Star Wars’ latest television series Andor is over halfway through its first season at this point as it’s set to end the day before Thanksgiving next month. Andor has taken many fans by surprise with its character-driven nature and focus on the people of a galaxy far, far away rather than cameos and easter eggs, as well as the excellent direction and production design. There are plenty of amazing shows to watch on TV right now, from House of the Dragon to The Rings of Power, but Star Wars: Andor ultimately takes the top spot as the best series currently airing.
Andor is far from the only live-action Star Wars show to debut in recent years, with The Mandalorian, The Book of Boba Fett, and Obi-Wan Kenobi all airing before it. However, Andor greatly differs from the rest in terms of its style, dialogue, and direction. This isn’t to say that Andor is necessarily better than those other shows, although many Star Wars fans have already made that judgment during the airing of this first season. With a studio like Disney pushing for as much content as possible, diversification of stories is absolutely crucial in order to keep the franchise fresh and alive. Simply put, Andor is just different from every other Star Wars project ever released.
A lot of what makes Andor distinct from shows like Obi-Wan Kenobi and The Mandalorian are exactly the reasons why it is arguably the best show on TV right now. It feels more like an HBO drama than it does a typical Disney+ series, ironic given that there was some overlap between the Diego Luna-led series and She-Hulk. She-Hulk exemplified Disney+ storytelling, for better or worse, whereas Andor feels fresh and refined. For a franchise that just continues to put out more and more content, both live-action and animated, this bold new direction is incredibly refreshing.
As stated, Andor is more character-driven than most other Disney+ shows. Cassian is the star and the focus, and much of the show is the telling of the story of how he became the Rebel hero fans saw sacrifice himself in Rogue One: A Star Wars Story in 2016. There’s a real commitment to that character arc as well, a crucial reason behind Andor’s success thus far. Cassian is far darker, disturbed, brutal, and selfish than most would have expected going into this series, and even after several episodes he still seems a far cry from his character in Rogue One.
The first season emphasizes that perfectly, where Cassian shoots and kills, and essentially executes, a drunk man who disturbed him and tried to start a fight. That, combined with the fact that Diego Luna’s character had also accidentally killed the man’s friend, set a tone for the whole show and made it clear just how different this Cassian is. Watching him slowly but surely grow as a person makes for an entertaining and emotional journey for the audience.
Somewhat surprisingly, Cassian is far from the only character the show dedicates mass amounts of time to. Syril Karn, Dedra, Mon Mothma, and Luthen Rael are all given considerable screen time, yet they all tie in neatly into the same overarching story. There’s a nuance to all of those characters and one that reflects the adding of nuance to the conflict between the Rebellion and the Empire in Andor, another hallmark reason for why the show is so gripping.
Syril, for example, is not Darth Vader or Emperor Palpatine and instead exists in this grey area even as he develops a grudge and revenge mission against the show’s leading man. Meanwhile, Luthen is willing to go to extreme lengths to fight for the Rebellion, so much so that his efforts put intense fear in Mon Mothma. The Rebellion is still the good in the galaxy, yes, but this classic Star Wars conflict is given so much more complexity here. In a way, this doubles down on what writer Tony Gilroy did in Rogue One with Saw Gerrera, making him a Rebel extremist that was willing to sacrifice innocent lives in order to take down the Empire.
Ultimately, Tony Gilroy is a massive reason for the quality of Andor as a series. The showrunner, who co-wrote Rogue One, brought so much newness and life to Star Wars with this project that it’s opened up so many new doors and infinite possibilities for the franchise. The Mandalorian-era shows and the sequel trilogy plot will both continue, as they should, but there’s certainly room for some more serious stories as well, and Tony Gilroy is showing just how interesting those can be.
Gilroy writes dialogue akin to that heard in some well-known prestige television dramas like The Wire, The Sopranos, The Americans, and more. Andor feels much more like awards season fare than any Star Wars project has since A New Hope, which was nominated for Best Picture at the Academy Awards in 1978. Every word said, no matter how seemingly insignificant, has some deeper meaning, either to the Star Wars galaxy or the lives of these characters. Everything is purposeful and, for that reason, nothing is dull, boring, or bland in Andor. Most of the episodes haven’t even had action scenes in them, surprising given the nature of the franchise, but it works. There’s no desire or need for more combat than what audiences are already being given, such is the interesting and captivating nature of this political thriller. All in all, Andor is a must watch TV show, regardless of whether or not one is a Star Wars fan, and is arguably the best series right now.
