‘Andor’ was certainly not promoted as extravagantly as the Obi-Wan Kenobi series before its premiere. Yet, it managed to catch the eyes of all the diehard Star Wars fans. Some fans have even compared the Diego Luna starrer with Jon Favreau’s The Mandalorian. What makes Andor so special? Let’s find out!
We last saw Luna as Andor in Gareth Edwards’ Rogue One (2016) film. He was a skilled Rebel captain and intelligence officer. And he succeeded in stealing the Death Star schematics from Scarif, an Imperial base, at the cost of his life. He died a noble death.
The Star Wars fanbase was unsure about the series when Disney first announced it in 2017. Instead, fans started campaigning heavily about a project based on Kenobi. Well, we all know what happened to that one. Deborah Chow’s Obi-Wan series looked like an absolute spectacle from the outside. But little did the fans know that they were going to get a series based entirely on fan service.
Andor looks way much better than its predecessors in terms of quality, performances, and storylines. Thanks to the creator-writer Tony Gilroy! Yes, it does not follow the conventional episodic approach as The Mandalorian did. But it treasures a serious and hard-hitting emotional tone, not to mention the snappy dialogues. All these elements make the show a great watch.
The ongoing Disney+ series is set before the events of Rogue One. Here, Cassian Andor is a thief who wants to find his lost sister. His home planet, Kenari, was destroyed after one of the Imperial mining projects went wrong there. His childhood name is Kassa. But Maarva Andor saves him from that place and adopts him.
The series starts with the titular character accidentally killing two Imperial officers to protect himself from them. It shows that Gilroy is not afraid to show the character’s dark side to the viewers. Humans are not perfect. We see people battling with their inner demons every day. That’s exactly the case with Andor. He is a complicated yet refreshing character.
Yes, we can have endless debates about the necessity of the show. But when it comes to its potential, Gilroy doesn’t disappoint the viewers in that department. The series serves as a flawless blend of two genres: sci-fi and espionage thriller.
Another thing that is impressive about Andor is that the makers have focused more on using the actual locations for filming instead of heavily relying on CGI. It feels so good to see a globally prominent franchise like Star Wars going for elaborative sets and real locations for filming.
Furthermore, the show is ‘rogue’ in terms of cinematography. The makers have given a faded palette to the series with perfectly shot greys and a bit of a greenish touch. It is something that we rarely see in a Star Wars instalment.
Created by Tony Gilroy, Andor stars Diego Luna, Stellan Skarsgard, Kyle Soller, Adria Arjona, Joplin Sibtain, James McArdle, Fiona Shaw, and many more. It is available on Disney+ Hotstar. Stay tuned for more updates.
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