Star Wars Andor Is Upon Us

While there still isn't a lot that we know about the series, it's been described as a taught spy thriller, in space. From what we saw in Star Wars: Rogue One, Diego Luna brings a compelling character to life in the form of the rebellious Cassian Andor. As the series got a second season before we even knew it was headed to a fall premiere, this should be a Star Wars adventure that will leave fans both happy and wanting more.

Star Wars Cassian Andor

We met the lovable rogue Cassian Andor in Star Wars Rogue One. Diego Luna’s gritty, mercenary anti-hero was on the ground for the rebellion from its earliest days. As a soldier, he believed in following orders. As a person, he believed in making his own decisions. Now, Cassian Andor (Luna,) gets his own series on Disney Plus, and Star Wars fans get to experience the rebellion during its earliest years.

Five years before Rogue One: A Star Wars Story, we pick up the Star Wars story in the early days of the rebellion as the skilled pilot, soldier, and intelligence agent, Cassian Andor, is recruited into the rebellion.

The opening sequence of the trailer shows us the small, inconsequential lives of the people in the galaxy the Empire is starting to crush. We’re treated to the scene of a young girl that looks like a farmer as she looks up into the skies as an Imperial Star Destroyer flies over.

A memory sequence shows a very young Cassian sneaking into an installation run by the Empire as a thief.

To steal from the empire… you just walk in like you belong

— Cassian (Diego Luna)

The trailer gives us a look at the build-up within the Empire as Cassian describes them as “proud of themselves” and “They’re so fat and satisfied.”

They can’t imagine that someone like me would ever get inside their house.

— Cassian

Enter Luthen

Stellan Skarsgard plays Luthen Rael and once you watch the trailer you’ll quickly understand that Luthen is a key player at the beginning of the rebellion, and appears to be the man that recruits Cassian into the fold of rebels. As Cassian said, they’d never imagine someone like him could get into their house. This gives Andor all the requisites of a taught spy thriller.

…the Empire is choking us so slowly. We’re starting not to notice.

— Luthen Rael, (Stellan Skarsgard)

Luthen asks Cassian if he would rather give it all to something real. It’s the recruitment speech meant to bring a hero out of the skilled spy, pilot, and thief. Skarsgard is a phenomenal performer…one of the best of our era and is bringing intensity and power to his performance in the trailer.

I need all the heroes I can get.

— Luthen

Forrest Whittaker, another of the greatest in Hollywood, returns as Saw Gerrera. Saw raised Jin Erso in Rogue One and was a one-time ally of the rebellion. He trained Jin and was heavily connected.

From the trailer, this 12-episode first season is going to be filled with the special effects we’ve come to expect from Lucasfilm and Disney. As we get views…glimpses of familiar faces and new characters, the intensity is likely to build around the rebels forming as a group and the Empire trying to stop them.

From battles in the streets of a city to the scenes of stormtroopers and imperial forces dealing with crowds we get both the battles on the ground, and eventually in the air. The famed imperial ships are ever present in the early scenes that have been released, as well as a scene with Cassian speeding into what looks like a battle and Stellan Skarsgard’s Luthen behind the controls of a fighter.

As the revolution begins, Star Wars fans are going to get a full ten weeks of the adventure on Disney Plus. The first season premieres on Disney Plus when the first three episodes drop. Season two is likely to premiere in the fall of 2023 with the final 12 episodes arriving as the series finale will lead right into the events of Rogue One: A Star Wars Story.