In Andor, Cassian Andor continues the path toward his heroic rebel destiny. With all episodes now streaming on Disney+, join us as StarWars.com digs into the making of a leader and a burgeoning rebellion poised to take down the Empire.
Spoiler warning: This article discusses story details and plot points from key Season 2 episodes of Andor, “Make It Stop”, “Who Else Knows?”, and “Jedha, Kyber, Erso” as well as previous episodes of the series.
We often think of Mon Mothma (Genevieve O’Reilly) and Bail Organa (Benjamin Bratt) among the first architects of the Rebel Alliance. And while these politicians have surely earned their place in the pantheon of heroes risking everything to bring an end to the tyrannical rule of the Empire, their fledgling rebellion may never have left the senate building if not for one man: Luthen Rael (Stellan Skarsgård).
Long ago, Luthen sacrificed calm, kindness, kinship, and his own peace to forge ahead disrupting the stranglehold of Imperial rule. And this week, with Imperial Security Bureau Supervisor Dedra Meero (Denise Gough) knocking on his door, the story of Andor comes to a final conclusion, clearing the board to bring us to the brink of the events of Rogue One: A Star Wars Story.
BBY 1 (One year before Battle of Yavin)
If Mon’s fiery speech was the spark that ignited the Rebel Alliance in the public eye, one year later we find Luthen and Kleya overstaying their welcome and overplaying their hand hiding in plain sight on Coruscant. With Lonni Jung’s final intel — the shocking realization that the Emperor’s energy program was a cover story for a weapon of mass destruction known as the Death Star — the rebel agents must face the reality that it’s time to burn it all down.
If only Lonni had spoken sooner or Luthen had moved quicker. Maybe then Dedra and her entourage would have found a vacant storefront when they came knocking. With a charming smile reminiscent of the first time we saw Rael don his wig, he greets the woman who has been hunting him for five years and finds himself out of options.
The Starpath unit, the very piece of salvage material that Cassian sold to Luthen before reluctantly joining his cause, is a nice touch on Dedra’s part. But Luthen is not desperate for an escape. As he has always told Kleya Marki (Elizabeth Dulau), know your way out before you go in. With a ceremonial blade plunged into his chest, he makes the choice to sacrifice himself rather than give the Empire a prisoner who knows too much. And Luthen buys precious seconds for the destruction of Kleya’s radio to eliminate the real evidence that could snuff out the rebellion before it really begins.
In the safe house where Cassian Andor (Diego Luna) and Bix Caleen (Adria Arjona) once made their home, Kleya prepares for battle while we see the story of Kleya and Luthen’s first meeting unfold. It’s an elegant means of exploring their bond, sometimes akin to father and daughter, the past and the present colliding, as we see young Kleya learning what it really means to fight the Empire and the destruction that it will bring for innocent bystanders as well as those who choose to fight. Kleya may have been Luthen’s first pupil, the first rebel spy he trained in the art of blending in, as seen on Naboo where the pair avoid being caught setting off an explosive.
In the Coruscant hospital where Luthen will meet his end, Kleya blends in seamlessly as a staff member urgently moving among the hospital floors before making her way to his bedside. It’s a bittersweet reunion. From the outside, even after seeing so many vignettes from their life together, we cannot say for sure how Kleya and Luthen would describe their bond. But some part of Kleya mourns the man who protected her all these years, even if he and his soldiers were the reason she was orphaned. With a kiss, she sets Luthen free.
Cracks in the Imperial facade
With Luthen and Jung dead, the ISB is put on high alert and Dedra Meero (Denise Gough) finds herself accused of spying for the rebel cause. Or maybe Director Orson Krennic (Ben Mendelsohn) is just reaching for a swift solution so he can get back to Project Stardust and Grand Moff Tarkin.
Everything in our story now hurtles toward Rogue One, a collision course of character destinies and galactic upheaval. Cassian Andor (Diego Luna), Ruescott Melshi (Duncan Pow), and K-2SO (Alan Tudyk) enjoy some downtime on Yavin 4 before Wilmon Paak’s (Muhannad Bhaier) hidden radio alerts them to Kleya’s plight. And without missing a beat, we’re back to the ragtag crew of rebels on the U-wing, as K-2SO counts the rules they’ve disobeyed: 17 so far, and that’s just on takeoff.
It’s a risky move in the best of times, and this is not the best of times. Coupled with the Empire piecing together what’s left of the gallery radio, the rebels and the Imperials are soon on a collision course leading, ironically, to the first place we saw Cassian and Bix Caleen (Adria Arjona) make a home together — the Coruscant safehouse. Cassian thinks he’s rescuing Luthen. Instead, he finds Kleya Marki, desperate to get Jung’s intel to the Rebel Alliance on Yavin, and a battalion ready to storm their door.
Luckily, K-2SO has learned to disobey orders and he doesn’t stay with the ship. If not for his pure mechanical muscle, this story may have ended quite differently. But fighting through the disorienting effects of a stun grenade, Cassian, Melshi, and Kleya make it back to their ship and head for the relative safety of Yavin.
Everything has been leading to this moment, the first time Mon Mothma, Bail Organa, and the rest of the leaders including Admiral Raddus, must grapple with the idea of the Death Star. But Cassian’s news — the intel that cost Luthen his life — is met with doubt and derision.
This is a side of the rebellion we have not often glimpsed. Fearful and hesitant. Stuck in the old ways of protocol and diplomacy, when they are on the cusp of an all-out war. There’s no time to waste when the Empire has been secretly building a superweapon for decades. But Cassian, a rebel with a complicated relationship to the cause and Luthen himself, rises to the challenge. “Does anyone in this room besides Senator Mothma have any idea how much you owe [Luthen]?” he asks, impassioned. “I don’t know if what he was told, it’s true or not, but it’s insulting to hear him run down by people who have given a fraction of his sacrifice to the rebellion.”
Cassian Andor knows about sacrifice. He’s lost his family, his home, his love, yet he continues to fight for a sunrise he will not live to see. And as he’s led out, having shaken the diplomats by speaking truth to power, the next steps come into focus. Tivik. Kafrene. Saw Gerrera on Jedha. We know what awaits him, what these places mean. And after the credits roll, we begin Rogue One: A Star Wars Story with a deeper understanding of all that came before it, seeing it in a new light.
Hope is far from lost as the final scenes of Andor play out. Major Partagaz (Anton Lesser) meets his fate while Nemik’s manifesto plays on; the rebels are on their way to winning. Dedra finds herself confined in a stark white prison reminiscent of Narkina 2. Bail Organa (Benjamin Bratt) makes a chilling observation: “If I die fighting the Empire, I want to go down swinging.” And while Yavin 4 drives toward the buttoned-up rebel base we first saw in Star Wars: A New Hope, and Cassian departs, edging closer to his fate on Scarif, hope springs eternal in a field on Mina-Rau, where the next generation remains safely hidden away.
