Lucasfilm strategically re-released "Rogue One" in cinemas to prep audiences for the new "Andor" series, which drops its first three episodes on Sept. 21.
The latest Star Wars series to hit cable is "Andor," which offers the backstory to Diego Luna’s Cassian Andor, the reluctant hero of "Rogue One."
I was eager for this series. I loved "Rogue One" (my favorite after "Empire Strikes Back" and "A New Hope") and this show promised to be a grittier, more human-sized look at how anger at an oppressor can spark a full-blown revolution. This is not a story about the Jedi and the Sith, or larger than life Han Solos. It is about people on the ground or at the bottom feeling the weight of the Empire pressing down more and more on their daily lives.
The first two episodes focus mostly on Cassian, the thief and hustler. The episodes clumsily force a back-and-forth narrative with Cassian as an adult and as a child on his native mining planet. These episodes epitomize the problem I have with a lot of series, because early episodes often feel like fluff and unnecessary filler that only exist to draw out the series to its desired number of profitable episodes.
People often try to convince me to stick with a show because it is a "slow burn" or it is just "taking its time." "Hereditary" is a slow burn; "The Godfather" takes its time. "Mind Hunter" and "Squid Game" did both.
But the first two episodes of "Andor" just felt blandly expository and uninspired. The flashbacks to Cassian's childhood seem far less interesting (and look vaguely like the village in another Disney+ product, "Prey") than what Cassian references (but we do not see) about him being in prison and then being tricked by the Empire to engage in a battle in which rebels were fighting rebels. That's the back story I want to see. How did he land in jail? How did he escape? Where did his hate for the Empire come from? How did he grow disillusioned? Why is he still open to genuinely believing in the rebel cause? Those first two episodes could have touched on any of that but they really don't.
I was about to give up on the series because it was feeling formulaic and thin. Then Fiona Shaw's Maarva and Stellan Skarsgard's Luthen Rael entered the story in episode three and the show finally came into its own. Now we start to feel the swell of rebellion and the passion of a cause. The series could have started right here and it would have been stronger, and I don't feel anything would have been lost.
These older characters begin to give a sense of context to the rebellion and a sense of its back story and not just Cassian's. But even as the show starts to lean into the rebellion and a cause, it also seems to sidestep any discussion of ideals (at least so far) and prefers giving us plot elements that involve heists and entertaining action.
Another interesting addition to the show is Genevieve O'Reilly's Mon Mothma, a senator with a hidden agenda. The one weird thing about coming to Star Wars at this moment in time and to the idea of a rebellion sparked by both the people and by those within the government, is how for President Donald Trump and his supporters (with the Jan. 6 insurgence) have perverted the the kind of idealistic sense of rebellion that I grew up with in the 1960s. It's not that the show in any way addresses this but as someone who lived through both the 1960s and the Trump era, I have to say that rebel insurgence is something that now has to be qualified and given context.
I do look forward to Forest Whitaker's Saw Gerrera joining the show at some point and adding to the rebel forces.
The series has not included the participation of Gareth Edwards, who directed the feature film "Rogue One" (he seems to have quietly gone away) but rather is in the hands of Tony Gilroy (a writer on "Rogue One" and director of "The Bourne Legacy") and Toby Haynes (from the British shows "Dr. Who," "Sherlock Holmes" and "Black Mirror"). Aside from the weak opening two episodes, they seem to now be steering the show in a solid and engaging direction.
I hope "Andor" continues to build on its themes about what it takes to make both a rebel fighter and a rebellion, and to give us something meatier than what the Star Wars franchise has mostly been serving up. As a show, it has not proven as strong as "The Mandalorian" but it is far outpacing both "The Book of Boba Fett" and "Obi-Wan Kenobi" in terms of production value and story.
I am eager to see where "Andor" takes us and I hope it does not let me down. I feel like the franchise is constantly testing me and putting me on a rollercoaster. I fall in love with "A New Hope" and "Empire Strikes Back" then have to deal with Ewoks taking down the Empire and the Prequels. I get the fabulous "The Mandalorian" but then have to put up with "The Book of Boba Fett." And I have had to deal with a fandom that is sometimes incredibly toxic (I got kicked out of two Star Wars fan groups for daring to defend "The Last Jedi" and arguing with someone about the Solo film). Yet I have remained in love with Star Wars and am ever hopeful that it will continue to reward me. And right now, "Andor" is looking very promising.
