Star War: Andor, the best Star Wars show to come out since The Mandalorian, wrapped up its first season on Disney+ last week, and shooting on season 2 has just begun.
Season 1 ended with Cassian Andor (Diego Luna) firmly committing himself to the Rebel cause after a season trying to just live for himself. But after the things he’s seen, there’s no going back for him. He made his position plain to spymaster Luthen Rael (Stellan Skarsgård): either kill me to keep me from spreading Rebel secrets, or make me part of this.
“What he says at the end is true,” showrunner Tony Gilroy told Entertainment Weekly. “That’s really a blood oath, that’s he’s in. I don’t think that question will be in doubt. I don’t think that’s an issue going forward. He’s all in, so we’re gonna juggle four years in the second half.”
Star Wars: Andor season 2 will take place over four years
That’s Gilroy laying out the timeline for this show. The first season covered a year in Cassian Andor’s life. The second season will cover four years. By the end, the Rebel Alliance will have a secret military base established on the moon of Yavin 4, something that’s up and running by the time of the original Star Wars movie.
But the process of taking this rebellion from a twinkle in Luthen’s eye to a full-scale movement won’t be easy for anyone, including Cassian. “He has to negotiate his way through the Luthen Rael experience and the benefits and disasters that that means and that relationship,” Gilroy said. “Our show’s gonna end up in Yavin and he’ll walk out and he’ll be there to be the guy who gives his life. But that alliance in Yavin – are those the hardcore revolutionaries who really built everything? Or it’s sort of the coalition government there that’s already contentious. Well, what happens and what has happened to all the original gangsters and outliers and all the people who built this thing along the way, and how do you operate when your business is paranoia?”
"How do you collaborate when paranoia and secrecy are your product? How do you scale up? How do you join forces? And how does the empire exploit those differences? What are the effects of time on these people? And then obviously within that, we’re gonna try to tell a really, a ripping yarn, a really good adventure story. And we’re gonna try to have all the relationships and all the love and all the betrayal and all the other stuff. But yeah, he’s in, he’s committed. So now it’s what do you do with it?"
Most of the people in Star Wars: Andor have never seen a lightsaber or met a Jedi
Andor has been uncommonly careful when it comes to depicting the slow buildup of this burgeoning rebel force, and the toll it takes on the people involved. Senator Mon Mothma (Genevieve O’Reilly) must resist the Empire from within the belly of the beast, hiding her intentions even from her immediate family members. Empire operatives like Dedra (Denise Gough) are genuinely intimidating, and Luthen is every bit as ruthless; he just has a more noble cause. Gilroy has been successful making a Star Wars show that feels like nothing we’ve seen before in the franchise.
“I don’t wanna do something that somebody did already,” Gilroy said. “Now, obviously, you’re not gonna reinvent everything, but that’s literally where I start everything. And then, I don’t think most of the beings, creatures, humans or otherwise in that galaxy have ever seen a lightsaber. I don’t think they know what any of that stuff is.”
"Most people don’t have any idea that there’s a royal family or that this stuff is going on. It doesn’t concern them. They’re trying to do their lives and they’re trying to do things. And fortunately, Lucasfilm and Kathy Kennedy and Disney by association were really interested in opening a really new lane. It’s not just that our show is a new thing. It also opens the possibilities to all kinds of other things. A lot of blood and treasure have gone into those other ideas, it doesn’t seem like that would be something that you would wanna redo."
Star Wars: Andor: Is Maarva (Fiona Shaw) really dead?
Okay, let’s get down to brass tacks: what exactly is going to happen in Andor season 2? Do any of the fans have it right? For instance, what about the theory that Cassian’s mother Maarva (Fiona Shaw) might still be alive? After all, we didn’t actually see her death scene, just her funeral and self-eulogy.
"Oh, I know. I saw that theory. I love that theory. I saw somebody with a theory, “Oh my God, she’s not dead. They’re sneaking her out of there. It’s Cassian’s way of getting her free and they think she’s dead.” And I was like, “Wow, that’s a viable idea,” but that’s not what we’re doing."
And then there’s Kino Loy, the Imperial inmate played wonderfully by Andy Serkis. He was key to Cassian’s Rebel awakenings, but wasn’t able to escape the Imperial prison with him. “He doesn’t die,” Gilroy said. “I don’t know. We don’t see him die.”
We’ll find out what, if anything, lies in store for these characters when the second season of Star Wars: Andor comes out on Disney+, probably in 2024.
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