The 2012 acquisition of Star Wars by the Disney Corporation is primarily a dud, despite a return on investment of 12 billion dollars since the purchase. The backlash is from fans who are critical of Disney’s leadership in making poor-quality content by focusing on rehearsed story arcs and nostalgia rather than creating new original material. The one saving grace is the hit streaming show Andor on Disney+, heralded as the best Star Wars show and one of the best TV series of all time.
Andor is a prequel-spinoff to the 2016 single Star Wars film Rogue One, which is a prequel in itself as it showed how rebel spies stole the Death Star plans for the Rebel Alliance and was a main plot point for the original movie A New Hope. Cassian Andor is the main protagonist, and we see how the revolution against the Empire is forming all around him as he transforms from a mercenary thief to a main revolutionary, as we see in Rogue One. (RELATED: Revenge of the Sith Puts Disney Star Wars to Shame)
The show has 24 episodes, spans two seasons, and covers the backstory leading up to the events in the original Star Wars. The show’s creator and showrunner, Tony Gilroy, was initially brought in by Lucasfilm to help rewrite and reshoot scenes for Rogue One. Since then, he’s had free rein to open up a new lane in the saga that focuses on a revolution that “takes place in the kitchen, not in the dining room,” as he puts it.
His film acclaim stems from writing the Jason Bourne film series and directing and writing the award-winning motion picture Michael Clayton. Tony Gilroy is not a Star Wars fan, but his experience writing action thrillers and acclaimed films has created a show in Andor for a more Star Wars-resilient audience that is helping regrow the franchise.
Even though the show takes place in the Star Wars universe, the tone of the show is more focused on reality rather than the mystical aspects of a traditional Star Wars flick.
Andor succeeds where the other series failed. Shows like Obi-Wan Kenobi and The Book of Boba Fett focus more on character fodder and cheap fan service than on developing a complex storyline featuring high stakes for the Rebel cells and the Imperials.
The show’s theme is more of a political thriller than a space adventure. Gilroy is a student of history and a fan of revolution, and uses Andor to further explore the ideas of fascism, political oppression, and media manipulation.
The show takes a deep dive into the Imperial Security Bureau (ISB), which is similar to the KGB and carries out the Empire’s intelligence operations and law enforcement. The first season deals with the ISB hunting down Cassian Andor and his rebel unit under Axis (Luthen Rael) and dealing with the bureaucratic entanglement within the Empire’s politics.
As season 2 speeds up, we see ISB officials, under the leadership of Director Krennic, use the planet of Ghorman to exploit its rare minerals for the Emperor’s energy program, which, in reality, is used to help power up the new Death Star. Thus, the Empire creates a counterinsurgency plan to spread anti-Ghorman propaganda and create a false flag operation to cause havoc on the planet in order to meet the Emperor’s demands.
The political element has always been prevalent in Star Wars, referencing the Viet Cong and the Cold War. Tony Gilroy pays homage to George Lucas’s vision with scenes that are reminiscent of the Nazis 1942 Wannsee Conference or Putin’s Russia terror campaign in Ukraine.
Gilroy’s mastery is making events feel relevant. The Empire is terrifying and at its zenith of power, and we are introduced to rebel infighting between new factions such as the Maya Pei Brigade and the Ghorman Front. While the original trilogy uses moral binaries and delves into the hero archetype, Andor features rebel fighters who are righteously ambiguous and will make sacrifices for the greater good.
If you are looking for a sci-fi comfort show with aliens, this is not the series for you. However, viewers love it as it has achieved an extraordinary feat in television history: five consecutive episodes with a 9.5 or higher rating on IMDB’s aggregate website. The last season also holds a remarkable 97 percent rating from Rotten Tomatoes.
Tony Gilroy’s work for Star Wars and Lucasfilm over the last 10 years is nothing short of impressive, given how stale and out of touch the franchise had become. With Andor, we have a braver and bolder show, and as it turns out, it’s in a galaxy far, far away.
And Disney’s redemption.
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