Returning for its second and final season on Disney+, Andor, a project widely considered one of Star Wars most critically acclaimed, delves into the pivotal years directly preceding the events of Rogue One: A Star Wars Story. The series charts Cassian Andor’s (Diego Luna) transformation from a resourceful rogue into the burgeoning rebel hero who eventually perishes in the Battle of Scariff, the climactic conflict that set the stage for the Battle of Yavin in Star Wars: A New Hope (Episode IV).
Much like the first season, Andor‘s second season is split into multiple arcs, only this time it’s categorized using the official Star Wars time designations i.e. BBY 4, aka “4 Years Before the Battle of Yavin”. The time jumps are significant and the tension ramps up each time those title cards hit the screen. These leaps can be a jarring, but they also provide refreshing resets allowing for different thematic elements, ensuring things never get stale.
The first arc features Cassian marooned and ensnared by nomads after stealing a highly advanced TIE fighter prototype and is the least gripping of the season’s arcs. Cassian is removed from the main action, and concurrently, Mon Mothma (Genevieve O’Reilly) is coming to terms with the disdain for life and politics on Coruscant – the looming need to make a public stand weighs heavy on her. Both actors are terrific and while it’s a slow start, the episodes set the characters in motion and don’t derail the good that’s to come. There is a more playful vibe to this season, the marketing teased that, and it’s most notable in the early episodes – it doesn’t always work, making this season feel more uneven than the first.
The real fun begins when the cat-and-mouse subterfuge of the middle of the season kicks in with treachery and near misses at every turn. Everyone’s new favorite ISB (Imperial Security Bureau) couple Dedra (Denise Gough) and Syril (Kyle Soller) are circumnavigating their new domestic life while circling ever closer to Luthen (Stellan Skarsgård) and Cassian’s rebellious machinations. All the while strings are being pulled by Death Star enthusiast Director Krennic (Ben Mendelsohn) in a welcome return of the actor to the memeable antagonist. The show deftly weaves all these characters into a tempest that keeps begging the question if and when their paths will finally cross and who will survive if they do. The answers are often unexpected, but Skarsgård, in particular, again deserves Emmy consideration for his work.
Star Wars fans are in for a treat as the series draws nearer to its conclusion. Familiar characters and locations take center stage and offer previously unseen looks at the birth of the Rebellion, including life on the rebel base at Yavin IV, Saw Gerrera’s (Forest Whitaker) continued descent into madness, and the long-awaited origin of Cassian’s Rogue One sidekick, imperial security droid K-2SO (Alan Tudyk).
The time jumps are one of the only serious flaws of the season and K-2SO is a perfect example of why. The fan-favorite character has a small, but still healthy amount of screen time, and unfortunately a huge portion of the evolution of Cassian’s snarky death machine gets time-jumped. The audience misses out on seeing their “friendship” and his personality develop and instead, Andor opts to get directly into the relationship status quo the duo had in Rogue One. Other less egregious moments and character growth also get short-changed, leaving a feeling that many of these ideas were meant to play out longer or in future seasons if there was no restriction on ending things now.
Nevertheless, the final arc is nostalgic and everything you could ask for from the series – grounded, thoughtful, and the right mix of maturity and hope that dovetails superbly into Rogue One. Despite a rocky start, Andor Season 2 comes through in the end, bringing the series a worthy close to its brand of sophisticated storytelling in the galaxy, far, far away.
Score: 4 out 5