How 'Andor' Sets Up A Side Of 'Star Wars' Ripe For Exploration
Image Source: Disney+
Disney’s upcoming series ‘Andor’ might just be the perfect chance at a story within the Star Wars universe made to be a political thriller. In how many Star Wars stories do undercover missions truly stay just below the radar of the empire? Captain Cassian Andor’s life story is essentially fueled by that stress and adrenalin.
Timeline-wise, ‘Andor’ could stand a chance of highlighting what public actions and strategies Mon Mothma, Bail Organa, and eventually young Leia Organa attempted before being outed as rebels. Cassian’s final act to help Jyn Erso get the schematics occurred when he was 26 years old in comparison to Luke and Leia just hitting 18 years of age shortly after in A New Hope. A lot should have happened in the form of ‘taxation’ and collection policies to have built the empire that made a Death Star. We may be looking at small gritty flashbacks of how his childhood was negatively affected by those economic crushing policies while Cassian completes mission after mission to build up and bring in more followers and resources to the rebellion cause. Either way, based on the objective focus demeanor he has it’s safe to assume he’s constantly doing something.
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In Rogue One, while the story focuses on Jyn Erso and the death star plans, we’re given a drastic change in the pace of character growth for Cassian and his struggle with trust as he deals with Jyn putting all cards out on the table. An environment builds a person and their struggles. A spy is naturally someone that is always watching and most likely going to have trust issues, but most people learn that from experiences. The scorching sands of Tatooine are unforgiving, and that tenacity shows in the heroes and anti-heroes that are honed there. Growing up within the rebellion at its’ beginnings and into its’ most stealth-required era before the return of those Skywalkers stands to create an intense and on-the-go childhood of picking up different skills as well.
Thinking back to the characters that are active at this time such as Saw Gerrera, Mon Mothma, and Bail Organa. Their influence would undoubtedly have indirect impacts as high-profile lead characters in Cassian’s life, but their views on how the rebellion should be run created conflicting tones of management. Most missions will likely be about getting information on Empire agendas and general survival, it’d be fascinating to see any missions covering up the relationship between select senators and the rebellion or also include one of many messy extractions. Though similar in background, Mon Mothma and Bail Organa led tough political careers from Galactic Republic Senators to Imperial Senators in the Legends books, calling upon the fixing of injustices that ultimately led to their outlaw labels. As we’ve seen in Clone Wars, Rebels, and Rogue One; we find Saw Gerrera is also an integral part of the rebellion who aspired to be the general that was needed to win wars. His tactics were far from being called covert or completely without casualties, and often resembled an example of guerilla warfare that was always on the move and was jointly taught by Anakin, Obi-Wan, and Ashoka. It was already made clear that Saw left of his own accord to pursue his path to victory, but it doesn’t mean he couldn’t have left remnants of his “at-all costs” ideas behind. His appearance in the Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order game set 5 years after Order 66 shows his unwavering rambunctious activity of planet-jumping missions to fight the Empire where he could afford to. However less of a people person that Saw was in comparison to his late sister or Bail Organa, he made up for it by physically being in most skirmishes, something that would resonate with rebel soldiers.
Image Source: Marvel (Bottom of Page 3 Star Wars: Rogue One – Cassian & K-2SO)
Of course, there’s also the “acquisition” of K-2SO or Kaytoo as Cassian calls the droid in the 27 page comic Star Wars: Rogue One – Cassian & K-2SO written by Duane Swierczynski and drawn up by Julian Totino Tedesco (Cover Art) and Fernando Blanco (Artist). The beauty of their relationship truly starts on the last page of the comic when K-2SO says, “It’s strange, I no longer have the overwhelming urge to detain you.” (Pg 27 of Cassian & K-2SO)
But even though K-2SO's sarcastic humor in the live-action would likely be introduced later in the live-action series, the writer of this comic also introduces the characters Kertas and Rismor as valued helping hands in K-2SO’s “acquisition”. These two siblings skilled in intelligence gathering are presented in a way that Cassian is semi-familiar with noticing their subtle conversations made by smell. These two might also stand a chance at popping up in the live-action series.
Star Wars has always been ripe with political drama and action, so why shouldn’t the stealthy route for a super-spy be a toe-curling thriller?
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Sources: Disney Plus [1], [2], [3], Electronic Arts, Marvel