More than two and a half years after the premiere of its first season, the release of the second and final season of Andor is finally coming up. After many setbacks, Andor is set for a 3 episode premiere on Disney+. The continuation of the Star Wars television series has been long anticipated, but even so, will be under high scrutiny by old and new fans alike.
Andor follows the story of Cassian Andor, a character first introduced in Rogue One: A Star Wars Story (2016). While keeping a lot of focus on Andor himself, the series provides a lot of context into the formation of the full fledged rebellion that is seen in the Original Star Wars Trilogy. In A New Hope (1977), audiences are presented with clearly established sides of a war. However, in Andor, watchers get to see the complexities of guerrilla warfare and the difficulties of starting an organized rebellion. Andor was praised for having a much more realistically violent perspective on a tyrannical government and showing the internal and external conflicts of both the rebellion and the Imperial government.
Andor covers many different perspectives, but takes on a much darker tone than other movies and series in the Star Wars universe. Many of the Star Wars Movies and shows have a very clear “Good Guy, Bad Guy”, and with the exception of the necessary tragedy in Revenge of the Sith (2005), the protagonists are always expected to win. In Andor, nothing can be resolved because there still needs to be conflict left for future stories. Instead, winning is just survival, and for many of the characters, not even that is guaranteed.
Andor is a stark example of one of the Star Wars Franchises strengths and weaknesses: varied genre and age. With all of its violence, Andor is not age appropriate, and stands in contrast to some of the more docile cartoons. This variety makes Star Wars approachable for all ages and genre tastes, but can also create a sense of disconnect between projects.
Besides living up to the praise of its first season, the production team of Andor encountered many challenges in creating season two.
Season 1 was slow to win the audience obsession it has today, so Disney Executives were hesitant to give the green light on a season 2, even though the director, Tony Gilroy, already had it written. Additionally, the release of season 1 came at a time when Wall Street Stocks for streaming services lost their steam and plummeted, forcing Disney to make budget cuts for its streaming site. After a long fight, Gilroy was finally able to gain approval for his project, but was granted a much smaller budget than what would be needed for a series of this scale.
To add to the pile, shortly after Andor’s production team finished its preproduction, The WGA (Writers Guild of America) and The SAG (Screen Actor Guild) began almost a year of strikes, so production for Andor was put at a standstill.
But after a long wait, Andor season two has released its final trailer. The trailer looks like the show will be “action-packed” and “well worth the wait” according to ScreenRant. Additionally, the trailer has a real song playing overtop, a new move for Star Wars projects, further highlighting the uniqueness of Andor against other Star Wars series’ with unprecedented moves like using real swear words.
To watch, tune in to Disney+ at 9 P.M. EST on Tuesday, April 22, 2025 for the first three episodes of Andor Season 2.
Sources: ScreenRant, HollywoodReporter, Toms Guide.
