Almost no one expected a Rogue One prequel spinoff to turn out to be what Andor became in its first season. The Star Wars TV show explored how Cassian Andor (Diego Luna) became a Rebel, yes, but it was also so much more.
Before season 1, showrunner Tony Gilroy promised an “ambitious but simple” show, something that would reel in both the hardcore Star Wars fans and those outside the fandom. With incredible storytelling, Andor delivered and then some.
The second season of the critically acclaimed show will return on Disney+ on April 22. There will be 12 episodes, like season 1, but this time they will be released in batches of three for four consecutive weeks. Season 2 will bridge the four-year gap in the story from the end of season 1 to the beginning of Rogue One. Each set of three episodes will take place over the course of one year.
Take a look at the latest official trailer for season 2 below:
Season 2 will officially bring an end to Cassian Andor’s story and his journey from an orphan in Kenari to a leader of the Rebellion. Let’s revisit some of the best moments of Cassian Andor’s story from season 1.
1. Cassian Andor shoots two guards (Episode 1 —“Kassa”)
Although not quite as remarkable as some of the other moments on this list, Andor’s opening scene stands out as an introduction to the world the Galactic Empire has created, with corruption and coercion galore.
Two Preox-Morlana security employees, Kravas Drezzer and Verlo Skiff, chase Cassian down after our hero leaves a bar on Morlana One, which he had visited to ask about his long-lost sister. The guards don’t like the way Cassian looks at them, and the fact that the lady at the bar pays attention to him even though they were there first.
Things go south, and Cassian accidentally kills one of the guards in the tussle, but not before they harass and threaten him with their weapons. The other man shows anger first, then begs and bargains for his life. But Cassian had already disarmed him, and with the weapon changing hands, so do the power dynamics. For a moment, we think Cassian is going to let the man go and choose the risk of being caught over taking a life, like any Star Wars hero would do. But Andor quickly clarifies that this is going to be a different kind of show.
Cassian shoots the man and escapes, setting in motion the chain of events that play out over the rest of the series.
2. Cassian Andor meets Luthen Rael (Episode 3 —“Reckoning”)
Andor is dark and gritty from the beginning, but the slow burn of the first two episodes starts paying off around halfway through the third episode of season 1, titled “Reckoning.” Rebel leader Luthen Rael, played by the brilliant Stellan Skarsgard, arrives in Ferrix claiming to want to buy an Imperial N-S9 Starpath Unit from Cassian, but really he wants to hire Cassian for the Aldhani heist, and possibly beyond.
Their first meeting in an abandoned warehouse is underrated but electrifying. With Syril Karn (Kyle Soller) and his squad arriving, we get the sense that things are about to get violent very soon, and the pair of them do not have as much time as they think. But Luthen pushes while Cassian simply tries to get paid, until he offers a thousand credits more for Cassian to reveal how he stole the Starpath unit. With his response — “Walk their floors, spit in their food,” etc. — Cassian shows the rebel that he could become.
But then Luthen pushes too far and mentions Cassian’s adoptive father Clem, who was accused of staging anti-Empire protests and was hanged in public in the Rix Road town square by Stormtroopers. Cassian holds a gun to Luthen’s head, demanding to know his identity. Luthen, calm and collected after years of experience fighting fascism, lays down a proposal for Cassian to come with him. Cassian wants to know why, and Luthen delivers the coldest line of the episode: “Don’t you want to fight these bastards for real?”
3. Cassian and Luthen escape Ferrix (Episode 3 —“Reckoning”)
Cassian’s back-and-forth with Luthen about the Empure’s arrogance is interrupted by Karn’s forces closing in as the citizens of Ferrix clank metals all around the town square. Sergeant Linus Mosk (Alex Ferns) dismisses it as “bluff and bluster,” but that does nothing to ease the apprehension it builds among the Corpos. Luthen’s quick thinking and Cassian’s knowledge of Ferrix help them make their escape.
In an applause-worthy action set-piece, Cassian and Luthen first clear out the squad of Corpos at the warehouse with guns and explosives and then apprehend a visibly out-of-his-wits Karn. At gunpoint, the deputy inspector tells them how many men are with him. Soon, we see a metal vehicle racing out on the streets where Mosk and his gunmen are lined up in position. The Corpos shoot at the car and it explodes barely a few meters from the garage. But just as it starts to feel like a win for the Corpos, Cassian and Luthen zoom off in a speeder toward Luthen's ride parked in the wastelands. The look of crushing dejection on Karn’s face as Cassian gets out of his reach makes the moment truly cherishable.
What makes the escape scene even more remarkable is the interlacing of Cassian’s past. We see how Clem (Gary Beadle) and Maarva (Fiona Shaw) took him away from Kenari as Imperial ships closed in, possibly giving Cassian a second shot at life. Now, he's leaving his home planet once again, or at least the one he grew up on. Once again, Cassian’s future is uncertain. But we, as an audience, know that his life is about to be changed.
4. Nemik’s Manifesto (Episode 5 —“The Axe Forgets”)
We hear the whole of Karis Nemik’s (Alex Lawther) manifesto in one hair-raising monologue in the season finale, but the moment we are introduced to it is subtle yet significant. Nemik offers Cassian, or should we say Clem, a glass of dray milk and segues into discussing political ideologies. Ignoring a quip from Arvel Skeen (Ebon Moss-Bachrach) about "seeing oppression everywhere," Nemik delivers some of the show’s most powerful lines.
“The pace of repression outstrips our ability to understand it, and that is the real trick of the Imperial thought machine,” Nemik tells Cassian. “It’s easier to hide behind 40 atrocities than a single incident. But they have a fight on their hands, don’t they?” Cassian does not commit to either side. As he prepares for the heist, he maintains that he's here to get the job dne and walk away. Earlier in the episode, Skeen mocks him for it: “Wouldn’t that be lovely?”
Of course, he doesn’t get to.
Star Wars is often misunderstood to be solely a sci-fi space opera. Even though the Imperial totalitarianism is ever-present in post-Revenge of the Sith stories and entire planets get blown up on a whim, we rarely get to see the individual loss of freedom and identity that comes with living under the Empire. Andor does not shy away from depicting the Imperial Era of Star Wars as the dystopia it is.
5. The Eye of Aldhani (Episode 6 —“The Eye”)
The opening of "the Eye of Aldhani" is built up for two episodes, and the scene delivers to a tee. Viewed as sacred by the locals, the cosmic event occurs once every three years, and the rebels plan to use it for their escape. The rest of the episode keeps us on the edge of our seats as our heroes carry out a gut-wrenchingly dangerous heist. They take Colonel Soden Petigar (Richard Katz), an engineer from Coruscant, hostage and rob the Imperial payroll for the entire quarter.
Following the plan, Cassian pilots the squad, or what remains of it, out of the base in a Rono box freighter just as the Eye opens up. The sky of Aldhani comes alive with meteor streaks in a thousand different colors as native pilgrims and Imperial soldiers alike stare at the celestial spectacle wide-eyed. From the ground, it is stunning. The event highlights a stark contrast between nature’s awe-inspiring beauty and the Empire’s fear-inducing coldness. Up above, it is a minefield for Cassian to maneuver through as TIE fighters chase the freighter down, but it is also the perfect distraction.
As Cassian dodges past missiles and meteors, an injured Nemik uses his final breaths to help him navigate the chaos. Before offering up the coordinates, his last instruction to Cassian is “climb,” an emotional callback to K-2SO’s demise in Rogue One: A Star Wars Story. Both of them sacrifice their lives for the Rebellion, and somewhat for Cassian, and don’t get to see the fruits of their labor.
6. Skeen and Nemik’s death (Episode 6 —“The Eye”)
Skeen and Nemik die almost at the same time. But they die two very different deaths. Nemik’s is a logistical miscalculation. A loose crate of Imperial credits rolls down the freighter’s floor and crushes Nemik as Cassian takes off from the Aldhani base. He immediately injures his spine; the lower part of his body is paralyzed. Vel Sartha (Faye Marsay) administers a med-spike that keeps him alive long enough to instruct Cassian through the Eye. But his breaths are numbered.
Vel wants to prioritize the mission, but Skeen and Cassian decide to visit the doctor anyway. Doctor Quadpaw tries his best with all four of his hands, but Nemik dies on the operating table. Before dying, he insists that Vel give his manifesto to Cassian. The fact that he dies so young yet so full of hope, that he entrusts his life's work to a a stranger he met three days ago, gives his life some meaning.
Skeen, meanwhile, dies a quicker and perhaps less dignified death. While Vel assists the doctor, Skeen and Cassian sit outside talking. Skeen suggests that he and Cassian should fly away with the freighter, with the 80 million stolen credits, and divide the treasure between them. He also says that the story he told Cassian about having a brother who died because of the Empire was a lie. We never find out whether it was a genuine betrayal or if he was simply testing Cassian. The latter does not seem improbable, given how little he trusted Cassian throughout the preparations. But Cassian shoots him anyway.
Neither of these characters die a hero’s death. Both demises are incredibly pointless and will not go down in history books as gallant or glorious. Chances are, not too many people will remember them. But as we are reminded time and again in the show, that’s just how things happen in a rebellion.
7. Cassian and Maarva’s goodbye (Episode 7 —“Announcement”)
Andor shows Cassian’s transformation from rogue scavenger to a key player of the Rebellion. Every loss, every grief, adds up brick by brick to wear down his cynicism about the movement, but we sit with his disillusionment until he finally casts it away.
When Cassian returns to Ferrix with his share of the Aldhani heist, Maarva refuses to go live a new life with him. She is old, she has lost enough, and she is weary of the Empire’s boot on all of their necks. She decides to stay as a personal form of protest.
Cassian says he does not understand. He tries to convince Maarva that the Rebellion is pointless. She tells him how the Aldhani news has given her new hope about people fighting back. There is an ever-so-subtle smirk on Cassian’s face, almost as if he is glad to have been a part of something Maarva so heartily approves. A part of him knows he should let Maarva have her fight, but he also doesn’t want to leave her behind; not now, not when he can finally afford to pay her back for all that she did for him. He says he’d worry if he left her behind, but Maarva reminds him, “That’s just love. Nothing you can do about that.”
A sense of impending doom casts a shadow over the entire series, given what we already know about Cassian’s fate in Rogue One. But the farewell scene with Maarva pulls at the heartstrings. Cassian leaves without a proper goodbye and promises to be back. But you get a feeling that this may just be the last time they see each other.
8. Cassian’s sentence (Episode 7 —“Announcement”)
Cassian’s prison sentence in Episode 7 is a cruel twist of fate, an irony of the highest order. After being hunted for killing two corpos and being part of the squad responsible for the Aldhani raid, Cassian gets thrown into an Imperial prison for…doing nothing. Somehow, that paints an even more forbidding picture of Palpatine’s regime, one where law and justice are askew to the point where individual rights are a fantasy.
After leaving Ferrix, Cassian lies low in a beach town in Niamos using the name Keef Girgo. On his way to a local store, he gets rounded up by the troopers. He's nearly choked to death by a security droid as well. At the courthouse, we see the judge passing sentences without any trial or even listening to the alleged offender. Cassian stands accused of civil disruption, anti-Imperial speech, fleeing the scene of anti-Imperial activity, and more. The judge informs him that the punishment for his charges used to be six months in jail, but then passes a sentence of six years, presumably dialled up due to the Public Order Resentencing Directive (PORD) implemented after the Aldhani incident. Cassian’s protests only earn him a casual quip from the judge: “Take it up with the Emperor.”
Incidentally, this happens while the Imperial Security Bureau (ISB) keeps looking for Cassian, who is suspected of engaging in rebel activities. Lieutenant Dedra Meero (Denise Gough) combs through Morlana One for him, and all the while he remains detained (perhaps indefinitely) in an Imperial prison under a different name.
9. Dedra Meero’s report (Episode 8 —“Narkina 5”)
The snippy back-and-forth conversations in the ISB conference room are some of the best parts of Andor. We get to see the internal politics and hierarchical dynamics of the Imperial machine in a way we never did before.
Dedra is spot-on about the scattered thefts and petty crimes being tied to rebel activities from the get-go, but is brushed aside until the Aldhani incident. Major Lio Partagaz (Anton Lesser) gives Dedra a chance to present her report in front of Colonel Wulf Yularen (Malcolm Sinclair). She slowly builds her case, one revelation at a time, connecting Cassian’s Starpath Unit to a widespread shadow network of rebels run by an individual they name Axis, presumably Luthen. “If someone there is talking, we need to be listening,” she says.
Granted, her plan goes belly-up later in the season finale. She does not get to lay her hands on either Cassian or Luthen. But with full Imperial backing behind her, she still manages to break Bix Caleen (Adria Arjona) and find out about the parts she sold to Luthen. After the horrific torture Bix suffered, she may even have given up a facial description of the man, making it easier for ISB to track Luthen in the future.
10. “Never more than 12” (Episode 9 —“Nobody’s Listening”)
The moment when Kino Loy (Andy Serkis) breaks is the true nexus of the season. Since arriving at Narkina 5, Cassian tries to coax information about the prison system out of Kino to gauge if an escape attempt is possible. This is not the Cassian from the earlier episodes, who is content with walking the floors and spitting in the food of the Empire. Aldhani has shown him that one can hit the Empire where it hurts and even cause some damage.
But Kino does not relent. With his eyes firmly set on the 250-something days he has left in his sentence, he does not want to fumble his shot at freedom. But things change when Ulaf (Christopher Fairbank), an elderly member from Cassian’s work table at the prison, collapses from a severe stroke. The doctor who is summoned surreptitiously reveals that the Narkina 5 authority had electrocuted all the men on Level 2 to death to cover up a blunder on their part. A prisoner released from Level 4 was readmitted to Level 2 the next day instead of being sent to another prison facility, exposing the fact that no one was being released from captivity after all. The sentences mean nothing at this point, and they are stuck here for life.
Ulaf does not make it, and the doctor uses euthanasia to give him a painless death. Walking away from the corridor, Cassian tries to ask Kino the same question he has been probing him with for days: “How many guards are on each level?” Robbed of his hope for freedom and with nothing else to lose, Kino gives in this time. “Never more than 12,” he says. It becomes the catalyst for the epic prison break in the next episode and further fuels Cassian’s rebellious intent.
11. The prison break (Episode 10 —“One Way Out”)
Andor keeps us on the edge of our seats as the Narkina 5 occupants break out of the prison in Episode 10. Kino and Cassian lead the charge, and people follow, as the resentment among the inmates about never being free again boils over.
In a five-minute-long sequence, we see Cassian sabotaging the plumbing of the facility and flooding the tunqstoid steel floors to make them resistant to electric shocks. They wait for the guards to come down with the new man replacing Ulaf and immediately start their attack. Both sides suffer heavy casualties, but the prisoners manage to overwhelm the Imperial guards and take control of the building.
Kino and Cassian raid the central station and order the in-charge to turn down all electricity. Egged on by his ally, Kino delivers an inspiring speech borrowing a line from Cassian: “I'd rather die trying to take them down than die giving them what they want.”
But just as you start feeling relieved at their escape, Andor puts you in your place. The surviving inmates make it to the end of the building, which stands in the middle of a massive body of water, and start jumping off the edge. Cassian sees Kino hesitate and reaches out, but Kino confesses that he can’t swim. Before Cassian can react, he is pushed into the water by a mass of prisoners seeking freedom. To watch Kino be so close yet so far from a free life feels like a sharp blade to the gut. The fact that he knew Cassian’s plan involved swimming but didn’t say anything because there was, quite literally, one way out, further twists the knife.
12. Luthen’s monologue (Episode 10 —“One Way Out”)
If you ever caught yourself wondering why Lucasfilm cast Stellan Skarsgard as Luthen Rael, the speech in Episode 10 is a good answer. It comes out of nowhere and leaves the audience stunned as they wrap their heads around the reality of what it means to fight back against an authoritarian regime like the Empire. The Rebels have been part of Star Wars since the beginning, but Andor attempts to cut open its chest and do an autopsy.
Soon after finding out that Lonni Jung (Robert Emms) is a rebel mole working in the ISB, we are told that he is now a father and wishes to stop living his duel life. But Luthen reminds him that he took a vow, and his position within the Imperial structure makes him irreplaceable. Dejected, Lonni asks Luthen what he has sacrificed for the Rebellion.
Luthen muses on the loss of his calm, kindness, kinship, love, and any chance at inner peace. “I’ve made my mind a sunless space,” he says. He condemns himself for using the same tools, the same violence, the same bloodshed as the Empire to fight them. He reveals that his insurrection started from his anger over injustice 15 years ago, but will only end when there is no more need for it. He admits that he knows he will see neither gratitude nor the future he’s fighting for. “So what do I sacrifice?” he says. “Everything!” Skarsgard brings out his best acting chops for the scene, making Luthen’s simmering pain and fury almost palpable on the screen.
13. Cassian and Melshi part ways (Episode 11 —“Daughter of Ferrix”)
After escaping from Narkina 5, Cassian and Melshi come to Niamos. Cassian collects his box of credits and weapons from where he left them and makes a phone call back home, only to learn Maarva has passed away. He doesn’t share it with Melshi, who is preoccupied with the next step of their rebellion.
Melshi asks Cassian how many inmates got out, and Cassian says that the number is not nearly enough. Melshi suggests they split up to increase the chances of their survival, because someone has to spread the word about the Empire’s dirty secrets. The two men shake hands and embrace before going their separate ways.
We know they reunited before the events of Rogue One, and we will possibly learn how in the second season. Fans believe their parting scene at the beach is a poignant callback to Cassian’s final moments from the movie with Jyn. Diego Luna suggests that fans should rewatch Rogue One right after season 2 ends.
14. Mon Mothma tricks the Empire (Episode 12—“Rix Road”)
Wins in Andor are few and far between, so when they happen, it feels like a jump in the air. Between a defiant teenage daughter and the risk of her financial support for the Rebellion being exposed, Mon Mothma (Genevieve O'Reilly) struggles the entire season to land on her feet. She is forced to meet a questionable Chandrilan banker, Davo Sculdan (Richard Dillane), to cover up the discrepancies in her account. Davo shows interest in a potential marriage between his son and Leida (Bronte Carmichael), Mon’s daughter.
Mon gets almost no support from her husband, Perrin (Alastair Mackenzie), in all this. Instead, we see him put her down on multiple occasions. That is why when she throws him under the bus to protect her secret, no one bats an eyelid. Under the pretense of having a private conversation with her husband in the car, Mon chides Perrin for re-indulging in his gambling habits. Perrin vehemently denies it, but Mon puts up a perfect charade of disappointment and disgust, knowing fully well that her driver, an Imperial spy, is listening in.
Surely enough, the driver reports the update to ISB Lieutenant Supervisor Blevin (Doc Brown) a few scenes later. Blevin connects the dots just as Mon wanted, suspecting Perrin’s vice to be the reason behind the recent large-scale withdrawals from the family fund. It doesn’t change things much. Mon is forced to introduce her daughter to Davo’s son. Leida is keen about the old Chandrilan tradition of marrying as a teenager. But the momentary breathing room feels like a sigh of relief.
15. Maarva’s funeral (Episode 12—“Rix Road”)
It all comes down to Maarva’s funeral in the season finale, and the situation boils over spectacularly. Cassian’s mother falls sick after refusing to go with him and dies shortly afterward. However, she resists the Empire till her last breath, and somehow, even after.
Dedra Meero allows the Ferrix residents to hold Maarva’s funeral with the hope that Cassian would come and they would be able to smoke him out. Meanwhile, Luthen, Vel, and Cinta Kaz (Varada Sethu) also arrive in Ferrix with the same goal, since Cassian knew too much about the Rebellion and was a loose end of the Aldhani heist. Syril Karn and Linus Mosk join the chaos. Their objective, no surprise, is to catch Cassian.
But things go wrong, thanks to the hologram of Maarva Andor. Her loyal and faithful droid plays a recording as the funeral band and the procession reach Rix Road. Maarva starts with a nostalgic reminiscing of her life, but segues into an inspiring, blood-pumping call to arms against the Empire. Everyone takes the speech in with stunned silence, including Luthen. His comment about sharing his dreams with “ghosts” takes on a whole new meaning.
A brawl breaks out. Wilmon Paak (Muhannad Bhaier) throws a bomb at the Imperial barricade in revenge for killing his father Salman (Abhin Galeya) during questioning. The ISB forces get scattered and start firing at will, but the riot continues. At one point, they almost endanger Dedra’s life before Syril steps in. Meanwhile, Cassian manages to elude everyone who's after him and free Bix from ISB captivity with the help of Brasso (Joplin Sibtain). Bix, Brasso, and Jezz, a Daughter of Ferrix, successfully take off from Ferrix toward Gangi Moon. Cassian shows up at Luthen’s Fondor Haulcraft. He asks to be taken in as a rebel, completing his arc.
Special mention: The Death Star reveal (Episode 12—“Rix Road”)
The story of Andor season 1 mostly has no connection with Rogue One besides the lead character himself. Saw Gerrera (Forest Whitaker) and Ruescott Melshi (Duncan Pow) make appearances, and the ISB folks mention Scarif in an early episode, but that’s about it. However, the post-credit scene for the season finale changes things in a rather poetic manner. We find out that the machine parts Cassian, Melshi, and all other inmates assembled in Narkina 5 were all meant for an Imperial Death Star. The camera pans out and we see an unfinished Death Star suspended in space, making Cassian’s Rogue One fate even more haunting.
We head into Andor knowing that most characters we’re seeing onscreen will die. Following Cassian’s journey almost feels like watching Anakin in the Star Wars prequels: it's an eventful but inevitable tale of doom. But finding out that he helped build the thing that eventually kills him puts a whole new twist on the tragedy.
Except he doesn’t just die because of a Death Star. He, Jyn Erso (Felicity Jones), and the Rogue One squad sacrifice themselves to steal the Death Star plans, a mission that kickstarts the events of A New Hope and later leads to the downfall of the Empire.
“One single thing breaks the siege,” Nemik wrote in his manifesto that he left with Cassian. Ironically, Cassian ended up being the ‘thing’ in a way.
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