As you might know, I’m an enormous ol’ Star Wars nerd. And considered one of my favourite issues in Star Wars media is all of the tiny references and Easter eggs embedded in every single place. However generally this fan service goes overboard and derails a narrative in a manner that alienates or bores non-fans. Andor, the most recent TV present set within the Star Wars universe, not solely avoids this drawback, but additionally finds excellent methods to make the most of nerdy Star Wars lore with out making it tedious or annoying for folk simply wanting to observe an excellent present.
Andor, which premiered in late September on Disney+, is the newest entry within the Star Wars franchise and is about earlier than the occasions of the unique Star Wars movie and the film Rogue One. It follows the lifetime of Cassian Andor, performed by Diego Luna, as he navigates a galaxy managed by the evil Empire. He’s not but the insurgent we all know from Rogue One, however over the course of this season and presumably the following season, he’ll evolve into the person we met in that widespread spin-off.
Individuals throughout my timeline have been loving Andor. Even individuals who’d beforehand sworn off Star Wars fully are again and having fun with each minute of the collection. Lots of them fortunately level out how the present isn’t a large excuse to do fan service each week. However funnily sufficient, Andor has a few of the coolest and most fascinating bits of deep-cut Star Wars lore out of something Star Wars-related in years; it’s simply dealt with so properly that the majority of us miss all of it.
An incredible instance is available in how the present handles Cassian’s house planet. Within the first episode of the present, we study that Cassian was born and raised on the planet Kenari. It’s newly created for Andor, which allowed showrunner Tony Gilroy extra freedom to do no matter he wanted with it and its individuals. However, technically, we already knew of Cassian’s house planet, and it wasn’t Kenari. Again when Rogue One got here out, Lucasfilm launched varied ebook tie-ins. One reference tome listed Andor’s house world as Fest, an outdated Star Wars planet that first appeared within the recreation Darkish Forces. So, at first, I believed the present had merely retconned that origin away. I wasn’t too irritated by this, as I at all times want when Star Wars media concentrate on story over lore.
However then, in Andor episode two, we study that Fest was a lie that Cassian and his adoptive mom informed everybody to cover the reality of the place he was actually from, Kenari. For many viewers, that scene wasn’t that huge of a deal: Cassian lied as a result of he was making an attempt to cover the place he got here from, obtained it. However for Star Wars nerds like me, it was a unbelievable approach to retcon one thing utilizing Star Wars lore whereas nonetheless honoring a reference ebook from years in the past. And it didn’t intervene with the present in any respect, permitting regular, non-Star Wars sickos to benefit from the present with out rolling their eyes at some compelled little bit of fan service.
Andor is stuffed with Star Wars lore and connections like this that it sneakily deploys in ways in which make sense for normal audiences, however which have deeper, fascinating connections to the franchise’s many years of prior materials. And in contrast to the final Star Wars present, the enjoyable (however not almost nearly as good) Obi-Wan Kenobi, Andor doesn’t get twisted up in fan service that distracts from the precise story and characters. The refs are there to seek out in Andor, when you care, nevertheless it’s completely high-quality when you simply wish to benefit from the thrilling experience as an alternative.
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For instance, Mon Mothma’s daughter, Lieda, isn’t a brand-new character, however as an alternative a really deep-cut one who barely existed within the outdated Star Wars Prolonged Universe. So her popping up within the present not solely introduced her into canon, however was a really enjoyable little bit of fan service that didn’t stick out to most viewers.
Equally, the kyber crystal Luthen Rael offers Cassian as cost for serving to with a heist has its personal refined connection to outdated Star Wars lore. Positive, many viewers most likely know vaguely {that a} kyber crystal powers lightsabers. And plenty of additionally most likely recalled that we beforehand noticed Rogue One heroine Jyn Erso sporting the same necklace. However whereas of us had been wanting on the crystal and going, “Oh that’s a factor I type of learn about…” Luthen drops one of many coolest bits of lore within the present, explaining that the crystal “celebrates the rebellion towards the Rakatan invaders.” Which may have set off alarm bells within the heads of any followers who performed Knights of the Previous Republic.
That’s as a result of the Rakatans had been created for that recreation. They had been an historic race of super-powerful aliens who probably invented hyperdrive and at one level managed the galaxy as a part of their Infinite Empire. Technically, they’ve been talked about in canon earlier than, however that is actually the primary huge re-introduction of the species. Pondering how they may work into future Star Wars tales set far up to now has me very excited.
Talking of online game references, in Luthen’s store—which is chockablock with enjoyable Easter eggs that might fill an entire separate weblog—we see what seems to be a go well with of Sith Stalker armor as first seen in Star Wars: The Pressure Unleashed. That recreation and its major character, Starkiller, are now not canon, and this armor popping up in Andor doesn’t change that. But it surely might trace that maybe someday components of Pressure Unleashed will probably be reintroduced into the trendy Star Wars universe. I imply, if Jaxxon is canon nowadays, something can occur.
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However all of those deep-cut references and bits of fan service had been seemingly by no means noticed by 90% of individuals watching Andor, regardless that a few of them instantly connect with the plot or the present’s characters. That’s a formidable feat to drag off, and based mostly on interviews with the present’s creator, Tony Gilroy, a whole lot of this was included by Lucasfilm nerds and never himself. He just lately informed Selection that he works intently with lore consultants like Pablo Hidalgo to verify he’s not doing something that breaks the Star Wars universe. However for him, his actual focus is on Andor’s story and its characters, not references to manuals or outdated video video games.
“The artwork division will sneak in all that crap into Luthen’s gallery,” Gilroy informed Selection. “I had no concept. Like, ‘Oh my God, the factor within the background!’ and individuals are blowing it up. That’s the artwork division. So many cool individuals work on the present. There’s a deep geekdom in Pinewood, consider me.”
That’s the way it needs to be. If Disney desires to proceed to create wonderful Star Wars productions like Andor, it ought to deliver in additional creators and administrators like Gilroy. Individuals who, certain, may not be the most important Star Wars followers on this planet, however who’ve fascinating tales to inform. Let these individuals create cool stuff whereas the nerds at Lucasfilm fill within the gaps with fan service that weirdos like me can get enthusiastic about, whereas by no means ruining the present for everybody else.
I admit, it is a laborious steadiness to strike, and I don’t count on all future Star Wars tasks to be like Andor. In actual fact, I would favor a world the place we get each exhibits like Andor, that are for everybody, and exhibits like Tales of the Jedi, that are good however clearly goal Star Wars nerds like me. Star Wars can’t develop if it solely focuses on its huge followers, and Andor exhibits that once you increase the franchise and do one thing totally different, you not solely find yourself pleasing longtime Star Wars nerds like me, but additionally attain an entire new viewers which may by no means have cared about Star Wars within the first place. Plus, Andor is simply actually entertaining, so extra exhibits like this appears like an excellent factor to me.
