The latest Star Wars series that is soon to debut is next month’s Andor, scheduled to release its first three episodes on September 21. The series, which was originally scheduled for the end of August, follows Cassian Andor in his earlier days in the Rebellion. As fans of the franchise know, Andor was one of the core heroes and rebels that secured the secret plans for the Death Star and helped thwart the Empire’s planet killing weapon.
Star Wars has a long-standing tradition of telling prequel tales, with the most notable example being the second trilogy in the main Skywalker saga. The prequels told the story of Anakin Skywalker and his turn to Darth Vader along with Palpatine’s rise to power. Andor, meanwhile, is a multi-layered prequel in a sense in that it is set before the events of Rogue One: A Star Wars Story, which in itself preceded the events of A New Hope. Some fans were initially unconvinced about the idea of a Cassian Andor prequel, but the trailers and footage shown so far appears to have won many over. Because of this, and the fact that Rogue One was an ensemble with several main characters forming a group of heroes, there could be more prequels to the first Star Wars spin-off movie, possibly focusing on other members of the ensemble.
Cassian himself was the co-lead of Rogue One. He was paired with Jyn Erso, the character who had the most substantial arc in the film. Her father, Galen, built the Death Star while he was a hostage. Cassian was ruthless in that film, but was ultimately a straight shooter of sorts. He was dedicated to the Rebellion at all costs, even if he went too far. Meanwhile, Jyn wasn’t interested in the Rebellion at first and was merely working with them to reunite with her father and escape capture (as fans will remember, they found her in an Imperial prison).
Jyn’s arc ultimately proved to be one of transition, in that she moved away from the careless fugitive type to a hero of the galaxy who made the ultimate sacrifice. This is a journey that spanned virtually her entire life, especially since the first scene of Rogue One depicted her as a young child hiding out on a farm with her parents. This makes Jyn the least likely of the ensemble to receive her own prequel series, but this doesn’t mean it’s entirely out of the question. Her time growing up with Saw Gerrera could be an interesting story to tell, as could the time during which she went off on her own into the underworld of the galaxy. As stated previously, some fans were initially unsure if there was enough of a story to tell in an Andor prequel series. However, those concerns seem to have eased, so a Jyn show could be in the cards.
Some of the most likely heroes to get their own spin-off show are Chirrut Imwe and Baze Malbus. The two Force religious type figures, Guardians of the Whills (a name that initially appeared in the first title for A New Hope in the mid 70s), were fan favorites of Rogue One who, in the eyes of many, ended up stealing the show. Chirrut in particular provided an incredibly quotable line:
“I am one with the Force and the Force is with me.”
These two had a strong emotional bond with each other that also extended to the audience watching the movie, perhaps even more so than Jyn and Cassian. Like the latter, not too much is known about Chirrut or Baze’s past, so a prequel series exploring how they ended up living at the run-down market on Jedha seems like an intriguing story. A potential Baze-Chirrut series could also explore the Guardians of the Whills more, hearkening back once again to one of the very first ideas George Lucas had for the Star Wars franchise.
Another member of the ensemble of Rogue One that could potentially get their own prequel series is Bodhi Rook, the low level Empire employee who worked on Eadu with Galen Erso. That character is essentially blank in terms of what he did before that movie, leaving a lot of empty space for the writers to explore creatively. Rook is played by Riz Ahmed, whom many consider to be one of the best actors of this generation, so any opportunity to bring him back into the franchise seems like a wise move. Galen Erso could also be explored further, again because he’s played by an excellent actor in the form of Mads Mikkelsen but also due to the fact that, bar his work on the Death Star, the middle of his life is unknown. Whether he tried to escape or contact Jyn somehow are questions many fans have had, and this series would certainly further explore the real-world parallels to the creation of the atomic bomb by Oppenheimer.
Andor releases next month on Disney+. It's entirely possible that this isn’t the last of the Rogue One characters to get their own prequel series, particularly as the movie is still one of the most popular Star Wars titles to be released under Disney.