Andor Season 2 ends with hope. Obviously, Star Wars fans know that the events of the Disney+ show dovetail directly into Rogue One: A Star Wars Story and, after that, Star Wars: Episode IV – A New Hope. The sacrifices that have been made by Cassian Andor (Diego Luna), Luthen Rael (Stellan Skarsgård), and Mon Mothma (Genevieve O’Reilly) will have been worth it. Their work will lead to the discovery of the Death Star plans and, ultimately, the emergence of Luke Skywalker and the destruction of the Galactic Empire.
However, Andor Season Episode 12 ends with an extra jolt of hope for the future. The Disney+ series finale reveals exactly why Bix (Adria Arjona) left Cassian and the Rebellion. It’s a final reveal that Andor creator and showrunner Tony Gilroy says “magnifies Cassian’s tragedy” even while leaving us with “something hopeful.”
**Spoilers for all of Andor Season 2, now streaming on Disney+**
The end of Andor Season 2 Episode 12 reveals that after Bix left the Rebellion, she wound up back on the agrarian planet of Mina-Rau, the same place we found the Ferrix gang at the beginning of this season. However, Bix is not alone. She’s not only fully integrated in the local community again — with B2EMO at her side! — but she’s also the mother to a newborn.
“Primarily, I wanted to have something hopeful at the end of this. I mean, I’m really, we’re punishing a lot of people in this show,” Andor showrunner Tony Gilroy told DECIDER when asked about Bix’s baby reveal.
“It’s a tough road. And we know where [Cassian’s] going and I really would be bereft if there was not a candle in the window at the end of this thing,” he said. “I really wanted to have hope, so there’s that.”
Yup, Bix left Cassian on Yavin IV so she could raise their child in safety. Cassian is fated to perish at the end of Rogue One: A Star Wars Story, but only after he, Jyn Erso (Felicity Jones), and their team manage to steal the Death Star plans and get them to Princess Leia. Everything Cassian and Bix have done will have been worth it, even if it means they won’t get to live happily ever after with their child.
“It also magnifies Cassian’s tragedy, really,” Gilroy said. “The child that he doesn’t even know about or ever meet or know what he’s missing. It amplifies that in some elements.”
Gilroy added that revealing Bix had a baby also helped put her decision at the end of Andor Season 2 Episode 9 “Welcome to the Rebellion” into better context anybody who didn’t get it. She wasn’t just leaving Cassian because of her unflagging belief in his destiny, but also for their child.
“It’s a complicated idea. Leaving because I believe that you have a destiny and my being here will impede that destiny and I believe in the destiny as much as I love you. Perhaps a bit more,” he said.
“It’s a complicated idea and anybody who was rubbing against that or doubtful about that will now, I hope, be a bit more sanguine about it knowing that she was probably pregnant when she left.”
Cassian Andor might not see the future he’s fought so hard for, but his child* will.
*And, no, Bix’s baby is not Poe Dameron. Poe’s mom was a very involved Rogue Squadron pilot in the Star Wars canon. Not every person in Star Wars actually is related!