden Christensen as Anakin Skywalker. With the Star Wars universe evolving and growing larger with its interconnected stories, there are some vital films and shows that can better prepare the audience in the lead-up to watching Andor. [Andor](https://collider.com/star-wars-andor-trailer-release-date-cast-plot-everything-we-know/) will take the Star Wars audience back to another corner of the galaxy far, far away that isn't directly focused on the Skywalkers or The Mandalorian. The overarching plot is shown with Luthen being the instigator of forming a possible team of rebels after interacting with Cassian and Whitaker's Saw Gerrera. The full episode release schedule is as follows: The teaser trailer was first released on May 26, 2022, and the initial release date of August 31 was revealed. The series will then follow the usual weekly release pattern of a new episode streaming every Wednesday, at 12 AM Pacific Time. Described as a spy thriller series, Andor is set five years before the events of Rogue One where the beginnings of the Rebel Alliance were only forming.

if you are expecting a barrage of highflying action and irreverent repartee, Andor may not be the Star Wars series for you.

That is no small part why Andor is a series to watch and stick with even though you know how it ultimately, fatally ends. In no small sense like the realities under the veneer that is America, it is a hazardous saga where families are severed from each other and lives are unsentimentally discarded. Putting its weight heavily on the furrowed elements of Rogue One, Andor depicts worlds figuratively and literally far away from Jedi Masters and Senate intrigue — at least in the trio of episodes Disney provide to critics. To Andor’s credit, as well to the Kathleen Kennedy-run Lucasfilm and Gilroy himself, this is also the first Star Wars project entirely aimed at grown-ups. But sprinkled with cameos and slivers of lore from the However, if something more down, dirty and narratively daring is more to your taste, then welcome to the pitiless edge of the galaxy, the seeds of the fight to bring down the Death Star, and another star turn by the prodigious Luna.

A new Star Wars chapter continues its story as Andor premieres on Disney Plus. What time does it premiere in your time zone?

Are you looking forward to Andor? Let us know your thoughts in the comments below! CEST on Wednesday, September 21 KST on Wednesday, September 21 Here are the release dates and times by time zone. MT on Wednesday, September 21 ET, and 2:00 a.m. PT on Wednesday, September 21 And even more exciting than that, it will consist of a three-episode premiere. The series will showcase how a Rebel Alliance is forming in opposition to the Galactic Empire, and one of those rebels is none other than Andor himself. PT, 3:00 a.m. Since its inception, it has launched the incredibly successful The Mandalorian, The Book of Boba Fett, Star Wars: The Bad Batch and [Obi-Wan Kenobi](https://bamsmackpow.com/2022/06/22/obi-wan-kenobi-episode-3-release-date-next-episode-come/).

Published: Sep. 20, 2022, 2:12 p.m.. ANDOR. Cassian Andor (Diego Luna) in Lucasfilm's ANDOR, exclusively on Disney+. ©2022 ...

That makes it a good time to subscribe right now and lock in the lower price until next September. It’s like getting three services for the price of two, so if you’re interested in just two of them, it’s a no-brainer. New episodes release at the same time every week. All three episodes will release at 3 a.m. ET (12 a.m. [Disney Plus](https://www.disneyplus.com/) at 3 a.m.

This prequel to Rogue One tells the story of adventurous Rebel spy Cassian Andor.

What live sports, movies and TV shows does it include?](https://www.oregonlive.com/tv/2021/03/how-to-watch-paramount-plus-what-is-it-what-is-the-price-and-what-shows-movies-live-sports-does-it-include.html) [](https://disneyplusoriginals.disney.com/show/i-am-groot) Boxing fights, MMA and more](https://www.oregonlive.com/sports/2021/02/how-to-watch-dazn-on-your-tv-what-is-it-what-does-it-cost-and-include-boxing-fights-mma-and-more.html) [How to watch ESPN+ on TV: What is it, what does it cost and include?](https://www.oregonlive.com/sports/2019/09/how-to-watch-espn-plus-on-your-tv-what-is-it-what-does-it-cost-and-what-does-it-include.html) [What is Paramount Plus and what does it cost? [newsletters](https://subscription.oregonlive.com/newsletters/) and [podcasts](https://www.oregonlive.com/podcasts/) for the latest news and top stories. Alternatively, opt for [The Disney Bundle on Hulu](https://www.hulu.com/hulu-disney-espn-bundle-offer) and watch Hulu, Disney+, and ESPN+ ad-free for $19.99/month. The cheapest live TV streaming service: Cost, what it includes](https://www.oregonlive.com/entertainment/2021/04/how-to-watch-philo-tv-what-does-it-cost-what-channels-does-it-have-free-trial-info-and-why-its-cheaper-than-sling-other-streaming-services.html) [How to watch DAZN on your TV: What is it, what does it cost and include? [Sign up for Disney+](https://www.disneyplus.com/) using the same email that’s associated with your Hulu account, no matter which type of Hulu account it is. [See the full cast and credits here.](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt9253284/fullcredits?ref_=tt_cl_sm) If you don’t already have access to Disney+, you can sign up to [watch Andor](https://www.disneyplus.com/) starting at $7.99/month or $79.99/year. [You can watch Andor for free starting September 21 on Disney+.](https://disneyplusoriginals.disney.com/show/andor) If you don’t already have access to Disney+, you can sign up to watch [Andor](https://disneyplusoriginals.disney.com/show/andor) starting at $7.99/month or $79.99/year. To catch up with adventurous Rebel spy Cassian Andor, tune in tomorrow, and don’t miss the sneak peek trailer video provided below. [Andor](https://disneyplusoriginals.disney.com/show/andor)?

I mean my favorite non-binary Jedi, Kantam Sy, did not do the Loth-Cat Scratch Fever with their queer lover in a YA book for this kind of slander! A friend of ...

All in all, I guess this is just a rant of how frustrating it can be to be a Star Wars fan and witness articles like what SyFy put up. It feels like a move to get clicks, which again, I totally understand that process and why it happens. And then later on down the comic book line, they have pictures of baby Poe. Chelli is in her underwear but Magna is topless next to her. It’s not hard to consider what two newlyweds who have been apart for some time might do in their spare time. Honestly, since Dark Disciple is cut episodes of Clone Wars, a book is probably the better format for this content. They absolutely tauntaun tango and the book is not trying to hide it. One example is Doctor Aphra waking up in bed next to her on and off again lover, Magna Tolvan. Orla and Sskeer were confirmed romantic partners in The High Republic comics because Keeve has a very visceral reaction to finding out that her Jedi master at some point did adult deeds with another adult. In fact, this has been ongoing in the books and the comics for years now. Adults in these stories doing a “beast of two bare dewbacks” are not new in a galaxy far, far away. as explicit as they ever will in Star Wars, I guess?

Ahead of the three-episode premiere of 'Andor,' fans are curious to know if Andor is a planet. So, is it? Here's everything we know.

However, by the end of the season, Cassian will become a revolutionary and eventually join the Rebellion. However, we must inform you that this is simply a coincidence because the Andorian homeworld is actually part of Star Trek, not Star Wars. The planet Endor was much less known than the forest moon Endor, which was the native home of the Ewoks. Better yet, is Andor a planet? Not only do they wish the franchise would branch out and introduce new stories, but many are confused about what Andor actually is — is it a character? [Star Wars](https://www.distractify.com/t/star-wars) fans are a little unsure about the show.

It takes a while to build up steam, but Andor eventually gives an insight into the everyday reality of life in the Star Wars galaxy, writes Stephen Kelly.

However, it is the fourth episode where Andor starts to live up to the promise made by its arresting trailers and marketing (it is presumably why Disney gave critics four episodes instead of the first three). Similarly, it is a tricky task to judge a 12-part series like Andor based on a quartet of uneven episodes. It is, by far, the best Star Wars has looked on TV, albeit with the caveat that it is still no match for the lavishness of a Star Wars movie. It is here that we get to the meat of Andor: political intrigue, spycraft and daring Rebel missions. It is a series that starts well, meanders into tedium, gradually improves, and then finishes with an episode that suggests an immense amount of promise. It is perhaps a creative choice, an attempt to give the world a sense of richness and lived-in authenticity, but it mostly ends up making its first couple of episodes feel narratively confused and alienating. Along the way we're introduced to various companions and acquaintances, including his unremarkable scrap dealer friend Bix (Adria Arjona), who is trying to arrange a deal with a buyer, and his mentor Maarva, played by the indomitable Fiona Shaw. It's an intriguing idea, although based on the four episodes made available to critics, Andor is a curiously uneven work: meandering and ponderous in its plotting, striking in its production design and on-location shooting, and ultimately as underwhelming as it is promising. Whereas Obi-Wan Kenobi was plagued by a look that felt too lifeless and limited for the cinematic story it was trying to tell, the practical sets of Andor (if reports are to be believed, the set of Ferrix was essentially a fully functioning town) ground the story in the dirt and grime of the galaxy. It is an opening that announces Andor as something a bit grittier, a bit grimmer and more mature than other Star Wars TV projects. [Rogue One](https://www.bbc.com/culture/article/20161213-film-review-rogue-one-is-star-wars-for-good-and-bad), a prequel itself, opens with a sequence that is dark and stylish. Creator Tony Gilroy – best known for his work in adapting the Bourne Trilogy, and for overseeing vital, film-saving reshoots on Rogue One – has said that he wanted Andor to be about "real people", rather than Skywalker royalty.

"Andor" follows Diego Luna's Cassian Andor in the years before he joins the Rebellion and helps Jyn Erso steal the Death Star plans for the cause.

"The answer elegantly presented itself; we're going to take our four blocks of three [episodes] in the second half of the show and each block is going to represent another year closer. It'll follow Andor as he goes to meet Daniel Mays' character Tivik whom he encounters and kills in the opening moments of Rogue One. And it's still, 'why did it happen?' So, we have a really cool narrative thing we're going to do."

The first scene of Andor presents something of a mission statement: Cassian Andor (Diego Luna), the titular soon-to-be freedom fighter, enters a brothel on ...

A lot of the first two episodes is Cassian going from person to person and having his character traits explained to him (and us) without ever really giving us a taste of the roguish mischief beneath his quiet stoicism. I’ll be curious to see if they fill that in and if there was anything big I missed once the episodes officially drop. We’re definitely in a Scottish quadrant of the galaxy, here, with Karn’s second-in-command and Timm, that dumbass, both sporting Celtic brogues. What I’m saying is, I breathed a sigh of relief at the sight of Stellan. Interspersed with the adventures of Grownup Cassian, we also get some brief flashbacks to his early childhood on Kaneri. Disney+ was wise to release the first three instalments of Andor all together, because it takes its time to introduce and complete a couple of mini-arcs that make, eventually, for a very good cliffhanger—but also quite the slog getting there. Luna is indispensable as the lead, but the character so far still remains undefined and not in a “rough around the edges” kind of way. And for all its significant, predictable flaws, there’s still plenty of time for it to stamp its mark on the franchise. There’s definitely tension between Cassian and his adoptive mother in the present timeline, but, sister search aside, Cassian doesn’t wield his wound from being taken from Kenari at Maarva, who knows she failed that little boy all those years ago, no matter how unintentional. First is the corporate security’s pursuit of Cassian, led by Bad Cop Syril Karn (Kyle Soller), who peppers in enough camp and silliness amidst his malice to make for a great mid-tier villain. Mark the day, people: We got a cold-blooded murder in Star Wars and, far more astoundingly, a single shot from a blaster that hit its target. [Andor](https://www.avclub.com/tv/reviews/andor-2022) presents something of a mission statement: Cassian Andor (Diego Luna), the titular soon-to-be freedom fighter, enters a brothel on Morlana One, a rainy planet overseen by a corporate security force, and is immediately harassed by Cockney-speaking cops.

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.

New Star Wars series gives back story to Diego Luna's Cassian Andor from 'Rogue One.'

I fall in love with "A New Hope" and "Empire Strikes Back" then have to deal with Ewoks taking down the Empire and the Prequels. I get the fabulous "The Mandalorian" but then have to put up with "The Book of Boba Fett." I hope "Andor" continues to build on its themes about what it takes to make both a rebel fighter and a rebellion, and to give us something meatier than what the Star Wars franchise has mostly been serving up. The series could have started right here and it would have been stronger, and I don't feel anything would have been lost. People often try to convince me to stick with a show because it is a "slow burn" or it is just "taking its time." It is about people on the ground or at the bottom feeling the weight of the Empire pressing down more and more on their daily lives.

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.

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.

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,

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%

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 Empire arrives on Ferrix in search of Cassian, forcing him to make a last-minute decision to leave everything behind to follow Luthen.

It is a clear testament to what the franchise can do if it gives the keys to the kingdom to storytellers committed to telling good stories and not just the stories they think audiences want to see. But they don’t have a lot of time to get into why Luthen knows who he is, and with the Corpers surrounding the warehouse, Cassian has to make the quick decision to go with Luthen and join what we know to be the early days of the Rebellion. The way these two moments in his life are paralleled seems to pinpoint two moments that harkened periods of loss of place and self for Cassian. In the haste to get to Cassian, Bix finds herself captured by a handful of power-hungry corpers who knocked her out, chained her up, and killed Timm while he was trying to save her. At neither of these junctures in Cassian’s life did he have a choice—staying would have resulted in his death and, even though he agreed to leave with Luthen, he wasn’t left with much of a choice. Is it the gravity of the situation? But before they are able to escape the warehouse, Cassian and Luthen get caught up in a jaw-dropping battle with the Corpers that sees the entire pulley system in the rafters of the warehouse come crashing down like a horror movie. Strong auditory storytelling like this is an art form that has largely been lost in modern filmmaking, but the way Gilroy employs it in juxtaposition to the near-silence of the first five minutes is spectacular storytelling. When the couple tries to explain to him that the Empire will be arriving on Kenari soon, they realize he doesn’t speak Basic, and—instead of finding some way to get him off the ship—Maarva decides the best course of action is to sedate Kassa and take him with them. Back on Ferrix, the Corpers arrive at Maarva’s door with an arrest warrant for Cassian, who is on the other side of town waiting to meet Luthen in an abandoned warehouse. With their arrival, Bix quickly realizes that someone had to have ratted Cassian out—especially since so few people knew about his childhood—and when Timm says the wrong thing, she realizes it was her own romantic paramour who ratted out the man she clearly cares deeply for. As Kassa discovers his reflection (for perhaps the first time) the story shifts briefly to Ferrix as Luthen (Stellan Skarsgård), before jumping back to the past to usher Maarva (Fiona Shaw) and Clem Andor (Gary Beadle) into Kassa’s life.

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.

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).

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.