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The Disney juggernaut is continuing its production of new Star Wars content with no less than three more shows premiering in 2022 and more coming out in 2023. The next series, Andor, will be divided into two major parts and is functioning as a prequel to the amazing movie Rogue One. This series is set to show the grimy work of fomenting a rebellion and will reveal the more shadowy work of the Rebellion's spies and secret soldiers. Here's everything we know about this exciting spinoff series.
Editor's Note: This piece was updated on September 14 to include the latest trailer.
When And Where Is Andor Coming Out?
Like all the upcoming Star Wars series, Andor will be available exclusively on Disney+. This is fortunate as Disney+ has been expanding to many other countries. Currently, there are 34 countries with access to Disney+, but for those who do not have access, there are still some options. For projects such as Ms. Marvel, Disney has utilized movie theaters to show a number of episodes of the series at a time. While there has been no such announcement for Andor, fans may get this option depending on Disney’s plans.
The release date was previously set for August 31, 2022 but was ultimately pushed back nearly a month to September 21, 2022 and will launch with three episodes. It also looks like Andor will be following the typical Disney+ release structure of a new episode released every week. This will also be the longest series out of the live-action Star Wars shows, with a total of 12 episodes in the first season. So you can tune in every Wednesday from September 21 to November 23. Given that the release dates for the upcoming Tales of the Jedi and Bad Batch Season 2 are sometime this fall, we may very well have several Star Wars series releasing at the same time.
Watch the Andor Trailer
The first trailer for Andor on May 26, 2022, during Star Wars Celebration. One of the things that you notice from the trailer is the absolute lack of fan-favorite sarcastic droid K-2SO. Alan Tudyk, who voiced the character in Rogue One, has confirmed that K-2SO will not appear in the first season but has also said that he could show up in later stories, so we will hopefully be getting K-2SO’s backstory in Season 2. We also see what appear to be some early rebel soldiers and even possibly clones working for the empire. One of the carry-overs from the Rogue One movie is the reappearance of the Death Troopers, and we will hopefully get to see them in action again.
The second trailer for Andor was released on August 1, 2022, giving us our best look yet at the Rogue One prequel series. The trailer also revealed that Academy Award-winning actor Forest Whitaker will be reprising his role as Saw Gerrera in the series. This was followed by a clip from the show released on August 24 and yet another trailer released during Disney's D23 Expo 2022. Check out the new trailer here:
Who's In the Cast of Andor?
While we do have confirmation of a lot of the series' actors so far, we still don’t know a lot about the characters they will be portraying. It seems that Disney is not only introducing a load of new characters into the Star Wars universe but also playing their cards close to their chests.
For our returning roles, we have a couple of familiar faces. Diego Luna will be reprising his titular role as Cassian Andor for the entirety of the series. Forest Whitaker will also be reprising his live-action depiction of the fanatic Saw Gerrera, whose death was shown in Rogue One and who has had appearances in both Star Wars: The Clone Wars and Star Wars: The Bad Batch. Genevieve O'Reilly will be back in her role from Rogue One as well as Star Wars: Rebels as the senator Mon Mothma, who was an early supporter of the rebellion and eventually the leader of the New Republic. A few characters who are named but new to the Star Wars universe are Anton Valensi as Ben and Irregulars veteran Alex Ferms as Sergeant Kostek. Ben is set to appear in three episodes and Kostek to appear in all twelve. Veteran actor Stellan Skarsgård will be playing a character named Luthen. As previously stated, Forest Whitaker will also be reprising his role as Saw Gerrera in the series.
And that is the majority of the named roles that have been released so far about Andor. We do have a semi-full cast list that includes Father of the Bride’s Adria Arjona, The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt video game's Yennefer Denise Gough, and Harry Potter’s Fiona Shaw. This cast is full of experienced actors and actresses, so we can definitely expect to see some stellar performances.
What Is Andor About?
Andor is set to portray the rougher side of the Rebellion, telling not only the origin story of the Rebellion itself but also that of the titular character. In Rogue One, we see that Cassian is willing to kill another Rebel spy to prevent him from giving up information vital to the Rebellion, and he almost assassinates Galen Erso as well. This demonstrates a hard past, with a high likelihood of betrayals and loss from Cassian's perspective, so I would not assume any character is safe in the show.
We also know from the trailer that this first season is set relatively early in the post-Order 66 world as the stormtroopers are not yet sporting their classic armor and we see a large training facility that indicates the Empire may not have fully moved away from using clones yet either. We also see a fair amount of the inside of imperial facilities, suggesting this series will focus quite a bit on the theft of classified data and espionage missions. There is also not a single mention of the Force or a lightsaber, so this series will be one of the growing number of Star Wars stories to not have a Jedi (or even a Sith) as a central figure. We can’t count out the possibility of live-action Inquisitors or even Hayden Christensen as Darth Vader himself, especially since they appeared in Obi-Wan Kenobi.
Is There an Andor Season 2 in the Works?
The future is set for Star Wars: Andor as the show's second season has already been confirmed. This is a two-part series that will be made up of two 12-episode seasons. The writers have been very clear that each season will continue its thematic elements and are different periods of Cassian’s (and by extension the Rebellion's) journey. We also know that at least a few more characters, such as K-2SO, will come back for the second season. This gives fans a lot to look forward to, both in the first and second seasons. Andor Season 2 is set to begin filming in the Fall of 2022, presumably after the Season 1 finale.