Interviews Andor – Season 2: Mohen Leo (Production VFX Supervisor), TJ Falls (Production VFX Producer) and Scott Pritchard (ILM VFX Supervisor) By Vincent Frei - 22/05/2025 In 2023, Mohen Leo (Production VFX Supervisor), TJ Falls (Production VFX Producer), and Scott Pritchard (ILM VFX Supervisor) offered an in-depth look at the visual effects of Andor’s first season. Now, the trio returns to share insights into their work on the second—and final—season of this critically acclaimed series. Tony Gilroy is known for his detailed approach to storytelling. Can you talk about how your collaboration with him evolved throughout the production of Andor? How does he influence the VFX decisions and the overall tone of the series? Mohen Leo (ML): Our history with Tony, from Rogue One through the first season of Andor, had built a strong foundation of mutual trust. For Season 2, he involved VFX from the earliest story discussions, sharing outlines and inviting our ideas for key sequences. His priority is always to keep the show feeling grounded, ensuring that visual effects serve the story’s core and never become extraneous spectacle that might distract from the narrative. TJ Falls (TJ): Tony is a master storyteller. As Mohen mentioned, we have a great history with Tony from Rogue One and through Season 1 of Andor. We had a great rapport with Tony, and he had implicit trust in us. We began prepping Season 2 while we were in post for Season 1. We were having ongoing conversations with Tony and Production Designer Luke Hull as we were completing work for S1 and planning out how we would progress into Season 2. We wanted to keep the show grounded and gritty while amping up the action and urgency. Tony had a lot of story to cover in 12 episodes. The time jumps between the story arcs were something we discussed early on, and the need to be able to not only justify the time jumps but also to provide the audience with a visual bridge to tell the stories that happened off-screen. Tony would look to us to guide and use our institutional knowledge of Star Wars to help keep him honest within the universe. He, similarly, challenged us to maintain our focus and ensure that the visual tone of the series serviced the story. Tony Gilroy and Genevieve O’Reilly on the set of Lucasfilm’s ANDOR Season 2, exclusively on Disney+. Photo by Des Willie. ©2024 Lucasfilm Ltd. & TM. All Rights Reserved. As you’ve returned for Season 2, have there been any significant changes or new challenges compared to the first season? How has the production evolved in terms of VFX and storytelling? (ML): The return of nearly all key creatives from Season 1, both internally and at our VFX vendors, was a massive advantage. This continuity built immediate trust and an efficient shorthand. It made everyone comfortable to be more ambitious, allowing us to significantly expand the scope and complexity of the visual effects for Season 2. (TJ): We had all new directors this season. The rest of the core creative and production teams stayed consistent from Season 1. We worked to keep the creative process as seamless from Season 1 as we could while working with the new directors and adapting to their process while incorporating their individual skills and ideas that they brought to the table. This season we were able to work on location much more than on Season 1. That provided us with a great opportunity to build out the connective tissue between real world constraints and the virtual world we were creating. In the case with Senate Plaza in Coruscant we also had to stay consistent with what has previously been established, so that was a fun challenge. How did you go about dividing the workload between the various VFX studios? (ML): I can give an answer, but probably better if TJ does. (TJ): We were very specific about how we divided the work on this series. We started, as we usually do, with a detailed breakdown of work for the 12 episodes. Mohen and I then discussed a logical split based on type of work, specific elements, and areas of commonality for particular environments. While cost is always a consideration, we focused our vendor casting around the creative strengths of the studios we were partnering with on the project. ILM is in the DNA of Star Wars, so we knew we’d want to be working with them on some of the most complex work. We chose ILM for the opening TIE Avenger hangar sequence and subsequent escape. We utilized ILM for work in every episode, including the CG KX/K2 work, but their main focus was on Coruscant, and they had substantial work in the ninth episode for the big Senate escape sequence. Hybride‘s chief focus was on Palmo Plaza and the Ghorman environments. They dealt with everything Ghorman on the ground from the street extensions and the truck crash, through the Ghorman massacre, sharing shots with ILM with the KX work. For Scanline VFX, we identified three primary areas of focus: the work on Mina Rau, Chandrila, and Yavin. The TIE Fighter sequence in Season 2 is a standout moment. Can you walk us through the VFX process for that particular sequence? What were some of the technical challenges you faced, and how did you work to make it as intense and realistic as possible? (TJ): This is a sequence I’m particularly proud of as VFX played a central role in the sequence coming together from start to finish. We were intimately involved from the initial conversations of the idea for the sequence. Mohen created digital storyboards and we pitched ideas for the sequence to Tony Gilroy. Once we had a sense of the creative brief, we started working with Luke Hull (Production Designer) and the art department on the physical hangar set and brought it into previz for virtual scouting. With Jen Kitching (our Previz Supervisor from The Third Floor) we had a virtual camera set up that allowed us to virtually use the camera and lenses we would have on our shoot. We blocked out shots with Ariel Kleiman (Director) and Christophe Nuyens (the DoP). This went back through previz and techviz so we could meticulously chart out our plan for the shoot. Keeping with our ethos of grounding everything in reality, we wanted to use as much of the practical set as possible. We needed to be sure our handoffs between physical and virtual were seamless – Luke Murphy, our SFX Supervisor, worked closely with us in planning elements and practical effects to be used on the day. Over the course of the shoot, we also had the challenge of the flashing red alarm that goes off once the TIE Avenger crashes into the ceiling. We established the look of the red alarm with Christophe and the lighting team, and then needed to work out the timing. For that, we collaborated with editor John Gilroy to ensure we knew precisely when each alarm beat would flash. Once we had all the pieces, we turned the sequence over to Scott Pritchard and ILM to execute the work. Scott Pritchard (SP): This sequence was split between our London and Vancouver studios, with London taking everything inside the hangar, and Vancouver handling the exterior shots after Cassian blasts through the hangar door. We started from a strong foundation thanks to two factors: the amazing hangar set and TIE Avenger prop; and having full sequence previs. The hangar set was built about 2/3 of its overall length (as much as could be built on the soundstage), which our environments team extended, adding the hangar doors at the end and also a view to the exterior environment. Extending the hangar was most of the work in the sequence up until the TIE starts moving, where we switched to our CG TIE. As with Season 1, we used a blend of physical SFX work for the pyro effects, augmenting with CG sparks. As TJ mentioned, the hangar’s red warning lighting was a challenge as it had to pulse in a regular tempo throughout the edit. Only the close-up shots of Cassian in the cockpit had practical red lighting, so complex lighting and comp work were required to achieve a consistent look throughout the sequence. ILM London’s compositing supervisor, Claudio Bassi, pitched the idea that as the TIE hit various sections of the ceiling, it would knock out the ceiling lights, progressively darkening the hangar. It was a great motif that helped heighten the tension as we get towards the moment where Cassian faces the range trooper. Once we cut to outside the hangar, ILM Vancouver took the reins. The exterior weather conditions were briefed to us as ‘polar night’ – it’s never entirely dark, instead there’s a consistent low-level ambient light. This was a challenge as we had to consider the overall tonal range of each shot and make sure there was enough contrast to guide the viewer’s eye to where it needed to be, not just on individual shots but looking at eye-trace as one shot cut to another. A key moment is when Cassian fires rockets into an ice arch, leading to its collapse. The ice could very easily look like rock, so we needed to see the light from the rocket’s explosions scattered inside the ice. It required detailed work in both lighting and comp to get to the right look. Again, as the ice arch starts to collapse and the two chase TIE Advanced ships get taken out, it needed careful balancing work to make sure viewers could read the situation and the action in each shot. The world-building in Andor is impressive, especially with iconic locations like Coruscant and Yavin. How did you approach creating these environments and ensuring they felt as authentic as possible to the Star Wars universe? (ML): Our approach to world-building in Andor relied on a close collaboration between the VFX team and Luke Hull, the production designer, along with his art department. This partnership was established in Season 1 and continued for Season 2. Having worked on many Star Wars projects over the decades, VFX was often able to provide inspiration and references for art department designs. For example, for locations like Yavin and Coruscant, VFX provided the art department with existing 3D assets: the Yavin temple model from Rogue One and the Coruscant city layout around the Senate from the Prequel films. The Coruscant model, in particular, involved some ‘digital archaeology.’ The data was stored on tapes from around 2001 and consisted of NURBS models in an older Softimage file format. To make them usable, we had to acquire old Softimage 2010 and XSI licenses, install them on a Windows 7 PC, and then convert the data to the FBX format that current software can read. Supplying these original layouts to the art department enabled them to create their new designs and integrate our real-world shooting locations while maintaining consistency with the worlds seen in previous Star Wars productions. Given that Andor is set approximately twenty years after the Prequels, we also had the opportunity to update and adjust layouts and designs to reflect that time difference and realize the specific creative vision Luke Hull and Tony Gilroy had for the show. StageCraft technology is a huge part of the production. How did you use it to bring these complex environments, like Coruscant and Yavin, to life? What are the main benefits and limitations of using StageCraft for these settings? (SP): Our use of StageCraft for Season 2 was similar to that on Season 1. We used it to create the exterior views through the windows of the Safehouse on Coruscant. As with our work for the Chandrillan Embassy in Season 1, we created four different times of day/weather conditions. One key difference was that the foreground buildings were much closer to the Safehouse, so we devised three projection points (one for each room of the Safehouse), which would ensure that the perspective of the exterior was correct for each room. On set we retained a large amount of flexibility with our content. We had our own video feed from the unit cameras, and we were able to selectively isolate and grade sections of the city based on their view through the camera. Working in context like this meant that we could make any final tweaks while each shot was being set up and rehearsed. While we were shooting a scene set at night, the lighting team rigged a series of lights running above the windows that, when triggered, would flash in sequence, casting a moving light along the floor and walls of the set, as if from a moving car above. I thought we could use the LED wall to do something similar from below, catching highlights on the metal pipework that ran across the ceiling. During a break in shooting, I hatched a plan with colour operator Melissa Goddard, brain bar supervisor Ben Brown, and we came up with a moving rectangular section on the LED wall which matched the practical lights for speed, intensity and colour temperature. We set up two buttons on our iPad to trigger the ‘light’ to move in either direction. We demoed the idea to the DP after lunch, who loved it, and so when it came to shoot, he could either call from a car above from the practical lights, or a car below from the LEDs. (ML): Just to clarify – the Coruscant Safehouse set was the only application of Stagecraft LED screens in Season 2. All other Coruscant scenes relied on urban location photography or stage sets with traditional blue screen extensions. The various Yavin locations were achieved primarily with large backlot sets at Longcross Studios. A huge set of the airfield, temple entrance and partial temple interior was extended by Scanline VFX, led by Sue Rowe, in post, creating the iconic temple exterior from A New Hope. VFX also added flying and parked spaceships, and augmented the surrounding forest to feel more tropical. Andor blends CG with actual real-world locations. Can you share how you balanced these two elements, especially when creating large-scale environments or specific landscapes that felt grounded in reality? (SP): A great example of this is the environment around the Senate. The plates for this were shot in the City of Arts & Sciences in Valencia. Blending the distinctive Calatrava architecture with well-known Star Wars buildings like the Senate was an amazing challenge, it wasn’t immediately clear how the two could sit alongside each other. Our Vancouver team, led by Tania Richard, did an incredible job taking motifs and details from the Valencia buildings and incorporating them into the Senate building on both large and small scales, but still contiguous with the overall Senate design. The production team was ingenious in how they used each of the Valencia buildings to represent many locations around the Senate and the surrounding areas. For example, the Science Museum was used for the walkway where Cassian shoots Kloris (Mon’s driver), the main entrance to the Senate, and the interior of the Senate Atrium (where Ghorman Senator Oran is arrested). It was a major challenge ensuring that all those locations were represented across the larger environment, so viewers understood the geography of the scene, but also blended with the design language of their immediate surroundings. Everything in the Senate Plaza had a purpose. When laying out the overall layout of the Plaza, we considered aspects such as how far Senators would realistically walk from their transports to the Senate entrance. When extending the Plaza beyond the extents of the City of Arts & Sciences, we used Calatrava architecture from elsewhere. The bridge just in front of the Senatorial Office Building is based on a Calatrava-designed bridge in my home city of Dublin. As we reach the furthest extents of the Senate Plaza, we begin blending in more traditional Coruscant architecture so as to soften the transition to the far background. Coruscant is such a pivotal location in Star Wars. How did you approach creating such a vast, densely populated urban environment? What were the key visual cues that made it feel alive and realistic? (ML): Our approach to Coruscant in Season 2 built upon what we established in the first season: primarily, shooting in real-world city locations whenever feasible. The stunning Calatrava architecture at Valencia’s City of Arts and Sciences, for instance, served as the foundation for the Senate exterior and other affluent districts. For the city’s grittier neighborhoods, we filmed in urban environments in London, like the Barbican and areas around Twickenham Stadium. Filming in these actual city locations provided a strong, realistic basis for the cinematography, lighting, and overall mood of each environment. This remained true even when VFX later modified large portions of the frame with Star Wars architecture. This methodology gave the director and DP confidence on set that their vision would carry through to the final shot. Our art department and VFX concept artists then created numerous paintovers based on plates and location photography, offering clear visual guides for transforming each real location into its Coruscant counterpart during post-production. For the broader cityscapes, we took direct inspiration from 3D street maps of cities such as Tokyo, New York, and Hong Kong. We would exaggerate the scale and replace existing buildings with our Coruscant designs while preserving the fundamental urban patterns. When it comes to creating environments like Yavin, which has a very natural, jungle-like aesthetic, how do you ensure the VFX stays true to the organic feel of the location while still maintaining the science-fiction elements of Star Wars? (ML): Nearly all of the Yavin jungle scenes were shot in a large wooded area that is part of Longcross Studios. The greens and art departments did an amazing job augmenting the natural forest with tropical plants and vines. The scenes featuring the two rebel factions in the clearing were captured almost entirely in-camera, with VFX primarily adding blaster fire, augmenting the crashed ship, and painting out equipment. Only the shots of the TIE Avenger landing and taking off, as well as the giant creature snatching the two rebels, featured significant CG elements. The key elements connecting these practical locations back to the Yavin established in A New Hope and Rogue One were the iconic temples. The establishing shots approaching the main temple in episode 7 utilized plate photography from South America, which had been shot for another Disney project but ultimately not used. Other aerial shots, such as the U-Wing flying above the jungle in episode 12, were fully computer-generated by ILM. K-2SO is a beloved character, and his return is highly anticipated. What can you tell us about the process of bringing him back to life with VFX in Season 2? What new challenges did this bring compared to his original appearance? (SP): We had already updated a regular KX droid for the scene on Niamos in Season 1, so much of the work to update the asset to the latest pipeline requirements had already been done. We now needed to switch over to the textures & shaders specific to K2, and give them the same updates. Unique to Series 2 was that there were a number of scenes involving both a practical and a digital K2 – when he gets crushed on Ghorman in episode 8, and then ‘rebooted’ on Yavin in episode 9. The practical props were a lot more beaten up than our hero asset, so we made bespoke variants to match the practical droid in each sequence. Additionally, for the reboot sequence on Yavin, we realised pretty quickly that the extreme movements meant that we were seeing into areas that previously had not required much detail – for instance, underneath his shoulder armour. We came up with a shoulder joint design that allowed for the required movement while also staying mechanically correct. When we next see him in Episode 10, a year has passed, and he is now the K-2SO as we know him from Rogue One. K-2SO has a unique design, particularly in his facial expressions and movement. How did you approach animating him for Season 2, and were there any specific changes or updates made to his character model or animation? (SP): Following Rogue One, Mohen made detailed records of the takeaways learned from creating K-2SO, and he kindly shared these notes with us early on in the show. They were incredibly helpful in tuning the fine details of the animation. Our animation team, led by Mathieu Vig, did a superb job of identifying the nuances of Alan’s performance and making sure they came across. There were plenty of pitfalls to avoid – for instance, the curve to his upper back meant that it was very easy for his neck to look hyperextended. We also had to be very careful with his eyes, as they’re sources of light, they could very easily look cartoonish if they moved around too much. Dialling in just the right amount of eye movement was crucial to a good performance. As the eyes also had several separate emissive and reflective components, they required delicate balancing in the comp on a per-shot basis. Luckily, we had great reference from Rogue One to be able to dial in the eyes to suit both the lighting of a shot but also its performance details. One Rogue One shot in particular, where he says ‘Your behavior, Jyn Erso, is continually unexpected’, was a particularly good reference for how we could balance the lights in his eyes to, in effect, enlarge his pupils, and give him a softer expression. K-2SO also represented my first opportunity to work with ILM’s new studio in Mumbai. Amongst other shots, they took on the ‘hallway fight’ sequence in Episode 12 where K2 dispatches Heert and his troopers, and they did a fantastic job from animation right through to final comp. K-2SO’s interactions with the live-action actors are key to his character. How did you work with the actors to ensure his presence felt as real and integrated as possible on screen, especially in terms of timing and reactions? (ML): Alan Tudyk truly defined K-2SO in Rogue One, so his return for Andor Season 2 was absolutely critical to us. He was on set for every one of K2’s shots, performing on stilts and in a performance capture suit. This approach was vital because it gave Alan complete ownership of the character’s physical performance and, crucially, allowed for spontaneous, genuine interactions with the other actors, particularly Diego Luna. Witnessing Alan and Diego reunite on camera was fantastic; that unique chemistry and humor we loved in Rogue One was instantly palpable. In post-production, our VFX animators then meticulously translated every nuance of Alan’s on-set performance to the digital K-2SO model. It’s a detailed process that still requires artistic expertise. For instance, K2’s facial structure is largely static, so direct translation of Alan’s facial expressions isn’t always possible. In these cases, our animators found creative solutions – translating a specific facial cue from Alan into a subtle head tilt or a particular eye movement for K2, always ensuring the final animation remained true to the intent and spirit of Alan’s original performance. Were there any memorable moments or scenes from the series that you found particularly rewarding or challenging to work on from a visual effects standpoint? (ML): The Plaza sequence in episode 8, which runs for about 23 minutes, stands out as particularly memorable – both for its challenges and its rewarding outcome. Just preparing for it was a daunting task. Its successful execution hinged on incredibly tight collaboration between numerous departments: stunts, creature effects, special effects, the camera department, our tireless greenscreens crew, and of course, VFX. The stunts team, under Marc Mailley, drove the choreography of all the action. Our On-Set VFX Supervisor, Marcus Dryden, was instrumental. He worked hand-in-glove with the director, DP, and assistant directors to ensure we meticulously captured all the necessary elements. This included everything from crowd replication plates and practical effects elements to the performances of stunt teams and creature actors, plus all the crucial on-set data. The shoot for this sequence alone took over three weeks. Hybride, under the leadership of Joseph Kasparian and Olivier Beaulieu, then completed the environments, added the blaster fire, and augmented the special effects in post-production, with ILM contributing the KX droids that wreak havoc in the plaza. (SP): I agree with Mohen here, for me the Ghorman Plaza episode is the most rewarding to have worked on. It required us to weave our work into that of so many other departments – stunts, sfx, costume – to name just a few. When we received the plates, to see the quality of the work that had gone into the photography alone was inspirational for me and the ILM crew. It’s gratifying to be part of a team where you know that everyone involved is on top of their game. And of course all that is underpinned by writing of that calibre from Tony Gilroy and his team – it just draws everything together. From a pure design viewpoint, I’m also very proud of the work that Tania Richard and her ILM Vancouver crew did for the Senate shots. As I mentioned before, it was a hugely challenging environment not just logistically, but also in bringing together two very distinctive architectural languages, and they made them work in tandem beautifully. Looking back on the project, what aspects of the visual effects are you most proud of? (TJ): I’m incredibly proud of this entire season. The seamless collaboration we had between Visual Effects and every other department made the work, while challenging, an absolute joy to execute. Almost all of the department heads returned from the first season, which provided a shorthand shortcut as we started the show with implicit trust and understanding of what we were looking to achieve. The work is beautiful, and the commitment of our crew and vendors has been unwavering. I’m most proud of the effort and care that each individual person contributed to the show and the fact that we went into the project with a common goal and were, as a team, able to showcase the vision that we, and Tony, had for the series. (ML): I’m really proud of the deep integration of the visual effects – not just visually, but fundamentally within the filmmaking process and storytelling. Tony invited VFX to be a key participant in shaping the story, from early story drafts through to the final color grade. Despite the scale and spectacle of many sequences, the VFX always feel purposeful, supporting the narrative and characters rather than distracting from them. This was significantly bolstered by the return of a large number of key creatives from Season 1, both within the production and at our VFX vendors. That shared experience and established understanding of Tony’s vision for Andor were invaluable in making the VFX an organic part of the show. (SP): I could not be prouder of the entire ILM team for everything they brought to their work on the show. Working across three sites, Andor was a truly global effort, and I particularly enjoyed how each site took complete ownership of their work. It was a privilege working with all of them and contributing to such an exceptional series. VFX progression frame Lucasfilm’s ANDOR Season 2, exclusively on Disney+. Photo courtesy of Lucasfilm. ©2025 Lucasfilm Ltd. & TM. All Rights Reserved. How long have you worked on this show? (TJ): This show has been an unbelievable journey. Season 2 alone was nearly 3 years. We wrapped Season 2 in January of 2025. We started prepping Season 2 in February 2022, while we were still in post for Season 1. I officially started working on Season 1 early in 2019 while it was still being developed. So that’s 6 years of time working on Andor. Mohen and I both also worked on Rogue One, so if you factor in the movie, which was shooting in 2015, that’s nearly ten years of work within this part of the Star Wars universe. (ML): I started on the project during early development in the summer of 2019 and finished in December of 2024. (SP): I started on Season 1 in September 2020 and finished up on Season 2 in December 2024. What’s the VFX shots count? (TJ): We had a grand total of 4,124 shots over the course of our 12 episodes. Outside of Industrial Light & Magic, which oversaw the show, we also partnered with Hybride, Scanline, Soho VFX, and Midas VFX. What is your next project? (TJ): You’ll have to wait and see! (SP): Unfortunately, I can’t say just yet either! A big thanks for your time. WANT TO KNOW MORE?ILM: Dedicated page about Andor – Season 2 on ILM website. © Vincent Frei – The Art of VFX – 2025

When you finish watching season two of Andor, the natural next move is to dive right into Rogue One: A Star Wars Story, the movie that introduced Diego Luna’s Cassian Andor to the galaxy far, far away. But he’s not actually the lead character in the 2016 film—that distinction goes to Felicity Jones’ Jyn Erso, daughter of reluctant Death Star architect Galen Erso. And while Andor leads right into Rogue One, and the two stories share many of the same characters, Andor creator Tony Gilroy made the call that Jyn wouldn’t be among them. In fact, he never even considered that Jyn would show up in the Andor finale, according to a new interview with Entertainment Weekly. “I tried to sketch some versions along the way of what we would do,” Gilroy explained. “Episode 12 is very unique … we are not trying to hype anything in 12. We always knew it was going to be not a low energy, but a different kind of episode.” Gilroy did briefly consider bringing more Rogue One characters in—Danny Mays’ Tivic the informant, for instance, who’s killed by Andor early in Rogue One, and maybe even Mads Mikkelsen’s Galen Erso—before thinking better of it. “In the end, I realized if people didn’t absolutely have to be there, they shouldn’t,” Gilroy reasoned. “And it would’ve been lame to bring Jyn back as a cameo. That would’ve been really disrespectful in a way. I’d rather honor Rogue and keep it straight.” He’s also well aware that Rogue One fans are now re-evaluating their view of Jyn and Cassian’s relationship. With Andor fleshing out the relationship between Bix (Adria Arjona) and the doomed rebel, including their baby glimpsed at the end of the Disney+ series, it seems highly likely Andor wasn’t falling for Jyn while they plotted to steal the Death Star plans after all. “People who thought that was the love of his life are going to have to reorient their thinking,” Gilroy joked. Want more io9 news? Check out when to expect the latest Marvel, Star Wars, and Star Trek releases, what’s next for the DC Universe on film and TV, and everything you need to know about the future of Doctor Who.

From the beginning of season 2 of Andor, I was angry on behalf of Bix Caleen. Adria Arjona’s character on the show spent a lot of the season getting what fans of reality competition shows lovingly call “the loser edit,” where every time the series checked in with her, it found her at a new low — suffering a fresh humiliation, or struggling with the PTSD from the last batch of suffering. Her slow downward arc, and its clear effect on series protagonist Cassian Andor (Diego Luna), seemed to lead toward an exhausting, familiar story cliché — especially since this entire series is a prequel to the Star Wars movie Rogue One, and unlike many of the show’s characters, Bix is noticeably absent from Rogue One. For more than half the season, Bix felt like she on her way to getting fridged. And I just want to take a breath and personally thank series creator Tony Gilroy for pulling out of that narrative dive instead of taking the obvious crash-landing. [Ed. note: Spoilers ahead for Bix’s season 2 storyline, including how it ends.] Andor season 1 put Bix in the hands of Imperial interrogator (and ironic cupcake-enjoyer) Doctor Gorst (Joshua James), and season 2 arc focused on how she navigated the aftermath of torture. When we pick back up with Bix, she has screaming nightmares about Doctor Gorst, or debilitating insomnia as she avoids sleeping. She lives in terror of the Empire finding her again. She nearly gets raped by an Imperial officer. She takes dangerous drugs to repress her trauma. She haunts the Coruscant safehouse she and Cassian share like an increasingly wan ghost. Cassian sincerely wants to help, but she can’t let him in, so his worries for her keep compromising or complicating his work with the rebellion against the Empire. Once Cassian and Bix get to Coruscant, her scenes get repetitive and wearying. When she harries Cassian and his handler Luthen (Stellan Skarsgård) to include her on rebel missions, it’s unclear who we’re meant to feel more sympathy for: Them, for having to manage this traumatized, erratic woman who keeps insisting she should be trusted with delicate undercover work she doesn’t seem capable of; or her, for being kept like a canary in a cage, with no clear purpose and nothing to do but wait for the next round of trying to convince her patronizing keepers to let her do something meaningful that would distract and focus her. But her arc takes a sharp upswing at the end of episode 6, “What a Festive Evening,” when Bix confronts Doctor Gorst, subjects him to his own horrific torture device, and blows the hell out of him, all with a cold, rational confidence that suggests Luthen and Cassian were wrong to handle her with kid gloves all along. When she and Cassian walk away from his office together, too cool to look back at Gorst’s exploding building, they’re finally confident, competent partners instead of caretaker and patient — or worse, the regressive “damsel in despair and valiant savior” pairing Andor has flirted with turning them into. Granted, that scene is Bix’s high point for season 2 — from that point forward, she’s mostly around to serve Cassian’s arc, by pushing him to accept a Force healer’s read on him instead of shrugging her off, and eventually, nobly breaking up with him so his concerns for her won’t hold him back in his fight against the rebellion. (Side note, “I’m dumping you in order to not hamper your great destiny” is a pretty baller tactic, and if I was still in the dating field, I’d definitely keep that one in my back pocket.) Bix was never on the top 10 list of Andor’s most developed, nuanced, or interesting characters, and apart from the Doctor Gorst payoff, she’s mostly in a pretty thankless role throughout the show. She’s the designated smallest-scale representative of the Empire’s predations, and the one most personal to Cassian. She’s the problem he can’t fix until the Empire is defeated, the person he needs to protect and can’t, needs to save and can’t, not without bringing down an entire fascist regime. She’s a focus for his heroism first, a sounding board for his angst second, and a character in her own right last. Which is why I was positive she was going to get killed in order to motivate him further, in order to deepen that angst and firm up his resolve. Having Bix instead basically say “You’re better off without me, and the best thing I can give the rebellion is all the time and energy you’re spending on me” is such a bold, strange move that I suspect Tony Gilroy is well aware of what fridging narratives look like, and how much it seemed like he was toying with one. The problem with that resolution, though, is that there’s so little drama in it. Bix is right — she is a drag on Cassian’s attention and resources, and they are better off without each other. Their separation doesn’t have the sting of a tragic love story where starcrossed lovers have to leave each other. To me, it just felt like a relief to have it over with. But it isn’t over. Andor’s very final shot has Bix back on the agricultural planet of Mina-Rau, smiling bravely toward the future in a post-Death Star world, holding Cassian Andor’s child. (In case there’s any debate there, Tony Gilroy has expressly confirmed that the child she’s holding is theirs, and that she knew she was already pregnant when she left Cassian.) It’s meant as a moment of hope and looking toward the future, an acknowledgement that Cassian is about to die (in the action of Rogue One), but that even if he doesn’t know it, his bloodline will live on. I’m not a fan of that ending — it plays into another huge cliché for female characters in media, the “lost my love but still have his baby” circle-of-life schtick that’s meant to make the death of a beloved character feel OK because their lineage lives on. To me, that particular trope has always felt more cynical and manipulative than heartfelt: People aren’t like Kleenex, with another new one popping up whenever the last one goes off to its reward, and all of them essentially fulfilling the same purpose. Having someone’s genetics in the world isn’t a replacement for having them around. (Not even in a galaxy where Force talent and destiny seem to be passed down in the bloodline.) It’s nice to learn at the end of Black Panther: Wakanda Forever that T’Challa had a secret kid, I guess, but it doesn’t make me miss Chadwick Boseman any less, or soften the blow of losing a talented actor with a bright future so early. I’ve argued a lot about this one with less-cynical people at Polygon and elsewhere, though, and they’ve rightly pointed out that Cassian having a child that he’ll never know about is a pointed answer to Luthen’s incandescent “burning my life to make a sunrise I know I’ll never see” speech from season 1. Cassian and Luthen and all the others who did die while fighting the good fight throughout Andor were fighting on behalf of people like this nameless child, who will get to see the sunrise they made possible. It’s meant as a reminder that all this suffering had a purpose beyond the immediate moment. That purpose includes Bix as well: Her safety and security in the show’s final moments is meant to pay off all the pain Cassian endured. He’s finally fixed the problem she posed, I guess, to put it in the bitterest terms. But in spite of all my dubiousness over her Andor plotline — especially in the shadow of the show’s far more nuanced, complicated, and especially interesting female characters — I’m just so grateful she didn’t have to die to make that happen.

Well, we’ve reached the end of the road. Andor’s second and final season brought us 12 episodes of (mostly) exceptional Star Wars drama released in three-episode chunks, a format which served the structure of the show brilliantly, with each chunk representing one year in the four years leading up to Rogue One, but also meant that we didn’t get to savor the show for nearly as long.Suggested ReadingFallout Season 2 Teaser Confirms Lucy and Ghoul are Heading to New Vegas Share SubtitlesOffEnglishview videoSuggested ReadingFallout Season 2 Teaser Confirms Lucy and Ghoul are Heading to New Vegas Share SubtitlesOffEnglishEach week, we’ve gathered to discuss our reactions to the show’s latest episodes (you can find last week’s conversation here), and now, we do so for the last time. Join us as we say goodbye to this extraordinary series. Ethan Gach: I’m in camp Kleya, who called her arrival on Yavin in the final stretch of Andor “a bitter ending,” but perhaps somewhat more consoled than she was by Cassian reassurance that “nothing’s ending.”The final three episodes of season 2 were always going to be somewhat disappointing and bittersweet since we knew the show was ending and in some cases we knew where it would need to funnel people to set up Rogue One, but the final chapter still managed a surprising amount of high-stakes tension and unexpected backstory. How would you both rate the final episodes and what are you feeling now that the journey’s over?Carolyn Petit: I thought episode 10, with its look at how Luthen and Kleya formed their bond and her undertaking the terrible task of doing what needed to be done, was outstanding. (It also gave us an alien who instantly became one of my favorite Star Wars creatures ever!) Episodes 11 and 12 weren’t peak Andor, but I have to admit that the final slow-motion montage sequence really worked for me, and they had a political dimension I found somewhat surprising that I’ll discuss a bit more later.Zack Zwiezen: I was worried that the final episode would run out of steam as Tony Gilroy and co literally ran out of space for storytelling and had to slam the brakes to set up Rogue One. And while I enjoyed the montage slow-walk, I wonder if that works if you haven’t seen Rogue One. But overall, the final three episodes are really good. And I think the Kleya-Luthen focused episode is one of my favorite Andor episodes ever. I’m so happy she got a big spotlight before the end.CP: Me, too. That episode also helped cement, I think, that the show recognizes how necessary all of Luthen’s efforts were, even if those fussy ineffectual bureaucrats on Yavin don’t. This is an issue I’ve long had with how Star Wars has at times sanded away its own political dimensions in my view, something that Andor not only seeks to undo but takes farther than ever before. In truth, the act of blowing up the Death Star in the first film, that act which people cheered for in theaters in 1977 and that Star Wars fans for decades since have loved and admired, would, in universe, be considered an act of terrorism. That’s what the Empire would call it. That’s what governments do: they present their own violence as “legitimate” or “necessary” and the violence of those rebelling against them as “terrorism.” But there were times in Star Wars history where I felt like the people at the reins of the franchise wanted to send a message that you shouldn’t be “too extreme” in your resistance, don’t be a Saw Gerrera, do it through “proper channels.” And so I loved that Andor gave us that scene with Bail and some other politicians all kind of hemming and hawing over Luthen while the show, I think, was emphatically telling all of us, “Luthen was right. Maybe not every single little decision he made was right, but his ethos was fundamentally right and without someone like him, none of this would have been here.” And I loved it for that.ZZ: I think, and they talk about this in the behind the scenes, it’s very important that Luthen’s fight against the empire was really because Kleya wanted revenge.CP: Right. She’s the humanity that he’s fighting for. She’s what radicalizes him.ZZ: If he hadn’t found her and saved her, Luthen likely doesn’t become the rebel we know in Andor. And it also adds a new layer of complexity to their relationship. He was part of the army that brutalized her people. So she still has some lingering hatred for him. And yet she does care about him. And in that moment when she sneaks into the hospital to finish the job, you can feel that.EG: I think that scene with the Rebel Alliance leaders also helps show the Senate mentality creeping back in as the insurgency professionalizes itself.It’s easy to see why even after defeating the Empire in key battles it might struggle to rebuild or retain power, issues explored in Ahsoka and The Mandalorian. These last few episodes help situate Cassian between the uncompromising logic of Luthen’s spycraft and the “no one left behind” mentality of the Rebellion. Luthen’s final sacrifice is to die, and Cassian’s is to go back and risk everything just to save someone.ZZ: We should rewind a bit and talk about that moment between Luthen and Dedra. Or even further actually, and pour one out for Lonni, who I knew was dead the moment he sat down at that bench.CP: Yeah. When he mentioned his wife and kid, for a moment I thought mayyyyyyyybe Luthen would be like “You know what? I owe this guy.” But alas, no.ZZ: I also loved that line Luthen gave Klaya before the meeting: “I think we used up all the perfect.” CP: So good.LucasfilmZZ: And then we get Dedra Meero walking into Luthen’s shop as he’s destroying evidence. My wife literally gasped “OH SHIT!” at seeing Dedra at the door.EG: Only two artifacts may not be what they seem!CP: In a show that so often demands that characters put on a performance to blend into their surroundings, it was great seeing those two feel each other out and Luthen pretend for a bit that she was maybe not there to arrest him. But then, of course, he tries to kill himself, and you see that he was thinking a few steps ahead when he picked up the knife, though he made it seem like it was just part of their friendly dealings.ZZ: When he picked up the knife I was so distracted by him mentioning it being a Nautolan artifact (Kit Fisto’s species) that I didn’t realize why he picked a knife.CP: Hahaha, the perils of having a database of Star Wars knowledge in your brain!ZZ: And then after he’s taken to the hospital, we get that wonderful sequence with Klaya sneaking in and taking him off life support. Anybody else want a Hitman-like Star Wars game now?CP: If that alien Kleya pushes around as she’s pretending to be hospital personnel is in it, absolutely! But yes, that was a great infiltration sequence, both thrilling and kind of excruciating because we knew what she was going there to do.EG: It included some of the best Coruscant backdrops we’ve ever gotten, I think.CP: One other moment from that episode that I can’t stop thinking about was the flashback scene in which we see Imperial officers drag some civilians through town, put them up against a wall, and kill them. It was another gut-wrenching reminder of the Empire’s evil and another moment that felt weirdly resonant as more and more people are being arrested by agents who often won’t even show warrants or identification in the streets of our towns.ZZ: On the flipside of that horrible moment that made me feel a pit in my stomach, we have Dedra getting arrested for being reckless and not following orders by chasing after Luthen long after she was supposed to be off the Axis investigation. I have to admit I smiled when I realized it was all over for her.CP: Man, I don’t know. I mean I absolutely hate her, don’t get me wrong, and yet that final shot of her, where we see that she’s in a prison very much like the one Cassian was in last season (if not the same one) was complicated for me. Like, I think that kind of incarceration is just wrong in and of itself and so it elicited this weird moment of something like sympathy for her, which in no way means I forgive her for what she’s done. It’s just one of those reminders that it’s ultimately a systemic evil that will sometimes grind up the people operating inside of it and supporting it as much as those being actively persecuted.The leopards ate her face, in other words.ZZ: Space leopards.But I agree, yes, that the Empire is evil and the way it operates (like many real-world countries) is to crush people up to fuel the fires of growth and war. And I think it was very arrogant of her to believe she would be spared. Or maybe she truly bought into the lies that the Empire was good and doing the right thing? Surely, she won’t end up in some horrible place and left to rot forever.CP: Yep.ZZ: Meanwhile, her boss, after all of these failures and letting the info on the Death Star slip out, realizes what’s coming for him and knows he doesn’t want to be ripped apart by the machine he helped create. And takes an easier way out. CP: That was the first and only indication we ever got that Nemik’s manifesto is actually spreading around, right, that people are listening to it? That was a cool moment, I thought, where at first we think it’s non-diegetic, just the writers and filmmakers reminding us one last time of Nemik’s stirring words, but then we see, oh, no, Partagaz was actually listening to it, the fire is spreading. It’s out there.EG: I loved the scene right outside when the gun shot goes off.CP: Yeah, so clear that the guy knew Partagaz wasn’t just taking a moment to “collect his thoughts,” he knew exactly what was coming.ZZ: The slight “stand down” gesture to the troopers.EG: I appreciate the minor moments of humanity Andor evokes even between the worst people.CP: Yeah, they’re essential IMO.ZZ: It makes them more evil. They are human beings. People with feelings and thoughts. And yet they still do this shit.EG: Something also given to Krennic when he and Partagaz wish each other luck at facing Palpatine’s wrath. Unlike the more buffoonish bad guy energy he gives off in Rogue One.ZZ: Also, very fun to see a character call out the Death Star name. Partagaz thinks its dumb. It’s just one of those reminders that [the Empire is] ultimately a systemic evil that will sometimes grind up the people operating inside of it and supporting it as much as those being actively persecuted.ZZ: I’m so happy to see K-2SO back!CP: Yes. Not unlike C-3P0 he can be so exasperating at times (in an endearing and funny way), but when he goes full Terminator on Empire goons, man it feels good.For me, the whole tone of the scene with Andor and Melshi in the safehouse with Kleya and the communications jammed changed from “Oh shit, oh shit, get outta there!” to “LMAO y’all are about to get owned” as soon as K-2SO left the ship to go in for them, and it was glorious.ZZ: Yeah. The moment K-2SO shows up, it’s basically over for those imperial assholes and I loved it so much. I also like that the show uses its limited time with K-2SO to really develop a relationship between him and Cassian. They seem like buds!The part where they are playing space poker or whatever was great. Gilroy mentioned that after Bix leaves the place becomes a frat house, with Melshi moving in and them all drinking and partying between missions.CP: Ah, that totally makes sense!ZZ: I wonder if Andor is trying to drink away some pain and fill his life with friends to deal with losing Bix? That’s my read. He needs some buds and suds.CP: Definitely. There’s a part of me that still feels like Andor, the title character, could have maybe used a little bit more character development in this show, that with all of its moving pieces his own journey, both ideologically and as a person, maybe got a smidge sidelined. But I do like that we see him dreaming about his sister, since finding her was the big obsession driving him in the early episodes of season one. Now, I feel like he’s accepted that she’s gone but still the idea of her, his depth of feeling for her and the pain of losing her is part of what drives him to create a better world, not entirely unlike Luthen being driven by his love for Kleya. And speaking of love and the things that drive us, how did y’all feel about that final-final image of the show?ZZ: I loved it! To me it worked perfectly with a theme in Andor: hope.EG: “There is another.” lmao.CP: Right, to me it did in part feel like a nod to Star Wars’ obsession with dynasties and legacies, like we have to believe that, though Andor himself dies, what he stands for will live on not just as an idea but because he literally has a child. And yet, I still kinda liked it. We didn’t get a lightsaber but we did get a continued bloodline!ZZ: I think the show needed some hope at the end.EG: I think it was very thematically appropriate, even if I’m torn on the merits of mixing insurgency and family. It’s a division that feels a bit too tidy.ZZ: I think it did provide more reason for Bix leaving like she did. She was pregnant. She wanted to give her child a peaceful life and knew Andor would follow her if he knew. And in her mind, she’s thinking that they’ll get back together one day after the Empire has fallen. It’s both a very tragic final scene and also this reminder that there is more. This isn’t an ending.Screenshot: Lucasfilm / KotakuCP: Vel even tells him not to wait too long to reconnect, and we already know he never gets the chance! Really loved that those two, Cassian and Vel, got a moment here, too, and got to acknowledge all those they’ve lost along the way. But yes, you’re right, it was a lovely mix of deeply sad and hopeful, that final image. Luthen, Cassian, Saw, and so many others know they’re fighting for a world they themselves will likely not live to see. But that kid might.ZZ: And before we leave, I did like that we got one more tiny moment with Mon’s husbasndHe seems to be with the mother of the boy his daughter married? It was very fast. Couldn’t tell. But him just getting drunk in a limo on Coruscant, presumably throwing his wife under the bus and pledging loyalty to the Empire, seemed like all we needed to know about what happened to him.CP: Exactly. He is who we knew he was and his sad empty privileged life is his reward for it.I’d be curious to know how that final montage plays for folks who haven’t seen Rogue One. It really worked for me, seeing Cassian all dressed up for his fateful mission, the cuts to Dedra and other characters, and all around him, the Rebel base on Yavin, active and buzzing, about to change the galaxy, and now we know it’s all because of the efforts of so many people but among them, one Luthen Rael, an unsung hero of Star Wars. Are either of you planning on rewatching Rogue One any time soon?ZZ: I wanted to hold off until after this VG chat so I came into this without the weight of Rogue One on my mind. I plan on watching it this weekend! EG: I will say, as a parting thought, I don’t know that I needed the show to try and line up so neatly with Rogue One, perhaps the worst part of which is that silly blueprint handoff that directly leads into A New Hope. I do think some of the broader thrust of Andor and the unease and disquiet within its characters ended up being subsumed a little to neatly by the end of episode 12.CP: Oh, I agree. At a certain point in the final episode you really feel the show shift into “Okay, let’s get all the pieces in place for Rogue One” mode.ZZ: Yeah. It reminds me of the ending of Star Wars Episode III, where George Lucas sets up all the pieces for A New Hope and it feels less like an actual ending and more like a checkpoint.CP: And I think heading right from Andor into Rogue One will be quite jarring because—sorry Rogue One!—your dialogue is just not on the same level!ZZ: Nope! And what happened to Bail Organa! Did he get a haircut?CP: Hahaha.ZZ: But really, if that’s my biggest complaint about Andor—that its ending isn’t as strong as it could have been because of Rogue One—I’m still really happy.I’m not sure we’ll ever get a show like this again, or at least not for a long time. Real sets. Lots of actors. Incredible writing. Big budgets. Set in a large franchise. All this freedom. Even Gilroy has stated he’s not sure if this kind of thing will ever happen again.CP: It was glorious, and while I really hope we see more like it, I’ll try to just be grateful for the miracle that we ever got it at all. Now I just need Disney to put it on Blu-ray so I have it on physical media and it’s not trapped on a streaming service forever!ZZ: Rebellions and physical libraries of movies we love are built on hope. .

This article contains spoilers for Andor season 2 episodes 10, 11, and 12 and Rogue One. It feels like the Tony Gilroy-created Andor Star WarsAndor season 2 would tie directly with the start of Gareth Edwards’ Rogue One: A Star Wars Story. Though we all know how that tragic tale goes, the fact that a number of Andor’s major players are nowhere to be seen in the 2016 war epic had us worrying about their fates. After the shocking death of Kyle Soller’s Syril Karn during the Ghorman Massacre of episode 8, the final arc of episodes quickly whittled down the Andor cast to make room for the Rogue One crew. The inclusion of Ben Mendelsohn’s Orson Krennic, Forest Whitaker’s Saw Gerrera, and Diego Luna’s titular Cassian AndorRogue One, the same couldn’t be said for Stellan Skarsgård’s Luthen Rael and Anton Lesser’s Lio Partagaz. However, it’s arguably Andor’s greatest villain who gets a fate worse than death.  Denise Gough’s Dedra Meero seemed like the perfect little Imperial drone after being raised in an Imperial Kinder-block and being molded into a high-ranking supervisor in the Imperial Security Bureau (ISB). Unfortunately, this put her on a collision course with Krennic, who’s never been afraid to show he’s only looking out for himself. Things started to unravel in Andor episode 10, and after having dispatched ISB mole Lonni Jung (Robert Emms), Luthen set about erasing his existence as the Rebel spy known as Axis. It was too late for Luthen, but when Dedra arrived at his antiquities shop to confront him, things didn’t go the way she’d planned. It’s here that Dedra unveiled the Imperial N-S9 Starpath Unit that had put her on Luthen’s trail four years earlier. It’s her obsession with Axis that brings her here, and just like Syril’s vendetta against Cassian Andor sealed his fate just a few episodes earlier, she’s the architect of her own downfall. Luthen was never going to go quietly, but having achieved his goal of spreading the rebellion across the galaxy, he tries to take his life by stabbing himself with a Nautolan bleeder. Although he survives his injuries, the fact that a smug Dedra thought she could take him in and claim the glory for himself by making an unsanctioned arrest attempt without backup has riled Krennic. Things only got worse when Krennic learns Lonni had accessed Meero’s files regarding the Death Star, and although she bats off his (incorrect) assumption that she’s a Rebel spy, the catalogue of errors sees her sent to one of the Narkina moons where Cassian was locked up in season 1.  Speaking to The Hollywood Reporter, Gilroy expanded on how Meero served as an unwilling way for the Rebels to access the information on the Death Star, which ultimately catapults the story into Rogue One. “The whole ISB is coming to an end. If you think about it, if that was the CIA or any intelligence bureau,” mused Gilroy. “With those kinds of breaches and that kind of disaster happening simultaneously, it would be a cleaning of house. So she’s definitely going to go down.” Speaking to TV Line, Gough described how she was “so happy” for the audience for Dedra to end up where she is. Discussing how she’s left locked up in an Imperial prison, Gough cheered: “It’s so gratifying” to see Dedra’s location because we know what goes on in Narkina 5. Saying it’s “a perfect little button at the end of this season. You can’t have a character like that just get away with [the things she did].” As for the idea that Dedra could’ve gone the way of so many other iconic Star Wars villains, she concluded, “I’m glad she wasn’t killed. I’m really glad that we get to see her in that uniform, in that Narkina 5 [cell].” Soller similarly reflected on Dedra’s indefinite incarceration, saying how it’s poignant to see “someone who’s been so about control being put into the ultimate controlled space.” Star Wars has a habit of killing off its villains, with everyone from Emperor Palpatine (twice) to Count Dooku getting their comeuppance. Darth Maul (twice) and Jabba the Hutt all met their makers, while Grand Admiral Thrawn faced a similarly dismal fate to Dedra when he was marooned in space – although he returned in Ahsoka to presumably be killed further down the line. Just like how Syril, Partagaz, and eventually Krennic were chewed up and spat out by the system, Dedra’s fate was written in the stars as the Emperor put his plans for the Death Star into play. Even though the repeated imagery of Meero feeling choked after she was assaulted back in the season 1 finale had some believing we’d get a last-minute cameo from Darth Vader to kill her off with one of his iconic Force chokes, she gets a much better send-off.  Knowing that Dedra is presumably forced to help finish the Death Star or construct the second Death Star when the first is destroyed is equally ironic. It’s a tragic arc akin to Cassian helping build the weapon that will kill him in Rogue One, but more than this, Dedra will likely never know what happens to the ISB or the Empire. Taking Andor and Rogue One as a complete story, the high body count leaves a handful of characters like Dedra, Bix (Adria Arjona), Kleya (Elizabeth Dulau), and Vel (Faye Marsay) alive when Rogue One’s credits roll. Whereas the others get something of a happy ending, Dedra’s is far from it.  While leaving Dedra on one of the Narkina moons leaves the door open for her to return further down the line, there’s no need to. What happens to these prisons in the aftermath of the Empire’s fall is also unknown, but leaving her to rot Both seasons of Andor are available to stream on Disney+ now. Join our mailing list Get the best of Den of Geek delivered right to your inbox!

Warning: this article contains full spoilers for Andor Season 2’s finale. If you haven’t already, be sure to check out IGN's review for Andor Season 2, Episodes 10-12. Andor Season 2 just wrapped on Disney+, capping off what is easily one of the best Star Wars projects to come out of the Disney era. In the process, the series leads directly into the events of 2016’s Rogue One: A Star Wars Story bringing Diego Luna’s Cassian Andor full circle at last.We already know what happens next for Cassian and the Rebel Alliance. His tragic future is already set in stone. But despite that, there’s a lot to unpack in the dramatic finale of Andor, as the series reveals the fates of many major characters and drops a major twist with big ramifications for the Star Wars franchise. Let’s break down everything that happens and how the series paves the way for future Star Wars adventures.Every IGN Andor ReviewAndor Season 2’s Ending ExplainedAndor Season 2 has been busy chronicling the final four years in the life of Cassian Andor. Or, at least, the most pivotal moments in those four years. First, in 4 BBY, we saw Cassian’s mission to steal a prototype TIE Avenger and his temporary imprisonment on Yavin IV, destined to become the new operating base of the fledgling Rebel Alliance. Then, in 3 BBY, we saw the role Cassian and the Empire each played in propping up the resistance cell known as The Ghorman Front. Those actions then bore fruit in 2 BBY, as the Empire responded to its manufactured political crisis and instigated the Ghorman Massacre, galvanizing Genevieve O’Reilly’s Mon Mothma and the Rebels.The series now takes its final bow in 1 BBY, just days before the events of Rogue One: A Star Wars Story and Star Wars: A New Hope. As expected, Andor ends by showing us the final sequence of events leading up to the first major conflict between the Rebellion and the Empire on Scarif. It’s all catalyzed by Stellan Skarsgård’s Luthen Rael, who proves to be the Rebel agent who first uncovers evidence of the Death Star.These final three episodes follow what happens next, as Luthen sacrifices himself (with a little assistance from Elizabeth Dulau’s Kleya Marki) and Cassian and friends make a high-stakes trip to Coruscant to bring Kleya in. It’s a mission that would surely have ended in torture and death for all involved if not for the assistance of Alan Tudyk’s K-2SO. Rogue One emphasized the idea that the Rebellion’s victory at the Battle of Yavin was a miracle that was accomplished through many individual acts of heroism. At any point in the chain, something could have gone wrong that doomed the Rebellion to failure. Now we have a better appreciation for how far back that chain extends. If not for Luthen and Kleya’s bravery, the Rebels would have no idea of the danger looming over them. Hope persists in the darkest of times.The series ends with the Alliance High Command finally accepting the reality of what Cassian and Kleya are telling them. The Empire is building a super-weapon. They don’t yet know that it’s one with the power to destroy entire planets, but they do know it’s connected to the Empire’s supposed energy program, its kyber mining efforts on Jedha, and its actions on Ghorman. The pieces are falling into place, leaving Cassian free to meet his contact Tivik on the Ring of Kafrene. That encounter unfolds in one of the first scenes in Rogue One, where Cassian learns the full truth about the Death Star and the defection of Riz Ahmed’s Bodhi Rook.The series also shows us the fates of many of the other major players in this prequel series. Kleya seems ready to integrate with the Rebels, joining loyal soldiers like Faye Marsay’s Vel Sartha and Muhannad Bhaier’s Wilmon Paak. We also see one last glimpse of Forest Whitaker’s Saw Gerrera, who watches in paranoid agitation as an Imperial Star Destroyer looms above Jedha. On the Imperial side of things, Anton Lesser’s Major Partagaz is forced to pay the ultimate price for his failure to contain the Death Star leak, committing suicide rather than submitting to whatever other punishments the Emperor had in mind. Meanwhile, Dedra is seen languishing in an Imperial prison cell, ironically in the same facility on Narkina 5 where Cassian was imprisoned in Season 1.“Meanwhile, Dedra is seen languishing in an Imperial prison cell, ironically in the same facility on Narkina 5 where Cassian was imprisoned in Season 1. She’s clearly wracked by shame and guilt, contending with everything she sacrificed in the name of the Empire and the realization that none of it mattered in the end. The series has a lot to say about the perils of living under fascism. Dedra is proof that no amount of loyalty and sacrifice can change the fact that everyone serving the Empire is merely a pawn to be discarded when they outlive their usefulness. “I always think of it like Dedra is in a gang,” Gough told IGN in a recent roundtable interview. “These guys are in a tribe and Dedra is in a gang, and the gang just disperse at the first sign of trouble. They throw each other to the wolves. There's no loyalties. And so it was really clear to me that going through it, that when you commit your whole life and she's indoctrinated into the gang, so she can't see anything outside it. It's actually really tragic. She can't have intimacy or vulnerability or anything. And so it's a real kind of a foil to what the people in the Rebellion do have, which is loyalty, trust, love, intimacy, community, all of those things.”Episode 12 serves as a neat and tidy way to end the series, albeit somewhat bittersweet. We know that Cassian himself has only a few days left to live before he and the rest of the Rogue One team sacrifice their lives on Scarif. But there is one, final reveal saved for the very end. PlayRevealing Cassian Andor’s ChildThe final scene in Episode 12 reveals that Adria Arjona’s Bix Caleen has returned to Mina-Rau to live out her days in peace. Not only that, she’s raising a baby. As hinted at in Episode 9, Bix was pregnant when she left Cassian on Yavin IV. While she claimed to be leaving Cassian to ensure he would continue serving the Rebellion, it’s clear now that she also wanted to bring their unborn child somewhere he could grow up safe from the Empire.Cassian may be doomed to die fighting on Scarif, but his legacy lives on in a very tangible way. That’s probably the happiest ending fans could hope for from this generally very somber Star Wars series.“[Showrunner Tony Gilroy] really believes that information is power,” Arjona told IGN. “And he told me months before I read the scene where I sort of send Cassian off. He told me that that was going to happen. And so for months I was kind of lingering on that effect or that feeling before I ever read it. And when I read it, it shook me. I started crying immediately. And I love Rogue One, and I respect that movie so much. So to sort of send Cassian on this journey meant the world to me.”“For anyone who had doubts in [Episode] 9 about her motivation, it underlines it at the end. Absolutely,” Gilroy adds. “It makes his sacrifice even more powerful. So much stronger. I mean, you want hope at the end… It would be cruel and unnatural to put all these people through all this stuff and not have a candle in the window at the end.”Does Andor Season 2 Have a Post-Credits Scene?The Star Wars franchise isn’t as big about post-credits scenes and stingers as Marvel, but we have seen them in the past with some live-action Star Wars shows. That includes Andor Season 1, which ended with the reveal that the Narkina 5 prisoners were manufacturing equipment being used on the Death Star.Based on that, fans might be expecting Season 2 to also end with a post-credits scene of some sort. But not in this case. The series is done once the final credits start rolling. When Andor segues this neatly into the beginning of Rogue One, what’s the point of a post-credits scene? Besides, the final scene with Bix is all the series really needs in terms of setting the stage for future stories. There’s another Andor out there in the galaxy, and no doubt they have a grand destiny ahead of them, too. On that note…PlayHow Andor Sets Up Future Star Wars StoriesAs much as Andor serves as a direct prequel to Rogue One, the series does leave some loose ends open for future Star Wars projects to build upon. As mentioned, key characters like Will, Kleya, and Vel are still alive and active in the Rebellion. This leaves room for future Star Wars comics and novels to explore the ongoing role they play in the Galactic Civil War. Did they fight in the Battle of Scarif or other major conflicts like the Battle of Endor? Did they ever rub elbows with the likes of Han Solo and Luke Skywalker? Andor is so far removed from the Jedi business that usually dominates the franchise, so it might be fascinating to read a story that explores how these ordinary heroes react to fighting alongside a living legend like Luke.It’s also worth pointing out that, though Season 2 explores the last four years of Cassian’s life, it only focuses on very specific periods within those four years. Now that Andor has wrapped, there’s ample room for Lucasfilm to double back and commission new books that flesh out other conflicts during this era. How did the bond between Cassian and K-2SO form? What other high-stakes missions did Cassian undertake? Lucasfilm is dabbling in this area with the recently announced Reign of the Empire trilogy, but there’s room for plenty more stories spinning out of Andor. Then there’s poor Dedra. As much as the series delivers a poetic ending to her story, we can’t help but wonder if there’s more story to be told. What becomes of Dedra? Does she spend the remainder of the Galactic Civil War locked up on Narkina 5? What happens when the Empire is overthrown? How does she react to seeing her precious Empire fall? Is she freed? Is she put on trial for her role in orchestrating the Ghorman Massacre? We can’t help but feel there’s more to be explored there.No doubt the child will grow up hearing stories of Cassian’s heroism and bravery, inspiring them to follow in their father’s footsteps.“But above all, Andor leaves us to question what becomes of Bix and her child. No doubt the child will grow up hearing stories of Cassian’s heroism and bravery, inspiring them to follow in their father’s footsteps. Given the time period in which this series is set, there’s no way Cassian’s child could participate in the Rebel Alliance (unless they grow so desperate they start relying on child soldiers). But they would be the right age to take part in the war between the Resistance and the First Order. It would be a comforting thought to know that Leia’s forces have another tie to the classic Rebellion era in the form of Cassian Andor’s offspring. One intriguing possibility is that Cassian Jr. could wind up being a character in Shawn Levy’s Star Wars: Starfighter. We don’t know much about that film, other than that it’ll star Ryan Gosling and it’s set about five years after the events of The Rise of Skywalker. Cassian and Bix’s child would be in their 40s at that point, leaving them in a perfect position to take up arms in whatever conflict exists after the fall of Palpatine’s Final Order.Regardless of where and when it happens, we have to assume it’s only a matter of time before Cassian and Bix’s child makes their presence known in the Star Wars franchise. Cassian himself may be gone, but his sacrifice wasn’t in vain. The Rebellion survives, and so does his family. That’s everything Cassian was fighting for.For more on Andor, find out how the series created a major Star Wars plot hole (and why that doesn't matter), and see the cast react to Episode 9’s shocking death.Jesse is a mild-mannered staff writer for IGN. Allow him to lend a machete to your intellectual thicket byfollowing @jschedeen on BlueSky.

A YouTube livestream event on Tuesday, featuring Andor creator/writer/showrunner Tony Gilroy and star Diego Luna, along with various stars of the series, inevitably touched on one of the entire series’ most devastating moments. One of the show’s running villains, civil servant and general catspaw Syril Karn, has a key confrontation in episode 8. Addressing the character’s storyline alongside Luna and Syril actor Kyle Soller, Gilroy revealed that the sequence’s climax was one of his biggest battles on the show. [Ed. note: Spoilers ahead for the Andor season 2 episode “Who Are You?”] In “Who Are You?”, Syril finally comes face-to-face with Cassian Andor (Luna), the rebel he’s been obsessed with since the beginning of the show. That obsession destroyed his career, took him across the galaxy, and led him to a satisfying, complicated new life. But he realizes it was all a lie, and that he was used to help the Empire mass-murder the people of the planet Ghorman. In the midst of the Imperial massacre on Ghorman, cleverly planned and constructed by Syril’s lover Dedra (Denise Gough) with his unwitting help, Syril happens across Cassian — and attacks him. And Cassian, who had no idea he’d become such a focus of Syril’s life, asks “Who are you?” Syril is clearly devastated. And a minute later, without ever getting to answer Cassian, he’s dead. The two men remain mysteries to each other, and Cassian moves on. “That line was very difficult to say!” Luna says in the livestream, talking about how much he had to put aside all his feelings about Syril’s history and his own knowledge of the larger story in order to make the moment work. “I think it was very smart also.” “I had to really fight for that line,” Gilroy says. “There was a lot of controversy about that.” Luna says Gilroy called him the night before shooting that scene to emphasize the importance of getting the line right, due to that fight to keep it in the script. They debated shooting alternate versions of the meeting, but Luna recounts Gilroy saying “It’s that one. You have to understand, it’s that one.” Luna says when he actually got to the line during shooting, “The moment when we said it, and that kind of ‘Oh shit!’ — the whole scene turns 360 in that moment.” “I told them, I’m naming the episode ‘Who Are You?’” Gilroy said. “I pushed all my chips on that. There were a lot of phone calls about that… I was very clear, [though] there was a lot of noise.” Because of the pushback, Gilroy says he did shoot alternate versions of the confrontation, in spite of his objections: “Whaddya do? You get alts. But, like, sometimes the building of alts diminishes the one [version] that you want. So you get half a slice of the thing that you want. My call to him was like, ‘You can get all the alts you want, but I know what I’m going [with] when I get in the cutting room. […] So make sure you get a good one, because I’m not going to look at the other ones.” For his part, Soller cites the line “Who are you?” as “the death blow” for Syril. “That line is so cutting. Everything Syril experiences in the 10 minutes leading up to that is kind of crushing, but that is the ultimate death blow for him. The guy whom he’s been funneling all of this energy toward for the past couple of years just doesn’t even know he exists. Brutal. Brutal.” One fun reveal from later in the livestream, though, is that Gilroy also had to battle for a much smaller and less telling detail in the show. In the season 2 episode “What a Festive Evening,” Cassian’s fellow rebel Bix (Adria Arjona) confronts her torturer, Imperial scientist Doctor Gorst (Joshua James). He’s first seen entering his torture lab carrying a fancy cupcake in a decorative package, which he sets down on a computer panel right before Bix reveals herself. “I had to fight for that cupcake, too,” Gilroy laughs. “I don’t know, I just wanted it! But nobody [else] wanted it.”

Disney announced on Monday evening that it will be holding a livestream Q&A for season 2 of its Star Wars drama Andor on Tuesday, May 14, at 12 p.m. ET. The stream will be hosted on YouTube, and will center on series creator, writer, and showrunner Tony Gilroy and star Diego Luna, though other guests from the show will also be present. Here’s the embedded livestream and the description of the event: In anticipation of the three-episode series finale of Andor, join Diego Luna and Creator & Executive Producer Tony Gilroy as they take us behind-the-scenes of the show’s final season. Diego and Tony will be joined by special guests Adria Arjona, Denise Gough, Elizabeth Dulau, Genevieve O’Reilly and Kyle Soller for live questions and reflections across their Star Wars journeys. With special appearances by some of your favorite creators including @HeroesReforged, @CatherineLaSalle, and @MaceAhWindu. Two things about this livestream feel unusual: First, it’s dropping right before the season and series finale of Andor, which goes live on Disney Plus at 9 p.m. ET on May 14, so fans won’t be able to ask questions that take the end of the season into account. (Likely a measure to avoid spoilers for people who haven’t watched yet.) And second, Disney says the participants will be taking live questions from viewers. As anyone who’s ever attended a live Q&A with significantly famous folk probably already knows, these kinds of forums rarely produce really great questions. That’s more often true in a live setting, where questioners often just want to hold the attention of those famous people, and tend to ramble or not ask questions at all. “This is more a comment than a question…” and “As a content creator myself, here are my thoughts on your work…” are clichés that still crop up at nearly every audience Q&A I attend at film festivals. And I will never forget attending a live-on-stage George Lucas interview that made time for questions at the end. A young man with a Chewbacca-bandolier messenger bag and no compunctions about wasting everyone else’s time got up to brag to Lucas about how many Moleskine notebooks full of story ideas he had back home, and ended with, “So my question is, Mr. Lucas, what can I do for you?” Lucas was… not gentle in his response. Collectively, we can do better. The key to a good Q&A is preparation — thinking in advance about questions that matter to you, then checking to see if maybe the participants have already answered that exact question elsewhere. (E.g. “Hey, Tony Gilroy, were you thinking of Nazi Germany when you wrote this show, or something more recent?”) And it’s important to be as specific as possible with questions — “What was the hardest part of the show to do?” isn’t a bad one, but it’s broad enough that it could be applied to any aspect of the writing, casting, shooting, editing, or post-production work, and might not get a particularly specific answer. So let’s pregame this interview. What, at this point, do you want to know from Tony Gilroy and Diego Luna (or any other promised participant in this project) that you think they haven’t already answered? What would you most like to hear them talk about? Personally, I’d like to know whether Gilroy ever considered any other end to Syril Karn’s arc. Not saying there’s anything wrong with what we saw on screen — Gilroy has called it a “Greek and dramatic” ending — but I really thought he was being set up for something else specific. What do you most want to ask the Andor creator and cast? (If nothing else, maybe the rest of us can help find a place where your question has already been answered, since there’s going to be a lot of competition to get questions through during the livestream.)