The prequel of a prequel! In 2016, Disney unveiled Rogue One – A Star Wars Story, the story of the rebels led by Captain Cassian Andor (Diego Luna) who stole the Death Star plans and passed them on to the Rebel Alliance. A film that found its place perfectly between episodes III (Revenge of the Sith) and IV (A New Hope) of the intergalactic saga. Andorwhose first three out of twelve episodes will be available this Wednesday on Disney+, begins five years before Rogue One – A Star Wars Story. The series chronicles how Cassian Andor, still impeccably played by Diego Luna, became the heroic captain seen in the film and explores the budding rebellion against the Empire’s growing hold on the galaxy. A Star Wars series with a very different atmosphere from The Mandolarian, The Boba Fett Book and more recently the miniseries Obi-Wan Kenobi. Our review guarantees 100% non-disclosure of the first four episodes.
Andor is completely unlike anything done before in this franchise, including RogueOne. “What I would say is Andor is the most grounded Star Wars you can have. She focuses on people. There are no Jedi around and it’s a very dark period in the galaxy, ”explains Diego Luna in the columns of Screen Rant. There are very few Jedi left in the galaxy, many having been killed as a result of Order 66. Little humor, too, Andor is a dark spy thriller, whose retro-futuristic atmosphere evokes the masterpieces of science fiction of the early 1980s like blade runner Where Brazil. Behind this meticulous production work, production designer Luke Hull, award-winning for his work on the miniseries Chernobyl.
A slow-burning drama
Besides the tone, the rhythm is different. Andor is a slow-burning drama (slow burn) focused on a multi-layered story mixing crime, espionage and political thriller. Andor focuses on exploring characters, all morally ambiguous, like the troubled period they go through when the Empire is only in its infancy. “This Star Wars series is about ordinary people like you and me, and I think that connection is going to be special,” continues Diego Luna.
The first episodes take place on the planets Ferrix and Morlana-One, guarded by the Imperial security division known as Preox-Morlan.
A series centered on an antihero
The series centers around an antihero. Cassian Andor is still far from the heroic captain of Rogue One. We discover him as a rogue and a thief, committing various thefts, essentially motivated by the lure of profit. He tries like the other inhabitants to survive against the rise of the Galactic Empire.
Cassian Andor then still lives with his adoptive mother, Maarva Andor (Fiona Shaw). Flashbacks reveal Cassian Andor’s past, his origins and how he was taken in by her.
A case that Cassian Andor steals from the Imperial naval base at Steergard attracts the attention of Luthen Rael (Stellan Skarsgård), a major player in the nascent Rebellion, but also the brigades of the Empire.
Honoring the minions of the Empire
On Ferrix, Cassian Andor can thus count on the solidarity of the workers, who do not see the arrival of the henchmen of the Empire with a good eye, but especially on Bix (Adria Arjona), his childhood friend and former little girl. friend. “A time when people need to come together, articulate a response and work in communities, as the Empire grows and there is total control. People have been marginalized, and there is no freedom,” says Diego Luna.
The series focuses on showing the motivations of the Empire’s lowest-level leaders, like Police Inspector Syril Karn and Imperial Security member Dedra Meero, who are persuaded to spread good by imposing order as a rebel alliance is slowly forming.
The beginnings of the Rebellion
The action also unfolds in Coruscant, former residence of the Jedi temple and capital of the galaxy, where the resistance is preparing within the highest political authorities thanks to the senator Mon Mothma (embodied again by Genevieve O’Reilly). Announced at the casting, another familiar character, Saw Gerrera (Forest Whitaker), does not appear in the first episodes of Andor.
A successful bet for Tony Gilroy, the director of Rogue One at the helm of Andor, who manages to transcribe the tension of the dark hours of the universe Star Wars. Season 2 is already confirmed. Season 2 will be split into four three-episode blocks, with each block moving the timeline one year until the action meets that of RogueOne, said the showrunner. Looking at the first four episodes, Andor perfectly fulfills its mission: to explore the dark side of the saga while waiting for the appearance of a New Hope.