REVIEW: ‘Andor’ Season 2 Honors Hope And Sacrifice

Created by Tony Gilroy, Andor Season 2 is hands-down the most modern cinematic Star Wars tale. With themes and social commentary on real-life politics and espionage, Cassian Andor’s (Diego Luna) story transcends the screen. The show stars Luna as Cassian Andor, and also stars Stellan Skarsgård, Genevieve O’Reilly, Denise Gough, Kyle Soller, Adria Arjona, Alan Tudyk, Faye Marsay, Varada Sethu, Elizabeth Dulau, with Ben Mendelsohn and Forest Whitaker.

This second and final season for the titular character brings together elements from Andor Season 1, Star Wars: Rebels, and Rogue One: A Star Wars Story. By the end of the season, everything becomes a meaningful culmination of the heroes and villains who navigate a world filled with rising civil unrest and planet-wide insurgencies.

Cassian, in the show’s first season, is far removed from the hero seen in Rogue One, but we know his path is set to get there. After the riot on Ferrix at the Season 1 finale, he’s fully given himself over to the cause, but with doubts. Andor Season 2’s goal is to show Cassian as he goes through situations—countless missions for Luthen, a blossoming relationship with Bix—and the choices he makes that lead him to a place where he can stomach the amount of sacrifice required to mount a full rebellion.

Andor Season 2 tackles four years and a bevy of storylines beautifully.

Cassian’s journey as a rebel begins at the end of Season 1, led by the mysterious figure Luthen. Luthen’s focus on mounting the rebellion only intensifies as the pressure from the Empire grows, leading him to make some ruthless decisions that strike a deeper chord this season. Andor Season 2 maintains Luthen’s mystery and enigmatic persona, but surprisingly has some of his backstory revealed. Skarsgård delivers some hard-hitting lines, similar to those in the first season, building on Luthen’s ideology that people have choices to act or not act.

O’Reilly as Mon Mothma also has more story to explore as she goes from senator to leader of the rebellion movement. At the end of Season 1, Mon is bartering a deal to fund the burgeoning rebellion—the cost of which is her daughter’s hand in marriage. O’Reilly has played Mon for nearly 20 years across various Star Wars projects, including Rogue One, Ahsoka and Star Wars: Rebels—which allowed her to flesh out her character in ways she’s never shown before.

Luthen’s second in command, Kleya Marki (Dulau), returns as another mysterious character tied to Luthen. Similarly to Luthen, Kleya’s backstory is expanded and delves deeper into her relationship with Luthen—along with how much the stress of their life is getting to her.

In the aftermath of Ferrix, Bix (Arjona) also has a lot to contend with, and her relationship to the rebellion is irrevocably shaped by her experiences in the first season. Bix’s rebellion in Andor Season 2 is within herself. She has some unresolved issues from Andor Season 1, and isn’t able to communicate how much it’s affecting her.

Bix’s relationship with Cassian continues to evolve and become more complicated as the duo becomes increasingly involved in rebel activities. Bix is the only one who trusts Cassian with more than her life, and it’s because they’ve been connected since childhood, growing up on Ferrix.

The final season of Andor adds even more depth to Cassian’s role in Rogue One.

Andor Season 2 takes place as the horizon of war draws near and Cassian becomes a key player in the Rebel Alliance. Everyone is tested, and as the stakes rise, the betrayals, sacrifices, and conflicting agendas will become profound. Andor Season 2’s first three episodes blend three separate storylines to reorient viewers to the cast of characters left off at the end of Season 1.

Each character—whether they are fighting for the rebellion or looking to advance the reach of the Empire—is faced with their own battlegrounds this season that are deeply personal. The choice of whether to choose love or the cause, personal ambition or following orders, and even the choice between life and death opens up the cast of characters to living in a gray space on the precipice of galaxy-altering decisions.

The ramifications of Mon Mothma’s deal with Davo Sculdun (Richard Dillane) are seen, and we find them at the wedding of their children on Chandrila. Cassian is now leading missions for Luthen Rael (Skarsgård). He winds up on Yavin with a group of disparate rebels.

The rebel group holds Cassian captive, not realizing they are fighting for the same cause, which highlights the true extent of the rebel efforts’ fragmentation at that point. In the aftermath of Ferrix, Bix Caleen, Wilmon Paak (Muhannad Ben Amor), and Brasso (Joplin Sibtain) pick up their lives and try to get their footing on the agricultural Outer Rim planet Mina-Rau.

This series stands as the best connective tissue across Star Wars stories.

Then there is the continuity elephant in the room. Rife with political intrigue and danger, Andor is a prequel to Rogue One, which portrayed a heroic band of rebels who steal the plans to the Empire’s weapon of mass destruction, the Death Star—setting the stage for the events of the original 1977 film. Andor sets the clock back five years from the events of Rogue One to tell the story of the film’s hero, Cassian, and his transformation from a disinterested, cynical nobody into a rebel hero on his way to an epic destiny.

This season covers an expansive four years of storytelling, charting Cassian’s growth into the hero who will eventually make the ultimate sacrifice we see in Rogue One, paving the way for the events of Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope. Andor Season 2 wraps up Cassian’s story in four final chapters with three-episode arcs, each representing about a year, as the first arc picks up at BBY 4 (Before the Battle of Yavin). The arcs work well as snippets, building up the architecture of the Rebel Alliance leading up to the events when Luke Skywalker destroys the Death Star during the Battle of Yavin.

While Andor’s storyline centers on the efforts of the Rebellion, it’s also a story of the rise of the Empire and how real people are behind the seismic shifts in galactic power. Dedra Meero (Gough) tried and failed to catch Cassian Andor and the elusive Axis on multiple occasions, and that lands her with a top-secret new assignment with Director Orson Krennic (Mendelsohn). That secret is one she carries, even amongst a developing relationship with Syril Karn (Soller).

Another Imperial main character is Syril, the relentlessly dutiful Imperial Security Bureau (ISB) officer who takes big swings with Dedra at the end of Season 1. He charts a new and unexpected path forward this season—balancing his new relationship with Dedra with his own personal ambitions toward ISB glory.

Andor’s second season also pulls the Empire into focus. 

Adding to the Empire’s returning characters, Director Krennic is back and as menacing and ambitious as he was when he was first introduced in Rogue One. Mendelsohn brings a more ferocious performance with Director Krennic since there’s no one above him challenging his authority in this series—the way Grand Admiral Moff Tarkin or Darth Vader talks down to Director Krennic in Rogue One.

With more characters, the second season features even more sets, costumes, props and effects than the first—covering four years of storytelling across dozens of planets. The talented team of designers working on this season built over 140 sets, utilized 24 different filming locations, designed over 700 costumes, created 152 creatures and 30 droids, and completed over 4100 visual effects shots.

One of the distinct attributes that made the first season visually stunning was their use of practical sets, and Andor Season 2 continues this method while expanding the number of sets utilized. To achieve a fresh perspective on Coruscant this season, the team shot in Valencia, Spain. Many outdoor shots this season feature ivory towers to accentuate the sophisticated, high-class society of Upper Coruscant.

A new central location of the second season focuses on the thriving trade planet of Ghorman, primarily the city of Palmo. Ghorman is described as a peaceful, civilized, proud, cultured, and wealthy but insulated people. They even have their own language called Ghor, which sounds like a mix of French and another language. The planet becomes the centerpiece for the Empire’s next power move, replicating a similar sense of what France was going through leading up to France’s June Rebellion of 1832. Even the Ghorman anthem sounds like the music heard in Les Misérables. 

Star Wars does what it does best with on-scene locations and thoughtful production design.

The general clothing of Ghormans resembles that worn in Europe during World War I or World War II. Despite their clothing mainly consisting of subtle brown and beige colors, Ghorman clothing is known for its Ghorman Twill, woven from spiders native to the planet. In a topical sense, the Ghormans are dressed like characters in Les Misérables, which is fitting for a planet with growing insurrections as the Empire increases its presence.

One of the most iconic Rebel bases in Star Wars lore is Yavin 4, the site from which the Rebellion launched the attack that destroyed the Death Star. It’s featured prominently in Andor, and like the rebellion, the moon of Yavin was not always the most organized, bustling hub seen in Rogue One and A New Hope. To mirror the rebellion’s growth, Yavin transforms from an uninhabited moon in the first episodes to a fully functioning rebel base by the end of the show.

Andor is filled with a long list of standout characters who have had a massive impact on Cassian’s journey. There are about 20-30 regular characters throughout Andor Season 2, and the questions remain: Who lives? Who dies? Who triumphs? Who fails, who betrays whom? This final season answers these questions, and does so by accounting for every storyline and character within the larger world.

By the time audiences watch Andor Season 2, every speech Cassian gives in Rogue One explains how much he sacrificed for the Rebellion. The second season seamlessly sets the stage for what comes next in Cassian Andor’s story, making it one cohesive narrative. Hope is always central to everyone’s storyline in Andor—whether they’re a part of the Rebellion or the Empire. Never forget: ‘Rebellions are built on hope.’

Andor Season 2 Episodes 1-3 premieres Tuesday, April 22, on Disney+.