It’s a big galaxy. The long-awaited Star Wars series, Andor, is here. Focusing on Cassian Andor from Disney’s first Star Wars film Rogue One: A Star Wars Story, the series begins in the Mid Rim, a lesser explored area of the Star Wars galaxy in the films and television series.
The Corporate Sector, first introduced by Brian Daley in the novel, Han Solo at Star’s End, published in 1979, is the industrial park of the Star Wars galaxy. It’s the dirty business side of the Mid Rim to the Outer Rim’s Wild West. In the Corporate sector, you’ll find planets exploited for mining, planets that were homes to lost civilizations, casualties of the Star Wars version of the military-industrial complex, and corporate greed. These areas were explored thoroughly in Brian Daley’s Han Solo novels, L. Neil Smith’s Lando Calrissian novels, and even Alan Dean Foster’s Splinter of the Mind’s Eye, then later in the Expanded Universe of novels and comics in the ’90s. However, after Rogue One, the service road behind the main episodic films has been light on traffic… until now.
This Is Cassian’s Story
Andor takes us to the dark underworld of Star Wars, where real victims, deaths, sadness, and suffering exist. It begins on a planet that resembles Mimban, first seen in Solo: A Star Wars Story but first described in Splinter of the Mind’s Eye. These worlds, this sector was what a generation of fans expected to see more of at the release of Rogue One, so if you’ve been one to think Disney has mostly treated Star Wars too lightly, Andor is your cup of blue milk. That right there, the ever-present Easter egg in previous Star Wars efforts is refreshingly absent in Andor. Creator Tony Gilroy doesn’t seem to be in it for fan service.
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Fans of good writing get this. We don’t need to think about Luke Skywalker or Zeb Orrelios, for that matter, if they have no place in this story. Hopeful homers might hold out that someone like Zeb (from the animated series Rebels) could show up, but this is Cassian’s story. It’s not likely we’ll have the entire menu at the table; for now, what they’re serving is enough.
Cassian Andor makes his first appearance on Morlana One, a Corporate Sector planet. The sets and characters all feel very real, yet they resemble the aesthetics of all three trilogies. Generations of ship styles and costume styles come together to form a world still easily recognized as Star Wars. Surprisingly, we don’t get a single glimpse of a Stormtrooper through the first three episodes.
Andor Is on the Run
As we learn his story, we find that he’s looking for his sister, but he’s months behind her trail. A couple of off-duty Corpos looking for trouble in a new face regretfully find it in Andor. Andor’s flight from the law doesn’t start here. He’s already technically a fugitive in the Empire’s eyes as a child. The first three episodes take us through his two mirrored narratives that tell us who he is, how he got there, and where he’s going. In this corner of Star Wars, the rhyme happens within the same stanza. The well-told rebellion era arc is woven with threads from Andor’s origin storyline.
After what the Empire calls a mining accident, Cassian is rescued (for lack of a better term) by his future adoptive mother, played masterfully by Fiona Shaw. You may recognize her from the serial killer dark comedy series Killing Eve. The entire cast of Andor is playing above expectations, but Shaw is a standout.
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Because consequences are a real thing in Andor, he’s still on the run after three episodes. As appreciated as that kind of thoughtful writing is, the notion that most deaths in Star Wars are lost to the wind is addressed. A Corporate biggie, who can’t be bothered with the red tape of an investigation because of the bad timing of the incident, orders his underling to stand down and write it off as a couple of accidental deaths. If the underling had obeyed orders instead of launching a full-out search for the suspect, Andor might be at home cleaning his V.I.N.CENT and B.O.B. (see 1979’s The Black Hole) inspired droid without worrying about going on the lam.
Cassian is surrounded by local support from friends and adoptive family. Of course, the jealous boyfriend of his friend Bix Caleen (Adria Arjona) is there to commit just enough betrayal to somehow still die honorably. The Corpos have to get closer somehow. All the while, Cassian is trying to sell an important (and expensive) piece of Imperial hardware, an NS9 Starpath Unit. It’s his insurance policy in case he needs to hide out for a while. Bix connects him to the mysterious dealer, Luthen Rael (Stellan Skarsgård), who is interested in the piece but is actually interested in something more.
A Mature Star Wars Story
Rael is an early Rebel who knows more about Cassian than is comfortable. He treads lightly with Cassian in his introduction, but Cassian’s pursuers force the meet cute period to take place under the duress of a firefight with Corpos looking for a murderer. This will be Cassian’s first real introduction to the Rebellion, though it’s hinted Fiona Shaw’s character may have some light connections and Rebellion tendencies. At the least, she’s a sympathizer who, sadly, will proudly watch her adoptive son walk off with his angel of death. We all know where Cassian Andor ends up in Rogue One. It’s his destiny.
When Cassian laid it out for Jyn Erso (Felicity Jones), he said, “I’ve been in this fight since I was six years old.” He looked a little bit older in the flashbacks, but it’s splitting hairs. The character may have exaggerated in the heat of the argument. At any rate, he was a young boy when his life changed.
His story is compelling, and the Andor series looks like it might be the most grown-up look yet at a Star Wars story. The first 120 minutes of this spy action thriller is exactly the palate cleanser Star Wars fandom needs. In the spectrum of tones Star Wars has offered, it’s nice to see something that feels like it was made for mature audiences.
