Editor's note: The below contains spoilers for Episodes 1-3 of Andor.Cassian Andor (Diego Luna) is one of the most elite spies in the Star Wars galaxy, so it makes sense he would have some secrets. But as it turns out viewers didn’t even know his real name until now.
The first three episodes of the Disney+ series Andor featured flashbacks to his childhood, where he is played by Antonio Viña, with his experiences on his home planet informing his future as a dedicated member of the Rebel Alliance.
Who Is Kassa?
As the flashback scenes have shown, Cassian Andor grew up as "Kassa," and was born on the little-known planet Kenari, where he lived in a village of children and adolescents with his sister, Kerri (Belle Swarc). When a Separatist spaceship crashes into the jungle, Kassa joins the other children in observing the crash site, possibly in the hopes of scavenging resources from the wreck.
After a panicked survivor shoots and kills the village leader, an enraged Kassa explores the ship, eventually taking out his anger by smashing controls with his staff. He is heard by adult scavengers, one of whom, Maarva (Fiona Shaw), sedates him to take him aboard her ship, so he is not harmed by any rescue party that may come to investigate the crash.
From Kassa to Cassian
In the series’ present storyline, Kassa has already adopted the name Cassian Andor and is operating as a thief to fund his efforts to find Kerri. It is possible that the brief goodbye he and his sister shared in the first episodes’ final flashback was the last time he saw her before being taken off-planet by Maarva. Kerri may also have been kidnaped and trafficked, based on evidence Cassian finds suggesting she may have worked at a brothel for some time.
After getting in a fight with two members of the intergalactic corporation Pre-Mor, Cassian kills them both, drawing the attention of more Pre-Mor forces, who substitute for law enforcement in this specific area of space, including Inspector Syril Karn (Kyle Soller). Karn and his team arrive on Cassian’s current home planet of Ferrix to investigate. As the brutal authorities close in, Cassian attempts to sell a valuable piece of stolen Imperial technology to Luthen Rael (Stellan Skarsgård), a member of the Rebel Alliance who is more interested in recruiting Cassian to the Rebel cause for his skill at infiltrating and evading the Empire.
The final scene of the third episode crosscuts Cassian entering Rael’s ship as the pair flea the Pre-Mor forces with Maarva bringing the young Kassa aboard hers, with the similarly bright sunlight shining into the ships signifying how both moments represent Cassian moving into new stages of his life. However, the search for Kerri will presumably be brought to some kind of conclusion before Cassian fully commits to life as a Rebel.
It's not yet clear how or if Andor intends to reconcile the Kassa storyline with the pieces of Cassian’s backstory provided by other Star Wars media. In the character’s first appearance in Rogue One: A Star Wars Story, while discussing the Rebellion Cassian tells Jyn Erso (Felicity Jones), “I’ve been in this fight since I was six years old!” Even if one believes that Viña’s version of the character is six, which stretches plausibility, Andor still alters the context of this scene. In the film, the implication is that Cassian has been part of the Rebellion since that age, but Andor takes place only five years prior to the events of Rogue One, making his stint with the Alliance much shorter.
Presumably, the series will recontextualize the line by arguing that his thieving from the Empire means Cassian has been part of the struggle against them already, but that’s an obvious reinterpretation of the line. One possible explanation is that Maarva, who expresses rebellious sentiments while in Karn’s custody, is an actual member of or at least sympathetic to the Alliance and has been subtly preparing Cassian to join them. Cassian’s Expanded Universe history, including his service with the Separatist military, hasn’t been directly retconned yet, but given what the first three episodes have established it seems likely that much of it will be. Star Wars films and TV shows are given preferential treatment when it comes to canon, and often retcon or outright ignore details from other media. But it’s surprising to see Andor play so fast and loose in terms of adherence to what Rogue One established given that showrunner Tony Gilroy co-wrote the film and the show serves as a direct prequel to it.
Andor premieres new episodes weekly every Wednesday on Disney+.