New "Star Wars" Incredible And/Or Awesome
“Rogue One” prequel grounds its lower-stakes story and characters in real-world struggles.
By Jason Goldman-Hall
“Rogue One” prequel grounds its lower-stakes story and characters in real-world struggles.
By Jason Goldman-Hall
There’s a moment in the opening minutes of “Andor,” the latest Disney+ Star Wars show, that hits differently than just about any line in the universe up until this point. As Cassian Andor, played as he was in 2016’s “Rogue One: A Star Wars Story,” by Mexican star Diego Luna, is accosted by two corporate security guards, one of them spits out the accusation that he “must have swam here,” and all of a sudden, this story in a galaxy far, far away hits much closer to our own world.
Almost everything about this new series, which premiered Sept. 21 in a three-episode drop, hits differently. The opening scenes, set five years before the events of “A New Hope'' are in a brothel, the antagonists are the Preox-Morlana corporation rather than stormtroopers and there are no Jedi to save the day. Aside from the groan-inducingly-named B2EMO droid there are no cutesy characters to market to kids, no iconic ships to build out of Lego and, at least for the first few episodes, no Twitter-ready cameos or mid-credit fan-favorite reveals.
And it’s awesome.
Like “Rogue One,” “Andor” slows down the lightspeed-pace of most “Star Wars” offerings and lets us linger, on the dusty streets with its characters, in dark rooms full of hushed tones and on characters who have no indestructible armor or laser swords to protect themselves. These are working-class people, many drawn from marginalized communities on our own planet, struggling against corporate greed, colonialism and exploitation.
Nowhere is this more clear than in the flashbacks we get to Cassian’s childhood on the planet Kenari, where he was a part of an indigenous-inspired clan of blow-dart-carrying children, a life seemingly destroyed when a Republic vessel crashes on their land, bringing scavengers and the risk of larger interventions. The clear parallels to the decimation of the Aztec by the Spanish and the long-term damage to indigenous peoples is both a somber reminder of the real world and a welcome blast of depth and commentary in the overall “Star Wars” mythology.
There’s still much to see developed in this universe, and much more tragedy to come. As we know Cassian is destined to become a shoot-first freedom fighter who dies in Jyn Erso’s arms on a sandy Scarif beach, but if you’re willing to be patient and give the series time to tell its story, you’re in for some of the best Star Wars in years.
The first five episodes of “Andor” are currently streaming on Disney+.
Almost everything about this new series, which premiered Sept. 21 in a three-episode drop, hits differently. The opening scenes, set five years before the events of “A New Hope'' are in a brothel, the antagonists are the Preox-Morlana corporation rather than stormtroopers and there are no Jedi to save the day. Aside from the groan-inducingly-named B2EMO droid there are no cutesy characters to market to kids, no iconic ships to build out of Lego and, at least for the first few episodes, no Twitter-ready cameos or mid-credit fan-favorite reveals.
And it’s awesome.
Like “Rogue One,” “Andor” slows down the lightspeed-pace of most “Star Wars” offerings and lets us linger, on the dusty streets with its characters, in dark rooms full of hushed tones and on characters who have no indestructible armor or laser swords to protect themselves. These are working-class people, many drawn from marginalized communities on our own planet, struggling against corporate greed, colonialism and exploitation.
Nowhere is this more clear than in the flashbacks we get to Cassian’s childhood on the planet Kenari, where he was a part of an indigenous-inspired clan of blow-dart-carrying children, a life seemingly destroyed when a Republic vessel crashes on their land, bringing scavengers and the risk of larger interventions. The clear parallels to the decimation of the Aztec by the Spanish and the long-term damage to indigenous peoples is both a somber reminder of the real world and a welcome blast of depth and commentary in the overall “Star Wars” mythology.
There’s still much to see developed in this universe, and much more tragedy to come. As we know Cassian is destined to become a shoot-first freedom fighter who dies in Jyn Erso’s arms on a sandy Scarif beach, but if you’re willing to be patient and give the series time to tell its story, you’re in for some of the best Star Wars in years.
The first five episodes of “Andor” are currently streaming on Disney+.