Star Wars might be set in a galaxy far, far away, but it hasn’t really ever felt closer than it has in the past seven years or so.
While every story offers something new and exciting to anyone with a love of lightsabres and Sith lords, the sheer scale of what George Lucas created all those years ago means that there is always a new perspective waiting to be explored. A Force perspective, if you will.
That’s exactly what has sparked Andor, a brand-new series set in the Star Wars universe that goes through what went down in the run up to the immensely popular Rogue One movie. Streaming exclusively on Disney+, this 12-episode saga offers an entirely new look at the legendary era of rebellion against the empire that lead up to the original Luke Skywalker trilogy.
With the first three episodes releasing today, the following episodes will be released on a weekly basis. To get a better idea of what to expect on the next Star Wars adventure, check out the trailer below!
What’s it about?
One of the first things worth mentioning about this series is the phenomenal cast, with more stars than the observable universe. While Diego Luna is in the titular role, other cast members include Ireland’s Fiona Shaw, Stellan Skarsgård, Forest Whitaker, and Genevieve O’Reilly with promises for even more familiar faces along the way.
The main character is one Cassian Andor, a Rebel spy trying to undo the Empire from within. Fans of Rogue One are sure to remember Diego Luna’s portrayal of Andor as being one of the stand-outs of the movie; a gritty and relentless character who still manages to come across as likable and mysterious enough for us to want to see more.
Set five years before he met Jyn Erso and the events of Rogue One unfurl (no spoilers on that in case you haven’t see it yet), Andor is set to have an entirely different tone to what we have seen up to now. The Empire is on the rise, and Rebel forces are turning to every corner of the galaxy in search of strengthening the resistance.
Cassian is not gifted with an ability to use the Force, and neither is he overly confident in his ability to do the right thing when the chips are down. While he is clearly a man with a lot of internal conflict going on, it shouldn’t take long for viewers to understand his struggle and get the sense that he was always destined to be a hero (even if he didn’t think it himself).
At a time of war and strife for an entire galaxy of different races and cultures, much of the series will bring viewers closer to the action of the rebellion than they have ever seen before. Showing how the wars affected individual people on a ground level and what life was like for the diverse communities that tried to live through them, it will also show what events lead to different planets joining the war effort.
That granular look at an era of the Star Wars universe that affected so many people is what makes Andor such an interesting series for fans. While we have already seen through the adventures of Leia, Han and Luke that huge battles took place where everything was on the line for billions of beings, it would be easy to overlook the countless stories were unfolding at exactly the same time.
While it does follow a grittier tone than many other Star Wars adventures, it does harken back to one of the core themes of the original trilogy; that a hero can come from anywhere.
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Featured Image Credit: Disney
Shane Winckworth