ANDOR: Season Two

Since its first season released in 2022, Andor (2022-2025) has quickly become one of the most critically acclaimed pieces of Star Wars media. The show is set between Rogue One: A Star Wars Story (2016) and Star Wars: Episode IV—A New Hope (1977). Rogue One led into the opening scene of Episode IV, telling the story of how the rebels obtained the plans for the Imperial Death Star. Andor, however, provides background on the formation of the rebellion, telling the origin story of titular character Cassian Andor (Diego Luna). The series’s praise has only increased with the drop of Season Two’s first three episodes, which furthered the show on its trajectory of mature, well-written content. 

Instead of primarily following Andor himself, Season Two clearly pivots towards the formation of the rebellion as a whole. The new season builds its tension uniquely, with a strategic release schedule that sets out three episodes each week. Each trifecta jumps one year after the one before it, bringing the plotline increasingly closer to the events of Rogue One and its subsequent end. As each year passes, the tension increases dramatically for the viewer as they view the Empire slowly but surely growing to fulfill the monstrous role they know it will take. If this season had instead chosen to have all the episodes follow directly after one another, the tension would have been significantly more difficult to achieve, since all of the pieces that have to fall into place would have to be rushed. In other words, it would’ve felt unnatural. The spacing allows Andor to more accurately depict how the Rebellion grew alongside the Empire in a manner that feels believable. Each group of episodes has the ability to better focus on distinct moments, and so far, the first half of the season has utilized this effectively. 

Importantly, five main plotlines are followed in the first three episodes, and while the scattered formatting and cuts between them may be at first jarring for returning audiences, the show makes each storyline and planet immensely clear. Not only are there subtitles denoting each planet, but each set is stylistically distinct. 

The first release takes place one year after the final episode of Season One and quickly establishes the context in which the season takes place. In Episode One, aptly titled “One Year Later,” as Andor is on a mission to steal an imperial ship, Luthen Rael (Stellan Skarsgård) tries to hold his thinly stretched rebellion together. Rael, the lead rebel from Season One who poses as a sassy antiques dealer amidst the Empire, follows Mon Mothma (Genevieve O’Reilly)—the galactic Senator—to her daughter’s wedding, keeping a close eye on the financials that are keeping him alive. The audience is greeted with a startlingly brutal portrayal of how the Rebellion manages to stay alive in its early days. Amid grand, flowing costumes and wedding music, there exists many sinister plots that do not mind using death as a weapon for their own means. This all occurs as Orson Krennic (Ben Mendelsohn)—the creator of the famed Death Star and main antagonist in Rogue One—holds a secret meeting with officers, including Dedra Meero (Denise Gough), an Imperial Official with a deep-seeded hatred towards the rebels, to initiate a forced mining project on the planet Ghorman, displacing millions. 

The second trio of episodes moves away from just setting up context and instead dives more directly into the hardships the Rebellion is facing. Andor and his lover, Bix Caleen (Adria Arjona), are official operatives for Rael, and, while the audience does get a sense of the heroics and adrenaline of their work, there is an obvious shift towards their relationship and their struggles trying to keep the organization and each other alive. Caleen, in particular, struggles with the effects of her torture earlier in the show, and Andor does this arc justice. There is a fine line in media between glossing over characters’ trauma and spending so much time on it that one forgets the rest of the plot, but Andor does not fall into this trap. The show acknowledges her afflictions deeply, and they do not shy away from scenes (such as nightly hallucinations) that may make the audience uncomfortable to achieve this. However, these scenes are also used to show how the Rebellion is afflicted as a whole and how Caleen’s trauma affects her relationship with Andor. Indeed, he is concerned and (perhaps overly) protective of Caleen. Their struggles and arguments to find the right balance between what they want to fight for and each other are well-written and realistic. The show’s individual relationships are the foundation of every movement, and Andor clearly understands this. The time jumps and multiple storylines create a grand, larger-than-life feeling to the struggle between the Empire and the Rebellion, yet each episode still takes a very intimate and real approach to their storytelling. 

This decision and shift from Season One took the series to a new level of maturity, especially within the Star Wars domain as a whole. Much of the recent Star Wars content under Disney, especially the off-shoot shows like The Mandalorian (2019-2023) or Star Wars: The Bad Batch (2021-2024), contains unnecessary CGI lightsaber battles and unnatural dialogue; nothing about those stories feels like a natural part of the human battle against evil, because there are no moments of genuine, realistic horror. Andor, on the other hand, does take the appropriate steps to rectify this by including these raw moments.

One such instance occurs during Episode Three, “Harvest,” when Caleen is sexually and physically assaulted by Lieutenant Krole (Alex Waldmann), an imperial officer completing a census on the planet, while she is alone. The second interaction of the two characters is very different. Caleen later refers to the instance with the word “rape”—the first usage of the word in the Star Wars domain and the first obvious sexual assault instance as well, elevating the maturity of the show. 

Another topic that receives more in-depth coverage in Season Two is substance abuse and the effects of consumption. Mothma, for instance, drinks away her sorrows at her daughter’s wedding reception, forcing herself to partake in the festivities even with her misgivings about the circumstances. Similarly, Saw Gerrera (Forest Whitaker), a fanatic rebel established thoroughly in Rogue One, has a long sequence describing rhydonium: an intergalactic spaceship fuel that Gerrera willingly breathes in, even though it’s incredibly dangerous to the human body, particularly the lungs and brain. However, he excitedly yells at a subordinate about how breathing in and feeling the burning lets you truly live and rebel, that it keeps you focused on your true purpose. In this expertly delivered monologue, Gerrera reveals the story of how his sister perished right before he was exposed for the first time in his youth—in other words, the trauma he connects and associates with the substance takes the interaction to another level. He is not just relaying the physical pain to another; he is also relaying what it truly means to be hurt. 

Overall, Season Two of Andor was a stunning addition to the Star Wars universe, even with only half the season being out so far. Based on the arcs already established, and knowing that the show will likely not have a third season, the latter half should be filled with dramatic, emotional moments. What should be interesting to see, though, is if the patterns of time skipping and mature content continue throughout the last six episodes, or if they will be sidelined to favor a quick arrival at the beginning of Rogue One.