'Andor' season 2 review: Disney+ sci-fi adventure is here to rebel one last time

Disney+

Do you have friends everywhere? You better if you want to hang out with Andor, which returns with its second and final season. Picking up where we left off, we follow Cassian Andor (Diego Luna), a former smuggler, current spy and future rebel hero in 2016's 'Rogue One: A Star Wars Story' for which the series serves as a prequel. Based on George Lucas' 'Star Wars' and mixing sci-fi adventure with political thriller once again, this season's storyline spans four years before the events of 'Rogue One', and it's split into four three-episode long acts, each act jumping one year forward as well.

Cassian is living a somewhat quiet life with his girlfriend Bix Caleen (Adria Arjona) on a farming planet, although he is now fully in cahoots with Rebel Alliance mastermind Luthen Rael (Stellan Skarsgård) who himself is tangled up with senator Mon Mothma (Genevieve O'Reilly) who is sympathetic towards their cause. Together, all of them are slowly but surely trying to gather intelligence about the oppressive Empire's plans, cause havoc and prepare the rebels for what's to come. Involved in the power struggle in addition to them are Imperial supervisor Dedra Meero (Denise Gough), her boyfriend and corporate inspector Syril Karn (Kyle Soller), rebel operatives Cinta Kaz (Varada Sethu), Saw Gerrera (Forest Whitaker), Vel Sartha (Faye Marsay) and Wilmon (Muhannad Bhaier), Imperial higher-up Orson Krennic (Ben Mendelsohn) and Luthen's assistant Kleya Marki (Elizabeth Dulau).

You probably wouldn't be entirely out to lunch if you thought that showrunner and creator Tony Gilroy alongside his writers' room (Beau Willimon, Dan Gilroy and Tom Bissell) began this farewell season's space travel by defining their sandbox, which is this peculiar structure that gives each act a natural beginning, middle and end. And, yes, it is essentially four movies, but we'll let that one slide when you can conjure up the sort of propulsion that great episodic TV can produced at its best and there are meaningful, season-long character arcs (now, if Tony Gilroy were to describe this is as a 12-hour movie, I'd personally hire Cassian to eliminate this alleged target). But what this structure offers is a feat of architecture where these acts become cornerstones, on top of which you can build your rebel headquarters filled with interesting characters, political machinations and life-or-death stakes.

Something has clearly gone very much right with these decisions because as a result, this season is slightly more cohesive than the first and the writers' compositions simply sing. You get some of the most rousing dialogue on the small screen currently. You get sonorous characters with rich inner lives. You not only get sweeping drama but also subtle comedic jabs that aren't ham-fisted by any means. There's a bit of a slow start to everything, admittedly, and there's one questionable tragedy along the way that might be too manipulative for this show, but the crescendo ends up being effective, and you get incredible highs like episodes three (phenomenal), eight, nine and ten. And don't be too surprised if something hits you in the feels in episode nine or the series finale.

Most of all, Andor's sophomore run is thematically resonant as it continues to investigate fascism, loyalty, morality, love, legacy as well as—more during this run than before— complicity. You live with people like Dedra, Syril and their associates who are actively turning the wheels of calamity, and you live with people like Cassian, Bix, Luthen, Moa and their pals who are weighing their personal sacrifices against their cause.

This conflict, this juxtaposition reflects our personal values, too, but it's also incredibly timely and potent. When the series gets to acts of genocide, and the reasons and political motivations behind them, these scenes mirror a lot of what's happening right now with Israel's genocide of Palestinians and why the United States is so hell-bent on funding it (hint: what's beneath the soil + disregard + good ol' capitalism). Scenes featuring protests mirror the current nationwide protests against the rise of fascism and destruction of systems in the latter country, Hungary and elsewhere. Scenes featuring overly eager (and, new to this franchise, predatory) enforcers of these fascist doctrines are eerily reminiscent of federal agencies conducting unethical, even unlawful treatment of individuals. Escapism this is not, but it's the most substantial storytelling that you've ever seen in the 'Star Wars' franchise, if not in all of TV this year so far.

Andor in general has levelled up in most aspects, including the acting department. It's all around great work and you could highlight multiple performers—Gough and Soller provide a battle of disillusionment whilst still having the ick factor that their characters' relationship has, Arjona becomes more or less the show's emotional anchor point by translating Bix's uneasiness, O'Reilly is still a powerful enigma—but it is in fact Luna who has perhaps taken the biggest leap. The actor portrays Cassian's compassion, fortitude, intelligence and temper with elegance that we haven't quite seen yet. Luna's Cassian is far from perfect and sometimes even far from being the source of inspiration that he's capable of, but it's these shades and imperfections that make for engaging drama. Dulau emerges as another bright spot very late into the season, underlining the depth within the cast.

The world-building in the series continues to be rather outstanding and it's oftentimes sci-fi storytelling at its finest. Luke Hull's production design is yet again top-tier stuff as it ranges from lush green-to-blue-to-brown environments and living spaces that highlight the characters' personalities, to clinical, black-and-white milieus that drain the hues of humanity out of the Imperial employees and leaders, setting them up for path of inhumane destruction. These sets are in sync with larger-than-life VFX (supervised by Mohen Leo, produced by TJ Falls) that never distract you from the character drama but would nonetheless be impressive even on the big screen, let alone in television. This particular saga, which Tony Gilroy has shepherded, deftly balances intimacy with striking technical wizardry throughout.

Add exquisite costumes (designed by Michael Wilkinson) and hair and makeup design (by Emma Scott), which help to fill in the gaps between the acts in regard to where the characters are at any given time, as well as dynamic cinematography (Christophe Nuyens, Damián García) and booming soundscapes, and the show's directors (Alonso Ruizpalacios, Ariel Kleiman and Janus Metz) have a foundation to let the visual and audible storytelling drive the spaceship even if the dialogue could carry the momentum as well. Plus, a special shoutout to the music in episode three; the crowd will go wild for that one.

You know, it's almost hard to believe that you can say all this about a 'Star Wars' show, but this is a true achievement and conceivably the most exciting story to have come out of said franchise thus far. And if you watch a lot of TV, you'll know that it's very rare for a project to give you a sense that every single department locked in and worked towards the same creative vision in perfect harmony. To go a step further, this season announces Andor as an early contender for the best series of 2025. It's a thoughtful, thrilling, vibrant and most likely timeless piece of storytelling. The series displays that both your action and inaction have consequences, and that all of ours and Cassian's legacies are the product of those very things. Hopefully action sounds more appetising to you.

Smileys: Writing, production design, structure, VFX, Diego Luna

Frowneys: None

The plan to take down the Empire is a Rael doozy.

5.0/5

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