The 2016 film “Rogue One: A Star Wars Story” was a critical and commercial success at the time, but did not have much power in cultural conscience. A prequel to “A New Hope” extrapolated from the emblematic opening ramp of this film, “Rogue One” was a vestigian by design. The subtitle also announced the project as one of a series planned for autonomous films to win the Disney release calendar; When this effort collapsed with the story of besieged origin “Solo”, “Rogue One” was failed as a largely forgotten Blip.
One of the many impressive achievements in “Andor”, the Disney + series which will conclude its two -season race in the coming weeks, is that it retroactively transforms “Snape One” of a trivial footnote into an exciting conclusion. A prequel to a prequel named for a protagonist who (spoiler alert!) Dies in a successful attempt to steal the plans of the death star, “Andor” seemed even more minor than his starting point. But this marginality would prove to be the greatest strength of the spectacle. Not only do the challenges of low history and a defined end point gave the creator Tony Gilroy latitude to realize his vision of the complete author; They also became the central subjects of a history mainly concerned by ordinary, anonymous and essential cogs on both sides of a struggle between insurgent rebels and fascist oppressors. Season 1 of “Andor” was already by far the most exciting production in the streaming era of the venerable franchise. With season 2, “Andor” is quoted as the golden stallion of what can be modern “Star Wars”.
Two seasons is an apparently embarrassing length for a show – too long to be a mini -series, too short to settle in a groove. Here, again, “Andor” challenges the chances. The first volume, broadcast in the fall of 2022, brought the eponymous hero of Diego Luna of Horslaw intoxicated to a committed revolutionary. The second packed the gap of half a decennia between these events and “Rogue One”, dividing the order of 12 episodes into four blocks, each separated per year. (The release calendar of pieces of three episodes dispersed over four weeks is logical in the light of this narrative structure, not just The Emmy eligibility window.)
Only the last of these blocks is the victim of the burden of the exhibition, the sowing of the characters and the configuration of “Snape One” rather than serving as a peak in its own right. But even this decision is more likely to link “Rogue One” to “Andor” than on the contrary. Gilroy supervised the reshuffles on “Snape One”, and although his exact contributions are never known, the writer and director claimed the end, in which almost all the protagonists give their lives for the cause. In season 2, “Andor” is coupled with this theme of sacrifice and the question of choice compared to fate, while maintaining the concentration of season 1 on the daily mechanics of resistance and repression.
It is incredible, for example, the quantity of space and attention “and or” at the corners of the too silent or banal galaxy for successful treatment. During a family marriage organized by Senator Mon Mothma (Geneviève O’Reilly), an institutional reformist forced to make himself comfortable with radical action, we learn the rigorously thought of the native planet of my chandrila. When the zealous imperial official Syril Karn (Kyle Soller) presents his authoritarian mother (Kathryn Hunter) to his girlfriend – the obstinate and tense officer Dedra Meero (Denise Gough) – We watch him prepare a dinner with ingredients that seem to be both foreigners and familiar. As much as “Andor” contrasts pointed with so many conventions of “Star Wars”, it is simply too absorbed by its framework – infectiously – to be disinterested or derisory towards the greatest company.
In addition, things do not remain silent for a long time. The action of season 2 focuses on the planet Ghorman, a humble textile manufacturing base with the misfortune of having mineral deposits. (The post -scriptum of last season revealed that the work of the Cassian prison manufactured panels for the death star – the work of the repetitive and useful part as an essential tool for authoritarian control.) To make an excuse for an extraction of violent resources, Meero offers “a radical insurrection on which you can count” to “do the bad thing”.
This plan puts Ghorman in the Meero reticle on one side and the rebel leader Luthen Rael (Stellan Skarsgard), the mentor and recruiter of Cassian, on the other. But without the Jedi – and the binary conception of the force that accompanies them – as a major actors, “Andor” is never black and white in its morality, even if the spectacle is clear on the more important problems at stake. In the anti -imperial side, there are ferocious debates on peaceful protests against armed opposition, and a progressive and difficult transition of a network of guerillas dispersed to a rebellious army. These are the abstract stuff of history books made through characters that we have taken care of deeply, like Cassian and his love Bix (Adria Arjona), now traumatized by torture and life as a fugitive.
The Ghorman powder barrel ultimately explodes dramatically. In everything, from the dress (beret hats by the costume creator Michael Wilkinson) to the industry (heritage crafts) to the language (an original designed for the show), Ghorman is analogous to France, giving reference points “Andor” as the resistance to the era of the Second World War, the Revolution and even the “Les Misérables”. Gilroy and his colleagues writers (Beau Willimon, his brother Dan Gilroy and his author Tom Bissell each obtained a credit for an arc of three episodes, twinned with directors Ariel Kleiman, Janus Metz and Alonso Ruizpalacios) not so clearly committed to history, he would be tempting to accuse them of tears of titles. Season 2 touches immigration, genocide and excuses for bad faith for the surpassing of the state. However, his scripts were written years ago. “Andor” does not copy the news, but by waiting for it by studying the timeless dynamic of power and social change.
“Andor” is richly satisfactory as a full work, although it leaves “Star Wars” as a whole at a crossroads after the imminent departure of the head of Lucasfilm, Kathleen Kennedy. But Gilroy and his collaborators leave a card behind the way the franchise could go ahead. Obviously, all the “Star Wars” shows cannot be an adult drama that is unleashed in political theory. However, he can focus on a narrow corner of George Lucas’ sprawling cosmology, leaving aside what is not suitable for history and combining what remains with the creator’s own interests. “The Acolyte” by Leslye Headland is the closest that Disney has reproduced this approach; This series was not perfect, but it deserved much better than abrupt cancellation after a season. Perhaps, like “Andor”, “Star Wars” can watch and learn from the past. Didn’t that pay?
The first three episodes of season 2 of “Andor” will be presented on Disney + on April 22, with new episodes in first three at a time on Tuesday.
