Warning: This article contains spoilers for Andor season 1.

Andor season 1, the prequel trilogy, and the original trilogy all had the looming threat of the Death Star in some capacity, leading many to wonder just how long the Emperor's planet killer took to build. Andor takes place in 5BBY, five years before the theft of the Death Star plans by Cassian and Jyn Erso in Rogue One. With Rogue One featuring the first time the Death Star became operational, capitalized on by the Empire during the events of the original trilogy, it'd be easy to assume the Empire began building the Death Star shortly after their rise to power.

However, the Death Star's construction stretches back all the way to the days of the Republic. The first hints of Palpatine's plans for the Death Star come in Star Wars: Episode II - Attack of the Clones, in which the initial design for the station is shown on Geonosis. This means the Death Star's construction looks to have potentially begun in the year 22BBY. The first Death Star is said to have taken around 20 years to build, meaning construction would be finalized around 2BBY - which would make sense, as this would be two years before its first test run on the planet Jedha, and three years after Andor season 1.

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How The Death Star Construction Started Before The Empire

The Death Star plans in Attack of the Clones

The burning question in light of this is how the Death Star began construction before the Empire was even founded. The answer to that comes in the form of Star Wars' Emperor himself, Palpatine. As explored throughout the prequel trilogy, Palpatine began his plans early in the Skywalker Saga and began building his powers of the dark side from the shadows of the Jedi Order. This includes his plans to eventually install a dictatorship, alongside his plans to enforce himself as the sole leader of the new regime.

These plans were the Death Star, which he began building in secret through the guise of the Confederacy of Independent Systems/Separatists. At the time of Attack of the Clones, Count Dooku was one of the primary members of the Separatists and was also Palpatine's Sith apprentice. Through the Sith Lord Count Dooku and the Geonosians, Palpatine began building the Death Star before taking on construction once the Empire was founded and began instilling their rule across the galaxy.

Why The Death Star Took So Long to Build

Andor Death Star

The main reason as to why the Death Star took 20 years to be built is likely its sheer size and complexity. The Death Star's first appearance in the franchise - at least in terms of release order rather than chronologically - is in the original Star Wars. In the scene, Han Solo, Chewbacca, Luke Skywalker, and Obi-Wan Kenobi are tailing a TIE Fighter that Luke states is "heading for that small moon." Obi-Wan then infamously retorts that the object is not a moon, but a space station. This proves just how big the Death Star - foreshadowed throughout Andor - truly is, with its size able to emulate that of the smaller moons of the galaxy.

Given that this is the case, it stands to reason that it would take so long to be built. With the number of resources, manpower, and manual labor needed to build other Star Wars vehicles like Star Destroyers, the Death Star would naturally take much longer. Also, with the first few years of the Death Star's construction being shrouded in secrecy, it is likely the construction was slower at first than after the Empire took control of the galaxy.

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When Andor's Post-Credits Scene Fits In The Death Star's Construction Timeline

Death Star being built in the Andor season 1 finale

While Andor has been subtly setting up the Death Star's inclusion in the show up to this point, the first proper look at the station came in Andor season 1's post-credits scene. In the scene, it was confirmed that the components being built in Andor's prison arc were in fact being used for the Death Star's construction, which looked near completion. Andor season 1 takes place over one year, between 5BBY and 4BBY, meaning the Death Star would theoretically remain in construction for another two years before being finished. This is likely something that will be further explored when Andor season 2 hits Disney+ sometime in 2024.

New episodes of Andor release on Wednesdays on Disney+.

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