Here comes the big one, folks. Though a prequel series to Rogue One: A Star Wars Story may do little to tantalise on paper, franchise fans can barely wait for Disney+'s next Star Wars spin-off series. And there's good reason for that, beyond the clamour for any and all things labelled Star Wars: for one, it actually looks in keeping with the cinematic quality touted by the mainline franchise, with the polish sometimes missing in the other straight-to-streaming offshoots. Just check out the variety of physical sets in the first teaser. Sumptuous stuff!
Excitingly, this one's set to go off the beaten genre track, trading space epic for slow-burning spy thriller — in much the same way The Mandalorian brought trappings of the Western into the franchise, or Obi-Wan Kenobi elevated elements of revenge dramas. And here's the kicker: it's being showrun by Tony Gilroy, writer of Rogue One and four Jason Bourne movies.
Per the official synopsis, it focuses on Cassian Andor (Diego Luna), the protagonist of Rogue One. “Hang on,” we hear you say: “Didn't he die?” It's true: Andor did die in said film, consumed by the unthinkable heat of the Death Star's planet-destroying laser, and that's why Andor will be set in the five years prior to Rogue One, across two planned seasons of twelve episodes each.
Here's everything we know about Andor so far.
When does Star Wars: Andor come out?
You'll have to wait just a bit longer. The first three episodes of the Star Wars spin-off are set to debut on Disney+ on September 21, with the rest of the 12-episode season dropping weekly after that. For anyone who's had this marked on your calendar, that's three weeks later than its initial August 31 release date.
What's Star Wars: Andor about?
We've already covered the major bits: it's centred on the titular protagonist, Cassian Andor, a holdover from the feature flick Rogue One: A Star Wars story. That movie was about a band of folk from the Rebel Alliance coming together to strike a bleeder of a blow to the Galactic Empire, led by Andor, stealing the Death Star plans so the Alliance can work out how to destroy it.
The official synopsis describes this as a “new perspective from the Star Wars galaxy,” continuing:
A May cover of Vanity Fair centred on the groundswell of upcoming Star Wars shows, featuring conversations with the likes of Ewan McGregor on Obi-Wan Kenobi, Rosario Dawson on Ahsoka and, yep, Luna on Andor.
In the piece, it's revealed that Gilroy himself tapped up Luna to come back for the prequel series, describing it as “[exploring] Andor's backstory, revealing what drew him into the galactic Rebellion and how he evolved from a self-serving nihilist into a selfless martyr”.
VF further reveals that “Andor will be primarily set five years before that mission in Rogue One, although the show will flash back even further to when Cassian’s childhood home world first falls under the tyrannical control of the Empire.”
Luna describes it as a “refugee story,” per VF, “with desperate people fleeing the Empire at the full force of its power”, adding, “It's the journey of a migrant… that feeling of having to move is behind this story, very profoundly and very strong.”
Gilroy doubles down in the piece, outlining it to the effect of being a post-colonial parable. “[Andor's] adopted him will become the base of our whole first season, and we watch that place become radicalised,” he told VF. “Then we see another planet that's completely taken apart in a colonial kind of way. The Empire is expanding rapidly. They're wiping out anybody who's in their way.”
This is all to say… if you were hoping for a ‘no thoughts, head empty’ kinda show, Andor probably won't be the one for you.
Who's in Star Wars: Andor?
Diego Luna is your main guy, but he'll be joined by a pretty sizeable ensemble (as you'd expect from a Star Wars). The main two supporters are Genevieve O'Reilly, returning as Mon Mothma (seen previously in Revenge of the Sith and, yep, Rogue One) and Stellan Skarsgård as the brand new Luthen.
Speaking to Empire, Luna described the show as character-focused than Rogue One: “[that's] more about an event than the actual journey of the characters. It's quite amazing to start a show where it's not about where we can end — it's about, how did we end there?"
As if those guys weren't enough, you can also expect to see Adria Arjona, Kyle Soller, Fiona Shaw, Alex Lawther, Denise Gough, Robert Emms and Forest Whitaker.
Is there a trailer for Star Wars: Andor?
Yep! Check out the teaser trailer here.
Along with the announcement of the delay, Disney have also released a longer trailer here.
In the new footage, we get a few glimpses of what we can expect from the series, which is really leaning into its espionage tone. Flashbacks to Andor's childhood reveal the mass destruction the Empire unleashed on his home world. Years later, an eccentric Luthen (Stellan Stellan Skarsgård) recruits Andor for a spy operation to infiltrate the Empire. “They can't imagine someone like me would ever get inside their house,” Andor says over a shot of the rebel soldier clothed an imperial disguise. Also returning is Forest Whitaker as Saw Gerrera, the extremist rebel fighter who met a tragic fate via Death Star blast in Rogue One.
