Wait, is that an AK-47 in the trailer for Star Wars: Andor?

The other day, Disney dropped a new trailer for Star Wars: Andor, a spinoff of the 2016 movie Rogue One. The Disney+ series will follow Cassian Andor (Diego Luna), as he joins the nascent Rebellion against the evil Galactic Empire. Think of it as a spy thriller set a long time ago in a galaxy far, far away.

The trailer looks pretty cool. There’s a gritty immediacy to the photography missing from other recent Star Wars TV series, possibly because Andor was filmed mostly on actual sets rather than in the Volume, a special effects apparatus used on The Mandalorian and other shows.

But it may be possible to keep things too down to earth. Case in point: about five seconds into the trailer, we see an unnamed character holding what looks like an AK-47, a World War II-era assault rifle that has become iconic over the decades, appearing in lots of movies, shows and propaganda.

A long time ago, in a galaxy far, far away…Soviet assault rifles

I’m definitely not an expert on guns, but I have played a decent number of first-person shooter games over the years, and at first glance it looks like an AK to me. At the least, it looks enough like one to raise the ire of a fair number of fans on Twitter:

• @TheSereneDoge: “5 seconds into the trailer and you’ve already pissed me off. The guy has got a fucking AK 47!!! IN A STAR WARS FUCKING SHOW! YOU’RE SO LAZY A FUCKING AK47! You couldn’t be bothered to design a space gun.”
• @AngryCatMustard: “So, it looks like #Russia just stole the #AK47. Seems it was invented a long time ago in a galaxy far, far away.”
• @mattwaldbro: “This dude in Andor trailer is literally holding an Ak-47 which means Russia exists in the Star Wars universe”
• @BR_Doctor: “The Andor trailer looks good but I have one quibble. They aren’t even trying to make blasters that look unique anymore. This literally looks like an AK-47 with a few minor changes. It’s a dumb complaint, I know, but I still find it kind of funny.”
• @Zeddary: “Blasters in Star Wars have always been based on real world guns. Usually WWI/WW2 era weapons with modifications to make them look more in line with the aesthetic of ragtag rebels and outlaws. So it’s funny that the Andor propmaster looked at an AK-47 and said ‘no notes.'”

@Zeddary is right that the blasters in Star Wars have always been based on real guns, just as the conflicts have been based on real conflicts; the Empire have always been space Nazis, more or less. But usually they put some kind of sci-fi spin on them. It is a little odd to see a real-life gun show up unaltered.

The AK-47 has long been associated with revolutionary movements, and because Andor is about a budding revolution, maybe that’s what they’re going for…does it fire lasers or bullets? We’ll find out when the first three episodes of Andor premieres on Disney+ on September 21.

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