The third arc of Andor season 2 is some of the best Star Wars TV ever made. The sense of impending doom leading up to the Ghorman massacre, intertwined with the eerie background score and Les Misérables-esque chorus in Episode 8, is perhaps showrunner Tony Gilroy’s most ambitious masterpiece.
Episodes 8 and 9 are currently rated 9.8 on IMDb, making them the show's highest-rated episodes to date. Season 1's "One Way Out" has a 9.5 rating.
The writer of this three-episode arc, Dan Gilroy, keeps the story poignant yet courageous and dares to drop words like “genocide,” but also delivers on the promised connections with the existing Star Wars lore.
From K-2SO’s origin story to Mon Mothma’s Rebels connection, here are 10 Easter eggs from Andor season 2 episodes 7-9: "Messenger," "Who Are You?" and "Welcome to the Rebellion."
1. Yavin Base, General Dadonna, and General Draven
Let’s start with the obvious ones. In "Messenger," we see the beginnings of the Rebel Alliance — not yet officially declared — being set up on Yavin IV. We hear mentions of General Jan Dadonna, currently the leader of the Massassi Group, one of the largest rebel cells fighting the Empire. He later becomes a part of the Alliance High Command and the military leader of the Yavin fortress. We see him in the Original Trilogy.
We also see General Draven (Alistair Petrie), the same person who interrogates Jyn Erso (Felicity Jones) in Rogue One. He gives Cassian Andor (Diego Luna) the order to shoot Galen Erso (Mads Mikkelsen) when they find him.
2. “Lab at Eadu”
In their version of a Zoom call, Major Partagaz (Anton Lesser) tells Dedra Meero (Denise Gough) that Director Orson Krennic (Ben Mendelsohn) is busy working overtime at the lab at Eadu. Fans will remember this planet from Rogue One. Eadu is where Krennic has Galen working on the Death Star. Cassian and Jyn fly to Eadu from Jedha to find Galen, but a communication lapse leads to Rebel fighters bombing the facility, killing Galen on the spot.
3. “Rebellions are built on hope.”
In "Who Are You?" we learn the origin of an iconic Rogue One line: “Rebellions are built on hope.” You may think Cassian heard it in another signature Andor monologue. You’d be wrong. As Cassian leaves his hotel before the Ghorman Massacre unfolds, the reception clerk, Thela, says that line, confirming his ties with the rebel efforts. He blows up a few stormtroopers later.
It was widely assumed after season 1 that Cassian paraphrased this line from Nemik’s manifesto, which Jyn later repeats to the Alliance High Command. But it turns out that people like Thela, or Niya (who helped Cassian steal the TIE fighter in episode 1, or the two technicians who deliberately delay the Empire’s interference with the broadcast of Mon Mothma’s Senate speech, are Nemik’s manifesto come alive. “Remember that the frontier of the Rebellion is everywhere,” it says. “And even the smallest act of insurrection pushes our lines forward.”
4. K-2SO’s origin story
We finally see how Cassian and K-2SO (Alan Tudyk) meet on television. K2 is one of the KX-series droids that the Empire unleashes on the Ghorman gathering in the Palmo Plaza. Cassian gets chased down by one of the droids, but it is crushed by one of the rebels. Cassian carries the parts back to Yavin and gets them recalibrated by the resident engineers.
In the canonical Cassian and K-2SO comic, the duo meet on Wecacoe, not Ghorman. Cassian runs into the unit on an intelligence mission and quickly reprograms the droid himself. Andor changed that quite a bit, but in a way that makes sense. Reprogramming complex Imperial droids on the go is not Cassian’s field of expertise, nor would he realistically have the means to do so while hiding from the Empire.
5. Melshi and his blaster
Ruescott Melshi’s (Duncan Pow) arrival at the Rebel base was something I looked forward to. He is the only other surviving member of the Narkina 5 Great Escape that we know of who remains in touch with Cassian. Given that the incident set Cassian on the path that ultimately led him to the Rebellion, it is quite poetic that Melshi remains by his side all the way to their doomed fate on Scarif.
Season 2 confirms that he still has the Corporate-issue gun Cassian gave him on Niamos. Vel (Faye Marsay) recognizes the weapon and asks who it belongs to. The B1-NA blaster pistol supposedly belonged to Syril Karn (Kyle Soller) and was stolen by Cassian during the Ferrix incident. Syril did not get his potential redemption arc, but a part of him got to be a part of the Rebellion.
6. Force healers
Tony Gilroy does not like to delve too deeply into Jedi business. But Whills Guardian Chirrut Îmwe was an excellent addition to Rogue One who helped us show how the Force is used outside of Jedi battles. In "Messenger," we see a Force healer at the Yavin Base. Bix drags Cassian, a non-believer, to her for help with his injured shoulder. She heals him, but also makes a profound prophecy about Cassian being a “messenger” in the future. It not only foreshadows Cassian’s role in delivering the Death Star plans, but also connects to the sequel movies, where we also see Force healing at work.
7. The canonical Ghorman Massacre
In the previous episodes, Andor paid tribute to the Ghorman Massacre as described in the discontinued Star Wars Legends continuity, where Moff Tarkin crushes a number of Ghormans by landing his ship on them. Here, we see the canonical Ghorman Massacre brought to life for the first time in full detail. “Who Are You?” pulls no punches to lay bare the reality of the Empire’s arrogant cruelty. They systematically orchestrate the first spark, breed panic and paranoia, and use this excuse to open fire on hundreds of Ghormans at a peaceful protest.
The episode's title alludes to Cassian’s reaction upon being jumped by an enraged Syril Karn. Standing moments away from possibly getting a redemption arc, the horrified and disillusioned ISB employee finally lays his eyes on Cassian. The two fight it out, and in the end, Syril is killed by Carro Rylanz (Richard Sammel), the very man he manipulated for the Empire. I don’t know what was worse for Syril: to have his core Imperial beliefs rocked, to be shot dead by a rebel, or to die knowing that the man who turned his life upside down did not even remember him. Cassian was, in many ways, the Jean Val Jean to Syril's Inspector Javert.
8. The Gold Squadron and Rebels tie-in
This is my favorite Easter egg in the entire season, even if they somehow bring back Jyn for the final arc. After Mon Mothma delivers a scathing speech in the Senate condemning the Ghorman Massacre and shaming Emperor Palpatine, she almost gets killed by an Imperial mole in Bail Organa’s team. Cassian steps in to whisk her away to safety in a five-minute-long sequence that nearly does not let you breathe.
At the Coruscant safehouse, Mon discovers that instead of traveling to Yavin directly, she would be escorted by a Gold Squadron to a different location where she’s expected to give another speech. This scene directly connects with Star Wars: Rebels’ season 3 episode 18, “Secret Cargo,” in which Captain Hera Syndulla and her team help the Senator reach Dantooine through the treacherous Archeon Pass. Mon gives the second speech, considered the official declaration of the Rebel Alliance, from Hera’s ship, the “Ghost.” We also see Mon's Senatorial attache/aide Erskin Semaj (Pierro Niel-Mee) in this Rebels episode.
9. Cassian’s rifle and U-Wing
The U-Wing ship Cassian uses to fly in and out of Yavin is the same one we see in Rogue One. The Blastech A280-CFE convertible blaster pistol Cassian aims at Dedra is also the same one he uses to attempt to execute Galen Erso in the movie.
10. Obi-Wan Kenobi ship
In the first shot of the base, a JT-731 Broadhorn Jabiim freight transport is seen arriving. This ship was designed for the Obi-Wan Kenobi TV series, and the Hidden Path (a secret underground network used to shelter Jedi) used a couple of them. This ship could be the one under Kawlan Roken’s (O’Shea Jackson Jr.) command.
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