Why You Can't Compare 'Ahsoka' To 'Andor'

Star Wars

Sep 18

Ahsoka Tano — Image Source: Wallpapers Den

The Ahsoka series has officially launched, with three episodes released to date, and, as with all other series based on the popular Star Wars franchise, people are already starting to make comparisons or, in some cases, non-comparisons to previously released series, especially Andor, the Cassian Andor “prequel series,” which was released last year to critical acclaim. Some fans have even critically described Ahsoka as the “Anti-Andor” series, with what they describe as its “fluffy” nature and seeming lack of “gravity” compared to Andor. While comparisons to other series and projects are seemingly inevitable, is comparing Ahsoka to Andor even reasonable? There are several reasons why such comparisons between Ahsoka and Andor are difficult, if not impossible to make.

Chronologies

Andor and Ahsoka take place in wildly different time periods with their own unique circumstances that inform the actions and personality of each respective character. Andor is set approximately five years before the events of Rogue One and A New Hope, a time period where the Galactic Empire was at the height of its power and the Rebellion was still in its infancy, which makes Andor a much darker and dangerous time for the protagonist, Cassian Andor, as well as the Jedi and anybody else opposed to the Empire to be living. Although it is not currently precisely known when Ahsoka, it is set alongside The Mandalorian and The Book of Boba Fett, both of which are set several years after the events of Return of the Jedi and during the infancy of the New Republic, a time of relative peace and safety for Ahsoka and most of the galaxy by comparison.

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Character Types

There are obvious and critical differences between the characters, their personality, upbringing, and experiences. While both Cassian and Ahsoka experienced tremendous individual loss and trauma throughout their lives, their upbringing could not be more different. The most glaring difference is that Ahsoka was raised by the Jedi Order in the comfort of the Jedi Temple for many years and was trained in the use of the Force. Although Ahsoka has had to make hard choices before, she always attempted to make compassionate moral choices, even steadfastly refusing to kill Clone Troopers attempting to execute her because of Order 66 in The Clone Wars.

Cassian, however, is an ordinary “everyman” with no Force sensitivity and had a hardscrabble upbringing, having been taken from his birthplace on Kenari by scavengers and subsequently growing up on the industrial planet Ferrix under the Empire, Cassian’s life was anything but easy or comfortable. Cassian, as well as the other characters in Andor, are “morally grey” and Cassian himself makes some questionable moral choices, such as murder, when necessary for his survival or that of others. In Andor, after participating in a major heist against the Empire, Cassian made the unilateral choice to kill an accomplice when it appeared he was going to steal all of the money and run off.

Source Materials

Both series are essentially spinoffs of other series/movies, however, what they are spun off from are drastically different in terms of tone. Andor is a “prequel” of sorts to Rogue One, which originally featured Cassian Andor. Visually and tonally, Andor is very much based on Rogue One’s darker palette, which, by the end of the film featured all of the heroes, including Cassian, ultimately sacrificing their lives to obtain and deliver the plans for the Death Star to the Rebellion. Ahsoka is largely viewed as a spinoff of Star Wars Rebels, which she regularly appeared throughout, using her Jedi training to aid the nascent Rebellion, as well as the crew of The Ghost. Although that series certainly had its dark moments, the show was aimed more toward a younger audience and, as such, had a much lighter tone than Andor. So far, Ahsoka seems to be keeping with the lighter tone set by Star Wars Rebels.

All this being said, as Lucasfilm continues to develop Star Wars content, fans should celebrate and welcome the growing diversity of the types of Star Wars content being made available. Andor has demonstrated that there is an appetite among fans for more serious, darker Star Wars, however, other series and projects like Ahsoka, for whatever reason(s), may appeal more to other fans. Fortunately, with the ongoing creation of more Star Wars series, as well as continuations of others, fans have a wide variety of Star Wars series to enjoy and nowhere is it written that fans have to embrace everything produced.

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