I was so excited to watch Andor. Rogue One is one of the best Star Wars movies and I liked how the characters have their moments to shine. When Cassian was first introduced, he seems broken by the Rebellion. He’s been forced to do things for the greater good which had a personal cost for him. His character stood out to me. I was elated to hear he would star in his own show. After finishing Andor, this feels less like a Star Wars series and more of a heist/espionage slow-building show that just happens to exist in the Star Wars universe.

Five years before the Battle of Yavin, Cassian Andor (played by Diego Luna) is looking for his missing sister. He is gathering evidence of her whereabouts when he’s interrupted. He kills two officers in self-defense before fleeing the scene. The Empire starts to get involved thanks to Syril Karn (played by Kyle Soller) who wants to solve the murders and tracks Cassian. Cassian, in the meantime, is trying to sell Imperial Navigation technology for credits. Cassian’s ally, Bix (played by Adria Arjona) sets him up with Luthen Rael (played by Stellan Skarsgård) to make the deal. Luthen convinces Cassian to help his team with a heist which will help to devastate the Empire. Cassian throughout the show gets involved in various schemes which will help deal blows to the Empire from behind the scenes.

The cast for Andor is so good! It feels like no time has passed since Diego Luna played Cassian in Rogue One. Sometimes when there is a lot of time that passes between these releases, it can feel a little jarring. However, Diego clearly steps back in as Cassian. Andy Serkis has a small presence in the show which I don’t want to go into any more detail about because of spoilers. Stellan Skarsgård acts as a mentor of sorts to Cassian along with all the secrecy in planning all of his movements. He’s willing to make those hard choices which I can see is where Cassian learned this from. The cast is impeccable which makes the show that much better.

The episodes have a nice mix between the lore and the action. There is a lot of story-building in Andor which I personally enjoy because I think it establishes Andor’s place in the franchise. The heist episodes are a blast to watch because the plan that’s been built over time starts to come together. I think the prison break episode was a highlight of the series because of how Cassian always seems to be at the center of the spark that leads to a battle.

I was reading a critique online and someone had classified Andor as boring. I can kind of understand where this person is coming from. Star Wars is infamous for the light saber duels and intergalactic space battles. However, there’s so much more that happens in the shadows for those instances to occur. Andor is telling that story. For the rebellion to thrive, they need to bankrupt the Empire and steal their technology to even have a chance at taking The Empire head-on. The sacrifices that Cassian will eventually make set up the original trilogy. Andor might not be your cup of tea, but I think we can agree on the importance of telling that story.

Andor was well worth the wait, I can’t wait for season #2 which will link Cassian’s back story to the events leading into Rogue One.