Andor season 2 concluded the heartbreaking yet hopeful story of Cassian Andor, a decade after it started in Rogue One. The Diego Luna-led series is not only being deemed the best of Star Wars, but the last six episodes may well have elevated it to one of the best things ever made for television.
There are several references to Rogue One in the final three episodes, which lead directly into the beginning of the 2016 movie, just like Rogue One bled into A New Hope. Andor showrunner Tony Gilroy has created a masterpiece that runs nearly as long as the Skywalker saga, and lays bare all the sacrifices it takes to lead a Rebellion to glory.
Here are the biggest Easter eggs in Andor season 2, episodes 10-12, "Make It Stop," "Who Else Knows?" and "Jedha, Kyber, Erso."
1) Galen Erso
Naturally, the most significant connection to Rogue One in the final episodes is mention of Galen Erso, the engineer who betrays the Empire and builds a flaw into the Death Star. Lonnie Jung gives Galen Erso’s name to Luthen Rael moments before Luthen shoots him to protect the information, which almost perfectly mirrors Cassian killing his informant Tivik in Rogue One. Lonnie was more valuable to Luthen than Anton Kreegyr and a bunch of his men in season 1, but the intel on the Death Star is more important than possibly everything else.
2) Jedha
The moon of Jedha is mentioned multiple times throughout these episodes by the rebels and the ISB. Both parties are aware of the Saw Gerrera-led Partisans' presence on Jedha. Lonni even tells Luthen that the Empire has been excavating Kyber crystals on Jedha just like they scavenged Ghorman for kalkite. We also hear mention of a Star Destroyer hovering over Jedha, the one we see in Rogue One. Jyn Erso asks Cassian why it is parked there. Cassian tells her it is because of Saw’s constant attacks on the Imperial vehicles delivering the crystals from the Temple of Kyber on Jedha.
3) Tivik and the Ring of Kafrene
Towards the end of the final episode, we hear mention of Tivik, the spy in Saw Gerrera’s camp whom Cassian meets on the Ring of Kafrene the first time we see him in Rogue One. Tivik sends messages through secret Rebel channels, asking to meet Cassian — and only Cassian — shortly after the latter brings back news of the Death Star to Yavin. In the movie, Tivik tells him about the Death Star and the defecting Imperial pilot, Bodhi Rook, sent by Galen Erso.
Now we know that wasn’t the first time Cassian heard of the weapon. But Tivik’s intel presumably helps the Alliance High Command believe it, which is something they weren’t willing to do before in a scene that reminded me of the Jedi Council’s complacency in the prequel trilogy.
4) Admiral Raddus
We see Admiral Raddus intercept Cassian’s returning U-wing at the Yavin Base. He is the Mon Cala who comes to the Rogue One squad’s support on Scarif. His Star Cruiser Profundity receives the transmission of the Death Star data plans sent out by Jyn. Raddus was also the name of General Leia Organa’s Resistance flagship in the sequels, a lovely tribute given how Raddus sacrifices his life to get the plans to Leia.
5) K-2SO’s hallway scene
Alan Tudyk's K-2SO drops sarcastic one-liners for a living and saves the day as a side gig. The season finale sees K-2SO get his own destructive hallway scene reminiscent of Darth Vader’s in Rogue One. K-2SO disobeys Cassian’s order to stay with the ship, as he did on Jedha in Rogue One. He barges through a platoon of Imperial troopers, breaks Supervisor Heert’s neck, uses him as a human shield, and helps Cassian, Melshi, and Kleya escape from the surrounded safe house.
6) Naboo
Andor returned to the planet of Naboo for a flashback scene showing Luthen and Kleya’s early days together. Kleya is ready to blow up Imperial forces on a bridge, but Luthen does not let her do it and gets the blood on his hands instead.
StarWars.com reveals that the scene was shot at Hever Castle in Kent, England, where George Lucas shot a deleted scene featuring Qui-Gon Jinn, Obi-Wan Kenobi, and Jar Jar Binks for The Phantom Menace.
7) Lina Soh Hospital
The hospital on Coruscant where Luthen Rael dies is named after Lina Soh, a Supreme Chancellor of the Galactic Republic during the High Republic Era. She was in office from around 234 BBY and oversaw the response to the Great Hyperspace Disaster.
8) The Starpath unit that started it all
When Dedra Meero confronts Luthen about the Rebellion at his gallery, she brings out an old Imperial Starpath unit to make her point. It is the same device that Cassian stole from Steergard and later tried to sell to Luthen in season 1. It is the reason Cassian and Luthen met on Ferrix, and the rest is history.
9) Dedra Meero’s prison scene
When you see Dedra inside the prison, you can’t help but think of Cassian’s own time in jail in season 1. Her downfall this season starts when she tries to say no to the Ghorman Project and stay on the trail of Axis. She is urged by Major Lio Partagaz to consider the new opportunity as she climbs the ladder. It is a small but poignant moment that shows that an institution that relies on taking away people’s freedom does not mind doing the same to its own.
As Tony Gilroy puts it, “Fascism doesn’t just take down the oppressed. It doesn’t just take down the people it’s trying to control. It inevitably destroys the people who’ve worked the hardest to build it. That’s been true all through history as well.”
In season 1, Partagaz praises Dedra for keeping her detention numbers “well above the quota.” In simple terms, she was putting innocents behind bars. Seeing her in the same doorless cell, in the white and orange uniform, with the lights going out on cue, is almost cathartic.
10) Nemik’s manifesto and Major Partagaz’s suicide
The recording Major Partagaz listens to before taking his life is the manifesto Nemik wrote and passed on to Cassian. We do not know how the words spread, but that’s unimportant. There are theories about why Partagaz took his life after listening to it. One it that he realized the futility of his life’s work, much like Syril on Ghorman. However, a more probable theory is that he wanted to save himself from the agony and loss of dignity that was to come as punishment for failing to contain the Death Star secret.
Partagaz was going to be punished by Darth Vader himself. In Rebels, the Grand Inquisitor leaps to his demise after Kanan Jarrus defeats him, saying, “There are some things far more frightening than death.” Dave Filoni later confirmed that the Grand Inquisitor did it because “it was easier than facing the penalty for his failure.” We see that idea recur here.
Partagaz’s death also followed the theme of Andor’s antagonists meeting their ends at the hands of the Empire and not the rebels. Krennic dies because of the Death Star, even after Cassian and Jyn leave him alive. Dedra is put in prison. The Ghorman Massacre tears apart Syril. And now Partagaz.
11) Major Partagaz’s “Palpatine” reminder
Speaking of the Empire’s wrath, Major Partagaz reminds Director Orson Krennic that he would eventually have to explain the Death Star’s delays to Emperor Palpatine, who wouldn’t listen to any excuses. Krennic will find this to be true in Rogue One, when he is summoned to Mustafar for a face-to-face meeting with Lord Vader and gets his breath choked out of him for having high aspirations.
12) Pao
Pao, a Drabatan rebel from the squad that volunteers to go to Scarif with Cassian and Jyn in Rogue One, is spotted in Yavin jogging with a team led by Melshi, who is likely a Sergeant by now. In the movie, Pao is assigned to draw the attention of the Stormtroopers alongside Melshi, Baze, and Chirrut while Cassian, Jyn, and K-2SO go inside the facility to retrieve the Death Star plans. Pao passes away in the battle before the Death Troopers arrive.
13) Mon Mothma and Bail Organa’s meeting with Saw Gerrera
We see the three veterans of the Rebellion come together for the first time in the show. Canonically, they met during the early days of the Empire in the novel Mask of Fear by Alex Freed. Mon Mothma also had a similar argument with Saw Gerrera in Rebels season 4 episode 3. This clash is perhaps one of the primary reasons the Alliance High Command decides to free Jyn Erso from prison to get a passage to Saw’s Jedha haunt without endangering themselves.
14) General Merrick
When Cassian returns to Yavin with an injured Kleya, Admiral Raddus mentions General Antoc Merrick and how he would have been more strict about Cassian repeatedly breaking the rules. Merrick is a High Council member and the leader of Blue Squadron, one of the fighter jet teams that provide air support during the Battle of Scarif. Both Raddus and Merrick die in that battle in Rogue One.
15) Father, Daughter, and Son
In a blink-and-you-miss-it moment after Luthen stabs himself and is carried away to Lina Soh Hospital, the forensic team scans a rock relief painting that looks like the hand symbols signifying the Mortis Gods: the Father, the Daughter, and the Son. We first meet these entities in Star Wars: The Clone Wars. Their symbols — a closed palm for the Daughter, an open palm for the Father, and a fist for the Son — are visible in the Lothal Jedi Temple mural that Ezra Bridger uses to access the World Between Worlds in Rebels.
16) Cassian watering plants
Cassian watering plants before leaving for the Ring of Kafrene feels like a subtle tribute to his adoptive mother Maarva, who was doing the same thing when Cassian saw her for the last time in season 1. Maarva refused to leave Ferrix and go with him. “You can’t stay, and I can’t go,” she said, and stood her ground until her last breath. It was lovely that the creators showed how Cassian took after Maarva. It also shows that Cassian is hopeful about returning and continuing his life here on Yavin as it is, which obviously does not happen. We hope Vel or Kleya takes care of his plants.
17) Bail Organa’s fate
It's easy to forget that these episodes don't just show us Cassian’s last few hours, but also Bail Organa’s. If you've seen Rebels, you know that the senator is heavily involved in the Rebellion from an organizational and resource perspective. He is killed in A New Hope when the Death Star blows up his home planet of Alderaan. It makes his initial disbelief of Cassian’s intel on the Death Star every haunting.
The show hints at Bail's fate by cutting to him when the Ghorman Senator Dasi Oran says, “It’s my people today and yours tomorrow,” in an earlier episode. Alderaan gets blown to pieces only days after the events of Rogue One.
18) Cassian’s knock
Some fans have pointed out that the codified knock Cassian uses at the Coruscant safehouse to let Kleya know they were friendly is the same one the people on Ferrix use as an alarm system. The tune and the tempo of the knock match with the metal sounds we hear leading up to the Incident on Ferrix as Syril and his team try to hunt down Cassian and Luthen.
19) Tooka cat
After Luthen shoots Lonni and leaves him on a bench, a pet animal named Pix, who was being walked on the same boulevard, comes up and sniffs the body. This animal is a Tooka cat, native to the lower levels of Coruscant. These first appeared in Star Wars as “Adoris Feline” in Otherspace, a role-playing game. However, they made several appearances in The Clone Wars. The species is believed to be named after Dave Filoni’s deceased pet cat, Tuuk. The Loth-cats of Lothal in Rebels and Ahsoka are supposedly a breed of Tooka.
20) Nautolan, Devaronian
In the flashback scenes that reveal Luthen Rael's origins as an Imperial officer named Sergeant Lear, we see him try to sell a Devaronian victory necklace. At this point, he has already saved Kleya from meeting a cruel fate. The two begrudgingly form a father-daughter relationship for the sake of the Rebellion, but also secretly care about each other. Notable Devaronians in the Star Wars universe include Vizago from Rebels and Burg from The Mandalorian.
In the same episode, in his antiques shop, Luthen shows a Nautolan Bleeder to Dedra Meero, which he uses to stab himself. One of the most well-known Nautolans in Star Wars is Jedu Master Kit Fisto.
21) End credits
Andor pays one last tribute to the Skywalker Saga and the Original Trilogy by using the iconic Star Wars theme by John Williams for the end credits of episode 12. This is the first time the theme has been used a Disney-era Star Wars TV series. It hits even harder after seeing Bail Organa tell Cassian, “May the Force be with you,” in what is possibly Diego Luna’s last scene as Cassian Andor onscreen.
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