Essential Information Before Watching Andor Season 2
Star Wars fans first met Cassian Andor almost a decade ago in the 2016 film, Rogue One. In that movie, Andor was portrayed as a resolute captain, a committed revolutionary willing to sacrifice his life for the cause. As the movie reveals, he ultimately dies alongside his comrades, ensuring the Rebel Alliance obtains the vital Death Star intel. This information enables the Rebels to triumph over the Galactic Empire during the Battle of Yavin in A New Hope.
The prequel series, Andor, widely lauded as a standout within the Star Wars universe, introduces us to Cassian five years prior to the events of *Rogue One*. He is depicted as a largely self-serving smuggler, merely trying to survive under the oppressive rule of the Empire. The series starts with Cassian killing two Imperial officers while searching for his missing sister. This act triggers a series of events that gradually transform him from a cynical mercenary into a dedicated freedom fighter.
Andor, created by Tony Gilroy of the Bourne franchise (who also co-wrote Rogue One) and nominated for an Emmy, is considered the mature and darker addition to the Star Wars saga. Moving away from the Skywalker saga’s grand battles between good and evil, Andor centers on the human cost of rebellion and the grim realities of prolonged resistance against an authoritarian power. Luthen Rael (Stellan Skarsgård), the ruthless rebel spymaster, powerfully states in Season 1: “I’m condemned to use the tools of my enemy to defeat them. I burn my decency for someone else’s future. I burn my life to make a sunrise that I know I’ll never see.”
Here’s what you should remember about Andor before the first three episodes of Season 2 debut on Disney+ on April 22.
Where Andor Season 1 left off
Season 1 of Andor, consisting of 12 episodes, chronicles a year in the Star Wars galaxy. It portrays Cassian’s journey from being reluctantly involved in the rebellion to save himself, to becoming a committed resistance member. His dedication is fueled by several pivotal experiences, including imprisonment in an brutal Imperial facility, hearing a final message from his adoptive mother Maarva (Fiona Shaw), and seeing the revolt of Ferrix’s inhabitants against the Empire while rescuing his childhood friend Bix (Adria Arjona).
Season 1 concludes with Cassian confronting Luthen, who had come to Ferrix to eliminate Cassian to prevent him from revealing rebel secrets. Cassian tells Luthen to either kill him or enlist him in the rebellion. This prompts Luthen to smile, suggesting that Cassian’s change of heart was the outcome he desired. A post-credits scene then reveals that the mysterious components Cassian and other prisoners were forced to manufacture at the Imperial prison are being used to construct the Death Star.
The first season of Andor also examines the varying approaches of early rebellion leaders such as Luthen, Senator Mon Mothma (Genevieve O’Reilly), and Saw Gerrera (Forest Whitaker). Their differing views led to separate rebel factions that had not yet united.
What to expect in Season 2
The second and final season of Andor will also consist of 12 episodes, this time covering four years. The series will conclude just as the events of Rogue One begin. Similar to the first season, Season 2 will be structured into three-episode arcs, released weekly on Tuesdays through May 13. Each block of episodes will advance the story by one in-universe year, focusing on three days in the lives of the main characters.
Gilroy told Collider regarding the unique structure: “I did not want to have the opening scenes of every year later block be, ‘Since last I saw you,’ and ‘You cut your hair,’ and ‘Now you’re a doctor.’ I did not want to have all the sort of let’s get this out of the way, Chekhovian exposition. There’s a couple places where the actors really need to know what happened. There’s a couple places where we really need to know what happened, the people making up the story. But by and large, what we’re leaving in the middle, we know.”
A significant event in Season 2 will be the Ghorman Massacre, previously mentioned in Star Wars books and comics as a crucial point in the rebellion’s timeline. The massacre involves the Empire killing thousands of peaceful protestors on Ghorman, an event that motivates Mon Mothma to unite the divided rebel factions into the Rebel Alliance.
Familiar characters from Rogue One, such as Director Orson Krennic (Ben Mendelsohn) and Cassian’s droid K-2SO (voiced by Alan Tudyk), will also appear. However, not all anticipated legacy characters will be present.
Gilroy told the Hollywood Reporter: “There’s probably a couple people that we wanted to have in Yavin at the end, who are in the beginning of Rogue, but we just couldn’t get them because they were busy.”