- Also known as Star Wars: Andor and Andor: A Star Wars Story
- Created by Tony Gilroy
- September 21, 2022 to present
- Based on Star Wars created by George Lucas
- Disney+
Main Cast
- Cassian Andor-Diego Luna
- Luthen Rael-Stellan Skarsgård
- Mon Mothma-Genevieve O’Reilly
- Bix Caleen-Adria Arjona
- Syril Karn-Kyle Soller
- Dedra Meero-Denise Gough
- Vel Sartha-Faye Marsay
- Cinta Kaz-Varada Sethu
- Kleya Marki-Elizabeth Dulau
- Orson Krennic-Ben Mendelsohn
Guest Cast
- Brasso-Joplin Sibtain
- Eedy Karn-Kathryn Hunter
- Perrin Fertha-Alastair Mackenzie
- Major Partagaz-Anton Lesser
- Tay Kolma-Ben Miles
- Davo Sculdun-Richard Dillane
- B2EMO-voice of Dave Chapman
- Saw Gerrera-Forest Whitaker
- Lonni Jung-Robert Emms
- Bail Organa-Benjamin Bratt
Andor begins to feel the stresses of his life as he becomes more involved in the growth of the Rebellion. Maybe. He’s in this less and less.
————————————————————————————————————-
Andor, much like Star Wars in general, is experiencing a bit of an identity crisis or an aversion to what should be its identity. For these three episodes the title character does not have much screen time. More often than not it’s juggling multiple storylines per episode with little time on Cassian.
Here are my thoughts on the most recent three episodes of Andor.
————————————————————————————————————-
Ever Been to Ghorman?
- Directed by Ariel Kleiman
- Written by Beau Willimon
- April 29, 2025
A year after the incident on Mina-Rau, Cassian and Bix are hiding out on Coruscant while the Empire is building an armory on Ghorman.
There is a lack of Cassian Andor (Diego Luna) in this Ever Been to Ghorman? I guess it’s to tell a more complex narrative, but you can’t do that by focusing on the main character of the series? The other stories should complement HIS story. His few moments are all about the fallout from the previous three episodes. Even Mon Mothma (Genevieve O’Reilly) and her political intrigue in the Senate trying to get a bill passed is much more important than Cassian Andor whose name is on the title.
Andor as a series and this episode are certainly trying to touch on real world politics and perceptions along with a hint of history. If you can’t figure out the who and what then you might want to pick up a history book here and there.
Who can forget Saw Gerrera (Forest Whitaker)? Andor needs to cram one more character into this episode to further crowd out the main character. That bugs me whenever a series or film pushes aside the title or main character in favor of other characters. They should be important to the story in some way even if the character themselves does not know it and Cassian really isn’t important to the story of this episode.
Syril (Kyle Soller) and Dedra (Denise Gough) are no longer together. It takes a little bit before we get to understand that he’s actually part of Dedra’s mechanizations to deal with the planet. I do find him interesting but he’s not the main character.
Syril is not the same as we saw last but rather a conflicted individual who looks like he may be developing sympathies for Rebels. Where did this come from? Last season he was pretty pro Empire and tightly wound. Now he’s changed. He is much more relaxed by the end than he was three episodes prior.
The writing intense and the acting was excellent. They really did assemble a fantastic cast for this episode in the series, and that makes it a very good watch.
————————————————————————————————————-
I Have Friends Everywhere
- Directed by Ariel Kleiman
- Written by Beau Willimon
- April 29, 2025
Kleya learns that Sculdun intends to inspect his gallery when one of his pieces turns out to be a fake threatening to expose a bug she planted while Andor connects with the Ghorman rebels and learns they plan to take a weapons shipment.
The Syril/Dedra storyline takes up a big chunk of I Have Friends Everywhere. It’s a good espionage thriller story where you can clearly see Syril (Kyle Soller) does have some confliction over whether he is on the right side but not enough that he opening notes it. Maybe not blatantly sympathetic but the controlled façade that made him a touch creepy comes down.
The character is not as tightly wound as he was before. Previously he appeared more psychotic in how controlled he was between them interesting and different from the usual Star Wars characters.
I had noted that Cassian (Diego Luna) did not look like an Imperial officer or pilot in the first episode because he was too scruffy. Here they clean him up for his cover of Varian Skye. He gets his hair styled and his facial hair pretty much removed other than a hint of a mustache. Why couldn’t they do that in the first episode? I don’t know.
At least Andor get something to do in this episode rather than just have his name in the title. Not much to move his story along or even get much of one. There is a lot of walking and that bothers me. Then again there’s a lot of walking in this whole episode and I’m starting to realize more and more instances of walking take up a good chunk of time in any Star Wars series.
We get more into Saw Gerrera (Forest Whitaker) and his storyline. He went from a dangerous and perhaps unhinged rebel to a psychotic junkie that likes to huff space gasoline in this episode. I have not watched all of/every Star Wars series but if his unhinged nature is because of brain damage from sniffing chemicals why was that not better communicated in at the minimum Rogue One? You don’t need a long scenes. Just a line or two.
I Have Friends Everywhere was flawed but good. I just wish they would focus more on Cassian Andor and his story.
————————————————————————————————————-
What a Festive Evening
- Directed by Ariel Kleiman
- Written by Beau Willimon
- April 29, 2025
Cassian realizes Ghorman’s rebels are unprepared with Luthen deciding to send Vel and Cinta to help the Ghorman rebels pull off their heist.
I have previously praised Andor’s ability to hop around from story to story in a single episode. I can’t praise that here because they do it very poorly. The series has introduced far too many characters and is dealing with far too much and none of them get really much play. Something begins to get interesting and then they cut away to something else.
Major Partagaz (Anton Lesser) continues to be one of the more intriguing supporting characters of the series. He’s just a bureaucrat with no real skin in the game other than to get his paycheck for the week. He benefits by not needing a story to be present.
The storyline with the Ghorman Rebels orchestrating their first hit is interesting. That gets tied down by the rekindling of the romance between Vel Sartha (Faye Marsay) and Cinta Kaz (Varada Sethu). I don’t care about the romantic entanglements of minor supporting characters. There’s enough emotional baggage in this episode that we don’t need more of it. I forgot about the whole thing if it was ever a thing from Season One. Was it?
Vel is experienced (or implied to be) but takes time out to let her emotions fly and berates the man that accidentally killed Cinta. You decide to weaken a fledgling group by chastising a member? Did she think nobody could get hurt? It also begs the question why Luthen set a couple with history to get a group up and running.
A big deal was made out of Benjamin Bratt taking over for Jimmy Smits in the part of Bail Organa. Bratt takes over for Smits in a moment that added nothing to the story other than one moment of nostalgia. The moment with him didn’t even need to be in the episode.
Cassian (Diego Luna) shows up but only to support Bix’s (Adria Arjona) revenge story. Beyond that he develops little. He should be helping his love but if that is his most significant action so far then Andor is not really Andor’s show.
This is juggling multiple other stories aside from the ones I mentioned. Some interweaving with yet none getting enough time to breathe before moving onto the next. Vel and Cinta get a great deal of time for their tragic romance that is the least interesting thing the episode offered. In a few minutes of time in this episode alone we are supposed to feel heartache over something ignored during the previous five?
What a Festive Evening had far too many stories going on. They got cut off just as they were getting interesting. I hope this is not an indication of things to come but so far probably the weakest episode.
————————————————————————————————————-
While the first three episodes handled multiple storylines per episode well the most recent three or so grow weaker under the strain. Cassian Andor should be the main character with the other storylines feeding into his story in a way slightly more than casually but significantly less than the impact of a sledgehammer to your feet. He’s barely a presence in his own show.
I’m not sure if I’m too keen on these time jumps. It makes me wonder why the episodes are released separately rather than as one long episode. If each comprises a year, then why not just release them as one single story? Characters seem different though with no clue on why.
I have enjoyed myself but am losing a touch of interest as the character I want to see gets crowded out. Is this a Star Wars spy show or a series about the political intrigue of Mon Mothma or one of tragic romances or even one that reveals Saw as a huffer of space gas?
Fingers crossed.
Warren Watched A Movie 