Andor: Season 2

This is the show that broke Hipster Jr.’s brain. Or, more so, turned him into a Star Wars nerd. He was already headed there after being indoctrinated as a youngster with the original trilogy on DVD repeat, and a was huge fan of Rogue One, but this is the one for him. And, if you have been awake any time in 2025, you’ll understand that he is not alone in his praise of Tony Gilroy’s Andor universe. Not to put this entire review on him, of course, but he would be super-disappointed in me if I were to say anything negative about his favorite show ever. This is a kid who has watched Chernobyl three times, so take his devotion as you will. That all said, I will not defy his will and will also ride for this series as certainly being head and shoulders above any other Star Wars series, and, frankly, of higher quality and thoughtfulness than almost all of the films. Shots fired (and totally missed if I was a stormtrooper).

After a season one that built a series upon a heist and focused most of its energy on the titular Cassian Andor (Diego Luna), season two really dug into the larger rebellion and the tendrils that help both build and tear down its rise. Yes, rebellion is messy. Power struggles. Factions. Philosophical differences and approaches. Wild swings and caution. Politics versus force. It all goes into the pot of battling against an oppressive regime. All of this makes for a pretty complicated plot. It’s not the storming of Normandy. It’s not as simple as the Allies fighting the Axis. There’s in-fighting and failures and disagreements at the highest levels. This man, Andor, who was once a thief and a murderer is now a leader of a group trying to pry itself from the jaws of an imperialistic governmental machine. Cool. I listened to a podcast with Gilroy and a historian who focuses on rebellions and it was fascinating. He really leaned into historical examples of authoritarian governments and the citizens who worked to infiltrate and destroy them. Look, we all know how this ends up. This is a prequel, after all. But the machinations to get to Rogue One and A New Hope is a reverse-engineering marvel. As a viewer, though, it’s not a passive affair. You gotta pay attention.

After years of Disney+ nonsense and Marvel CGI chicanery, this series is incredibly refreshing. They’ve stepped outside of The Volume, and the effect is that things feel more real. Grittier and more… practical. Because they are. The plot is also even more complex and includes several one-year time jumps. And, as I mentioned above, the good and bad isn’t as black and white as what you typically find in these hero journeys. So, as we watch Andor manage all the different factions within the rebellion, as well as his relationship with Bix (Adria Arjona), who is going through it, we really get all of the dimensions of the man who will eventually be the hero of Rogue One. Along the way we get satisfying arcs for all of our characters. Even the toadies and baddies like Syril Karn (Kyle Soller) and his absolutely bizarro relationship with my favorite character, Dedra Meero (Denise Gough). As with a lot of these stories, the bad guys are often the most interesting of the bunch just because their motivations are often so murky and the audience’s feelings so conflicted. At least in stories that are as well written as this one. I mean, are we supposed to be on the side of the gas-huffing lunatic, Saw Gerrera (Forest Whitaker), who is technically fighting for the “right” side, but is an extremist, and, as mentioned, kind of bonkers? Or Luthen Rael (Stellan Skarsgård), who is also on the right side, but is approaching it in his own opaque way? All of this essentially making Cassian the establishment dude. Interesting.

Look, there’s not that much I can say about this series that isn’t already obvious. It’s complicated and nuanced. It looks great and really pushes the Star Wars universe in a direction that no other movie or series has. It’s clear that George Lucas feels that the universe is made for kids (because farting aliens and whatnot), but Tony Gilroy’s version is a much more adult affair that eschews the force magic, leans heavily into dialogue and plot, as well as draws from more modern examples of dictatorships, juntas, rebel groups and terrorism. It all feels both timeless and of the moment, given the world we live in in 2025. It’ll be interesting to see what lessons the Star Wars industrial complex take from the series and its ability to tell both a compelling and a complex story. Granted, a twelve-episode season of hour-long episodes is almost unheard of these days, so they clearly gave Gilroy a long leash and believed in the project. Because, based on the way this thing looks, it couldn’t have been cheap to produce. The thing is, we know the story of Cassian Andor is at an end since season two leads directly into Rogue One. Unless they do a prequel of his time before the rebellion. Though I’m not certain I’m ready for a de-aged Diego Luna. Maybe they’ll give Gilroy another storyline to play with. But probably not. And we’ll go on with The Volume and terrible kid actors, farting aliens and midi-chlorian nonsense. Great.