As it’s possible you’ll know, I’m an enormous ol’ Star Wars nerd. And certainly one of my favourite issues in Star Wars media is all of the tiny references and Easter eggs embedded in every single place. However typically this fan service goes overboard and derails a narrative in a manner that alienates or bores non-fans. Andor, the latest TV present set within the Star Wars universe, not solely avoids this downside, but in addition finds good methods to make the most of nerdy Star Wars lore with out making it tedious or annoying for people simply wanting to observe a very good present.
Andor, which premiered in late September on Disney+, is the most recent entry within the Star Wars franchise and is ready 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 well-liked spin-off.
Individuals throughout my timeline have been loving Andor. Even individuals who’d beforehand sworn off Star Wars totally 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 number 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 effectively that the majority people miss all of it.
An ideal 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 folks. However, technically, we already knew of Cassian’s house planet, and it wasn’t Kenari. Again when Rogue One got here out, Lucasfilm launched numerous guide tie-ins. One reference tome listed Andor’s house world as Fest, an outdated Star Wars planet that first appeared within the sport Darkish Forces. So, at first, I assumed the present had merely retconned that origin away. I wasn’t too aggravated by this, as I at all times favor 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 advised 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 attempting to cover the place he got here from, bought it. However for Star Wars nerds like me, it was a unbelievable technique to retcon one thing utilizing Star Wars lore whereas nonetheless honoring a reference guide 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 basic 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 pretty much as good) Obi-Wan Kenobi, Andor doesn’t get tousled in fan service that distracts from the precise story and characters. The refs are there to seek out in Andor, if you happen to care, however it’s completely superb if you happen to simply wish to benefit from the thrilling trip as a substitute.
G/O Media might get a fee
Take 50% off your two-week trial.
Veterinary Nutritionist-backed meals—to your canine. Similar to you are feeling higher whenever you eat higher, your pup will get pleasure from a shinier coat and extra vitality in time.
For instance, Mon Mothma’s daughter, Lieda, isn’t a brand-new character, however as a substitute 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 provides Cassian as fee for serving to with a heist has its personal refined connection to outdated Star Wars lore. Positive, many viewers in all probability know vaguely {that a} kyber crystal powers lightsabers. And plenty of additionally in all probability recalled that we beforehand noticed Rogue One heroine Jyn Erso carrying the same necklace. However whereas people have been wanting on the crystal and going, “Oh that’s a factor I sort 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.” That may have set off alarm bells within the heads of any followers who performed Knights of the Outdated Republic.
That’s as a result of the Rakatans have been created for that sport. They have 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 previously has me very excited.
Talking of online game references, in Luthen’s store—which is chockablock with enjoyable Easter eggs that would fill a complete separate weblog—we see what seems to be a swimsuit of Sith Stalker armor as first seen in Star Wars: The Pressure Unleashed. That sport and its essential character, Starkiller, are now not canon, and this armor popping up in Andor doesn’t change that. But it surely may trace that maybe someday elements of Pressure Unleashed will probably be reintroduced into the trendy Star Wars universe. I imply, if Jaxxon is canon lately, something can occur.
Learn Extra: Lego Star Wars Is The Antidote To Years of Poisonous Fan Tradition
However all of those deep-cut references and bits of fan service have been probably by no means noticed by 90% of individuals watching Andor, though 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, lots of this was included by Lucasfilm nerds and never himself. He just lately advised Selection that he works carefully with lore specialists 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 advised Selection. “I had no concept. Like, ‘Oh my God, the factor within the background!’ and persons are blowing it up. That’s the artwork division. So many cool folks work on the present. There’s a deep geekdom in Pinewood, consider me.”
That’s the way it ought to be. If Disney desires to proceed to create wonderful Star Wars productions like Andor, it ought to convey in additional creators and administrators like Gilroy. Individuals who, certain, won’t be the most important Star Wars followers on this planet, however who’ve fascinating tales to inform. Let these folks 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, this can be a exhausting steadiness to strike, and I don’t anticipate 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 whenever you increase the franchise and do one thing totally different, you not solely find yourself pleasing longtime Star Wars nerds like me, but in addition attain a complete 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 a very good factor to me.
