The reviews for Andor are officially out. Star Wars returns to Disney+ after Ewan McGregor's Obi-Wan Kenobi show. This time, it's once again set in the largely unexplored era between the prequel and original trilogy and is centered on the beginnings of the Rebellion. Created by Tony Gilroy, Andor sees Diego Luna as the titular character, reprising his role as Cassian Andor after first debuting in Rogue One: A Star Wars Story.
Unlike its predecessors, Andor is already confirmed for a two-season run on Disney+. Season 1, consisting of 12 episodes, is set five years before Gareth Edwards' Rogue One. Meanwhile, season 2 will have the same number of episodes but will directly lead to the events of the Star Wars movie. Andor boasts an ensemble cast of new faces including Stellan Skarsgård as Luthen Rael, Adria Arjona as Bix Caleen, and Fiona Shaw as Maarva, mixed with familiar ones such as Genevieve O'Reilly as Mon Mothma, and Forest Whitaker as Saw Gerrera. Primarily, however, it centers on Andor as he does numerous jobs in the name of the burgeoning Rebellion fighting the Galactic Empire.
With Andor set to make its three-episode premiere on September 21, Lucasfilm has lifted the embargo for the show's reviews. These give viewers an idea of what to expect from the latest Star Wars Disney+ offering. Check them out below:
Graeme Guttmann, Screen Rant
Ultimately, Andor proves what many have long suspected: Star Wars is at its best when it tries something new. There's a reason that, despite going back to a familiar time period, Rogue One is the best Star Wars live-action effort to hit screens this decade. Gone are the desert planet landscapes, the fan service, and the feeling of the franchise playing it safe. In its place, Andor brings forth a mature, gritty, and political Star Wars series that, for the first time since The Mandalorian, feels like exciting new territory.
Maggie Lovitt, Collider
Andor rises to meet the challenge of telling the story of the early days of the Rebellion through the eyes of a man who hasn’t fully come into his own yet. While I dither at the thought of referring to this as a coming-of-age story, when Cassian is very much already a full-grown man, the spirit of those stories is very much alive in the series. Similarly to his Rogue One counterpart Jyn Erso’s (Felicity Jones) arc in that film, Cassian has a chip on his shoulder, and he is running from his true potential. His ideas about resistance and fighting back against oppression haven’t fully developed and, as he comes in contact with the beating heart of the Rebellion—the everyday man and woman risking their lives for the cause—he is on a collision course for change.
John Nugent, Empire Magazine
Expansive and ambitious (unlike the largely disappointing The Book Of Boba Fett, it doesn’t confine itself to one planet), it gives you a real feeling of a wider universe, and Andor’s place in it as an outsider. Plus admirably, for a character originally created in service to the Skywalker saga, there’s no deferring to the broader narratives.
Belen Edwards, Mashable
Notably, and to its credit, Andor seems uninterested in begging for nostalgia points in the same way that Obi-Wan Kenobi or The Book of Boba Fett did. In the first four episodes, you'll find no Jedi, no lightsabers, and no major Easter egg-y cameos. The closest you get is the return of Senator Mon Mothma (Genevieve O’Reilly), but based on the trailers for Andor, this show seems as much an origin story for her as an origin story for Cassian.
Cameron Frew, Dexerto
Andor is one of the most exciting shows to emerge from the new era of Star Wars; emotionally maturer, compelling without quick fixes, and for the first time since The Last Jedi, we’re enriching the canon.
Dais Johnston, Inverse
Andor abandons all conventions of what fans want to see — saber battles, Force powers, cameos — and returns to what made Star Wars great in the first place: the David and Goliath story of a rebel army going up against an unstoppable empire.
Charles Pulliam-Moore, The Verge
While Andor’s first season starts off strong on its own merit, what’s most promising about the series as a whole is how Gilroy and the rest of the show’s creative team seem to have a solid idea of how they want to evolve and transform Cassian in the buildup to season 2, which leads right into the events of Rogue One. There’s something deeply comforting in knowing that Andor’s already intentionally moving toward a specific end zone and that its journey along the way is meant to make that ultimate destination all the more satisfying. It’s a somewhat new approach for Star Wars, especially in the era of its live-action TV spinoff series, but it’s almost certain to work in Andor’s favor as the series unfolds.
David Opie, Digital Spy
This is Star Wars stripped down to its core, like a pack of Jawas have been let loose on the franchise and scavenged all the shiny bits. As a result, Andor does away with lightsaber duels and flashy cameos. What's left is harder and grittier, but no less precious or valuable.
Caroline Framke, Variety
“Andor” is, both by design and circumstance, immediately different from its “Star Wars” television predecessors. Where “The Mandalorian,” “Boba Fett,” and “Obi-Wan Kenobi” wove their biggest reveals into the larger fabric of the Lucasfilm universe, “Andor” doesn’t rush toward those moments that might make fans gasp out of pure recognition. Instead, it does something more surprising still: it tells the story of people who have nothing to do with Solos, Skywalkers or Palpatines, but whose lives matter nonetheless.
As pointed out several times by the aforementioned reviews, Andor is an odd project because it functions as a prequel to a prequel. Rogue One directly leads to the events of A New Hope, and after its two-season run, the upcoming Disney+ show will set up the events of the 2016 Star Wars film. Despite this, it seems like Andor thrives in its novelty as it takes on a grittier approach to space opera's storytelling. While there will always be excitement over seeing and learning more about the Skywalkers, Palpatines, Jedi, and Sith, there are also benefits in exploring other aspects of the franchise. Offering viewers something fresh and different could not only keep long-term fans invested, but it could also bring in new viewers.
For context, the reviews are only for the first four episodes of Andor on Disney+. That leaves 8 more outings for the rest of its debut season, meaning a lot of things can still happen in the Disney+ series. It's also the reason why it is able to start out slow, as pointed out in some reviews. But if it maintains its current approach to storytelling, it is shaping up to be another, if not the biggest win for Star Wars TV shows thus far.
Source: Various (see links)
