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The first season of Andor on Disney+ was a revelation for the Star Wars universe. A chance to take a closer look at the dark underbelly of the Empire, and the struggles of the ordinary people fighting for a nascent revolution. No fascist regime can be undermined without love for your comrades and great personal sacrifice. Andor uses its fantastical array of planets to tell to a very human story.
This is the second and, alas, final season. But it’s a good thing that showrunner Tony Gilroy’s original pitch for five seasons was canned. Diego Luna was 33 when he was first cast as the 28-year-old Cassian Andor in 2016’s Rogue One, and the problem with prequels is you can’t stop time alongside timeline rewinds. Luna is now 45, and after the SAG-AFTRA strikes delayed filming season two, clearly ready to take on other projects. The format, 12 episodes split into three-episode-long mini arcs, remains unchanged. If it ain’t broke, etc.
We’ve always known how Cassian’s story will end, dying in a blast from the Death Star on his final mission. The first season of Andor, set five years before the Rogue One timeline, gave itself a lot of wiggle room by dropping in on its hero as a disillusioned man far more interested in tracking down his long-lost sister than joining the rebellion. But by the time we left him, two prison escapes later, he was a fully signed-up foot soldier in the fight against the Empire.
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Season two opens one year on, with Cassian the suave rebel dispensing sage advice to a young recruit on the significance of dying for the cause. It’s a portentous moment, but before the foreshadowing can get too intense, his attempt to hotwire a TIE fighter turns into an explosive slapstick set piece. Andor is, importantly, very, very funny in places.
Humour has always been a key part of Star Wars’ appeal; this is the franchise where people point pew-pew blasters at each other and the droids go bleep-bloop. Season two finds time for levity between the emotional intensity of the rebels’ noble fight and the crushing colonial violence of the Empire. A stand-out arc from the first three episodes involves a delightfully excruciating showdown between the icy ISB (Imperial Security Bureau) lieutenant Dedra (Denise Gough) and the overbearing mother of Syril (Kyle Soller). Watching the first season’s antagonist wage psychological warfare with her in-law over galactic fondue? Chef’s kiss. And yes, the two most awful people in a galaxy far, far away are now together and as horny for each other as they are for imperial glory.
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While the Empire and its nasty bureaucrats are free to continue being complete ghouls with their propaganda and pocket pens, the rebellion’s narrative has backed itself into a few corners that mean retreading some old ground. Luckily the characters are so fascinating and their emotional stakes so high it’s a pleasure not a chore to spend time with their predicaments.
Cassian is doomed to forever be getting himself in and out of pickles, although this does create an opportunity for vignettes that explore the frustrations of guerilla warfare. Mon Mothma (Genevieve O'Reilly) is desperately trying to negotiate her way through the high society wedding of her daughter Leida, who she effectively sold into a traditional Chandrilan arranged marriage at the end of season one. At least there’s a disco ball robot and plenty of booze. Spymaster Luthen Rael (Stellan Skarsgård) is still skulking around with his acidic and mysterious sidekick (Elizabeth Dulau). Vel (Faye Marsay) is suffering from her split with Cinta (Varada Sethu) — lesbian breakups are still the worst, even in space.
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Season two is even darker in tone that the first, if that were possible. This is clearest for Bix (Adria Arjona) who is obviously still deeply traumatised from an interrogation turned psychological torture. When the Empire’s soldiers start doing immigration raids on the grain-growing planet she’s hiding out on, the awful real world parallels with Trump’s America are enough to chill the blood. Did the writers really need to pile on more trauma for her character with a rape attempt plot?
But science fiction’s purpose has always been to reflect back to us the darkest impulses of humanity, and Andor is a fearless piece of anti-fascist and anti-colonialist art. Given the state of the world currently, there will be plenty of moaning that this season is Star Wars going “woke”. But we must be alive now more than ever to need to fight back against the rising tide of fascism. This is what the Rebel Alliance versus the Empire really means.
Andor is streaming now on Disney+
