'Andor' Season 2 Broadens Its Focus & Raises the Prequel Bar

Talk about the galaxy having ironic timing. Andor, Star Wars’ best and most politically engaged streaming series, returns April 22 for its second and final season, and boy, does it hit hard in our current global political climate. Tony Gilroy’s sweeping, inspiring, and incredibly mature prequel series tracks the birth of the Rebel Alliance as seen through the eyes of the initially reluctant everyman Cassian Andor (Diego Luna). Season 2 builds off the characters and narrative threads established in the first season, amps up the stakes, and then ties them up into a thrilling climax that snaps beautifully into the heartbreaking Gilroy-scripted 2016 film Rogue One.

Not many prequel series are vital endeavors. The Better Call Saul to Breaking Bad ratios are few and far between. But in the case of Andor, there’s no question that Gilroy and company have pulled off another high-water mark example of how best to build a story around characters and events that are riveting all by themselves. Then they show off in the series finale by achieving the seemingly impossible, making the great film Rogue One even better and richer, thanks to the events in the series adding layers of depth and emotional resonance.

Not to mention that both seasons of Andor rival the cream of the crop that PBS or BritBox has to offer in terms of U.K. talent knocking it out of the park with their performances. If Season 1 was focused on Cassian Andor finding his motivations to fight back against the advancing tyranny of the Galactic Empire, Season 2 is about broadening out that story for the ensemble of characters in his orbit. They, too, are forced to meet the moment, or get vanquished by it.