While Disney found a cadence with its various Marvel projects that it always has going (though it has been a little shakier than normal). The company that the Mouse built has never really been able to find the same level of consistence with their space opera franchise: Star Wars. The latest attempt at building out their expanded Star Wars universe is the currently ongoing spinoff of Rouge One, Andor. Six episodes in Andor is on track to be the best thing that Disney has done with Star Wars since it bought the rights and ownership of the franchise from George Lucas for 4 Billion dollars a decade ago this month.
Now you are probably wondering, Cody what about the Mandalorian? I watched the first season of Mandalorian (it was fine, not bad but also not amazing) and I started the second season and it really just did not grab me at all. The reception to Book of Boba Fett made me put it on the back burner of my “Watch Pile”. Then came Kenobi, and besides moments that were well done, the overall pacing and story of the show left a lot to be desired for a time period that people have been wanting to be explored since Disney purchased the franchise.
So what is Andor doing that is making it stand out when these previous shows and their attempts really have not. The answer is actually a pretty obvious one and that is do what you did not do with Rouge One. With the Jyn Erso origin story, it was Disney’s first attempt at trying to tell a Star Wars story without “Jedi’s, Force powers, etc). Some of it worked really well, it was a grounded story that was a Star War’s take on a traditional war movie. The problem that made this movie fall short of its potential (even though I still like it) are the characters are extremely paper thin, and because fo the constraint of the movies runtime, Rouge One does not have enough to give the plot and characters equal importance. Andor seems to look at Rouge One and past Star Wars shows and it has learned its lesson. Just in the latest three episode chunk (4-6) you get introduced to this rag tag band of precursor rebels and learn what makes them feel real. One that sticks out in my mind is Gorn, who is the one showing them how to march to blend in with the Empire guard, is actually a former Stormtrooper. Each person here has a reason why they are here, which compared to the reason Jyn Erso is there (a paper thin missing parent) makes each character feel lived in.
One of the things that Andor is able to accomplish that Rouge One was not going to be able to was making the action unpredictable. Rouge One kinda shoehorns itself into a corner because of the time period that it puts itself in. You know what the outcome of the action is going to be, and because it does not have the time to make the characters fully realized, it makes the ending anti-climatic. With Episode 6, Andor does a great job of showing its unpredictability, especially during the middle of the heist where multiple characters meet their end at a lighting pace. It is the first time where it shows that Rebels not as a united force, but as this ragtag band of people with different motivations and reasons for going against the monolithic Empire.
Where Rouge One seemed like a Star Wars version of a war movie, but buckled under the weight of the time period they were focused on. Rouge One started out as Star Wars-themed war movie, but by the time it ends between the Darth Vader scenes, and the ending of this movie being slotted right up against A New Hope it loses what makes it unique. They fell back into what has plagued Star Wars for most of Disney’s run, the constant relating it back to the original trilogy.
Andor seems to have a similar goal, to be a war/espionage movie grounded in a realism that Star Wars usually does not play in. One of the first things that makes me realize that Andor might actually accomplish this goal is the climax of the first 3 episodes. You are cutting back and forth between Cassian running around trying to secure a way off planet, while this local militia are coming in to perform a seizure of Cassian under a warrant.
That is just one example of what really differentiates Andor from its predecessor. It revels in the more “normal” aspects of those types of movie. If you are gonna do espionage then you have show those scenes, like Mon Mothma discussing with her family about internal politics within the Senate. You have to be able to revel in the quiet, it can not be all explosions.
Who knows, the second half of Andor (I am writing this after episode 6) could fall apart but for this first half check in, they are doing everything right. The structure being plot lines told through 3 episode chunks, characters that have motivations that make sense, and being able to have action that ramps up throughout provides a stable base that I don’t see episodes 7-12 falling apart. If Andor can be the jumping off point for the future of Disney/Star Wars content, the future could be very bright but only time will tell whether Disney learns the right lessons from this.