Obi-Wan Kenobi was interesting, and it was a joy to see Obi-Wan and Anakin together again, but the Star Wars series didn’t want to tell us anything we didn’t already know about its primary characters. Andor, which picks up the history of Rogue One‘s Cassian Andor (Diego Luna), already feels considerably less reverential. Set in the years before Rogue One, it explores the things Andor did in service of the rebellion—things that clearly haunt him by the time he meets up with Jyn Erso (Felicity Jones), but about which he does not elaborate.
Andor has an incredible cast, a powerhouse creator in Tony Gilroy (who co-wrote and did reshoots for Rogue One), and a setting ripe for intriguing and complex storytelling. And this trailer looks like it might really deliver.
Andor has already been renewed for a second season, which will reportedly lead up right to the start of Rogue One. This first season looks to cover quite a swath of time; there’s a very young Andor in some shots, and then a very grown Andor, who is already saying things like, “I’m tired of losing.”
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Luna is joined by a couple of other familiar faces: Forest Whitaker’s Saw Gerrera, and Geneveive O’Reilly’s Mon Mothma. Gilroy has suggested there’s more to Mon Mothma than we know, which is frankly very exciting, as we’ve never gotten to know enough about her (at least not on screen). The cast also includes Adria Arjona (Emerald City), who looks to be a fellow rebellious type; Denise Gough (Angels in America), who’s clearly working for the Empire; Fiona Shaw, who only appears briefly here; and Stellan Skarsgård, who kind of seems to be having the time of his life after, as he puts it, hiding too long.
This trailer looks incredible, but it also sounds unlike any other Star Wars project. Composer Nicholas Britell (Succession) told Variety, “Without giving anything away, I would say that [executive producer] Kathy Kennedy, [creator and showrunner] Tony Gilroy, everyone right from the beginning, felt it was very important that we craft a unique set of sounds for this story, for the characters, for the world we’re creating here.”
Disney also released a new poster for the series, which calls back to Rogue One‘s poster:
Experience the three-episode premiere of #Andor, a Star Wars Original Series, streaming only on @DisneyPlus September 21. pic.twitter.com/HWlHjCDxrR
— Star Wars (@starwars) August 1, 2022
Andor has a three-episode premiere on September 21st.
