In the concluding moments of its third episode, Andor gives us a time-jumping montage that effortlessly sets the stage for the show and its key characters: alongside Cassian Andor himself, we see Stellan Skarsgård’s mysterious off-worlder Luthen Rael, proto-fascist Inspector Syril Karn (Kyle Soller), Andor’s adoptive mother Maarva (Fiona Shaw) and Adria Arjona’s Bix Caleen, a confidante and friend to our hero. Rounding off almost two hours of screen time, the sequence hints at these characters’ potential arcs for the series to come, whilst somehow validating an unexpected (but rightly earned) emotional weight that speaks to the strength of scriptwriting in these first three episodes. This closing montage also clearly suggests what could have been the close to a more streamlined hour-long version of the story covered in these three premiere episodes, a hypothetical premiere that tightened the pace, cut character development and forefronted exposition. When this moment comes, it makes it all the more obvious that Andor‘s willingness to take the time to unfold this Star Wars story at something other than the breakneck speed seen in both Obi-Wan Kenobi and The Book of Boba Fett, has paid off, setting up a new narrative entry in the Star Wars universe that feels refreshingly innovative in its approach.
Set amongst familiar architecture, iconography, and recognizable droids and starships, showrunner Tony Gilroy’s worldbuilding focuses on Andor’s gradual radicalisation against the authoritarian and outwardly corrupt Empire. This is the dystopian galaxy of Emporer Palpatine’s design, a dictatorial regime that fully established power between the events of Revenge of the Sith and the original 1977 Star Wars. Before the older, radicalised Andor we meet in Rogue One, this is a character whose primary interests are for his own well-being and self-preservation. A small-time criminal who makes money extracting valuable Imperial tech from scrap starships to be sold on the black market, Andor’s existence is suddenly thrown into chaos following a violent run-in with two Pre-Mor Authority officers, a faux-military security force that oversees the embittered populace of the industrial planet Preox-Morlana. Needing to lay low and escape the potentially fatal ramifications of this misstep, Andor attempts to make contact with Skarsgård’s Luthen through his blackmarket fence Bix, hoping to sell off some of his most valuable stolen technology for a jackpot score that could get him off-world quickly. Enter Soller’s Inspector Karn, a by-the-books tin-pot fascist who wants nothing more than to put Preox-Morlana’s people in their place: under his boot.
Tonally, Andor feels completely different to the three live-action Star Wars shows Disney+ has so far produced. In fact, if it weren’t for the presence of Diego Luna’s titular character who previously appeared in 2016’s Rogue One: A Star Wars Story (Edwards), you would be forgiven for doubting that you were actually watching a Star Wars show at all. There’s no Grogu to offer comedic relief, no legacy characters like Obi-Wan or Darth Vader to hold our hands with fan service. Instead, Gilroy appears to be carving out a space for a somewhat more adult exploration of political resistance and ideological critique than we have seen elsewhere in the franchise. People are killed violently, and characters have their trust betrayed. We even get – to my knowledge – the first use of expletives like ‘bastards’ and ‘shit’ in Star Wars, as well as an anti-Disney awareness of sex. If this all sounds like Andor is simply ramping up the ‘naughtiness’ of a mostly family-friendly franchise, then I’m the one doing it a disservice; the kind of tonal shift seen in these first few episodes is in no way gratuitous, but a natural evolution for a narrative world that, whilst historically sanitised, is and always has been predicated upon the worst inclinations of man (fascism, exploitation, racism) even if they had been filtered through the lens of the fantasy space opera. I mean, ‘War’ is literally in the title!
Having penned the scripts for the original trilogy of Bourne films and worked on moody thrillers like Nightcrawler, Enemy of the State and State of Play, Gilroy’s genre interests are once again on show here, blending elements of the Star Wars franchise with a comparatively more subdued, but nail-biting mode of storytelling concerned with espionage, undercover operations and the ethical dilemmas of government and politics. This is a bold, if still familiar, new venture for Star Wars, a franchise now at a point of comfortable textual stability, so much so that different takes, genre hybrids and approaches can all be offered – call to mind, for example, the Japanese anime anthology series Star Wars: Visions or even kid-friendly game shows like Jedi Temple Challenge – without impacting the core canon of the ‘Skywalker’ saga. Having looked at the release slate for upcoming Star Wars shows way back in 2019, I would be lying if I said that I was most excited for Andor above the likes of The Book of Boba Fett or Obi-Wan Kenobi. But whilst these shows proved to have their moments (as well as their own problems and imperfections), Andor‘s daring premier episodes promise a series that could easily rival the heights of the franchise’s cinematic outings whilst offering a courageous new take on an old formula. I can’t wait to see what Gilroy has in store for us.
Notes from the Multiplex 