REVIEW: Andor – Season One [2022]

Rating: TV-14 | Episodes: 12 | Runtime: 40 minutes
Release Date: September 21st, 2022 (USA)
Studio: Lucasfilm / Disney+
Creator(s): Tony Gilroy

I’ve never been a huge Star Wars guy. The original films were part of my childhood and I enjoyed the spectacle of seeing them on the big screen upon re-release, as well as attending the prequels, but Disney’s purchase for expanded universe IP earned little more than a shrug. Why? Because it was all the same. Skywalkers threatening and saving the galaxy. We’d seen it all before.

That’s why Rogue One left a mark. Was it as good as the franchise’s best, Empire Strikes Back? Maybe. Maybe not. It felt fresh either way. Standalone in its action if not its mythology, it was a film dressed with the Star Wars aesthetic rather than one more example proving Star Wars is solely synonymous with characters born from George Lucas’ A New Hope. So, it’s no surprise “fans” dislike Andor and say it’s not “Star Wars.” And it’s no surprise it’s also the best thing to come from the series in forty years.

Credit Tony Gilroy and company for truly seeing what Star Wars was always about. Not the Force, but the Struggle. The struggle for freedom from oppression. The war for justice and equality. While we championed heroes who arrived at the eleventh hour to wave their hands, the machine of rebellion turned and provided them the opportunity to become legends years before their arrival. That’s where the real drama is. The boots on the ground espionage setting the stage. And if Rogue One whet that appetite, Andor gives it room to breathe. It shows us how a thief can be radicalized into becoming a hero without magic or pedigree. The people, no matter their origins, will rise.

Give us the gray area of “good” with Stellan Skarsgård’s Luthen damning his soul and sacrificing his allies to advance the mission. Give us the ambition of “evil” through Denise Gough’s pragmatic opportunist Meero and Kyle Soller’s impulsive opportunist Syril. Add sage wisdom (Fiona Shaw is a scene-stealer as always), gravitas (Andy Serkis supplies a wonderful arc), and tenacity (Genevieve O’Reilly and Faye Marsay might be my favorite characters of the whole as unlikely rebels) and there arise subplots and layers to this complex web that allow it to enthrall no matter who leads an individual scene, episode, or the show itself.

For his part, Diego Luna’s Cassian ultimately holds it together. He’s the catalyst, intentionally or not. He proves that the fight is always “ours” rather than “theirs” because it will arrive at “our” doorstep regardless of how far away it seemed beforehand. Every marvelous bit part (Kathryn Hunter’s delightful turn as Syril’s mother is a show-stopper) augments the heavy point-of-no-return atmosphere that a broken society builds until Cassian has no choice but to open his eyes to the truth: his participation was inevitable.