“Andor” truly is the single best thing “Star Wars” has done since “The Empire Strikes Back.” This is a bold, poignant, timely political thriller set in the galaxy far, far away. It works precisely because it’s a grounded show that takes place in a big franchise like “Star Wars,” bringing timely sociopolitical commentary to a well-established sandbox.
Advertisement
And yet, one of the most special things about “Andor” is how it treats the rest of the “Star Wars” galaxy, managing to connect to the entire franchise while still resisting the urge to just point at every Glup Shitto imaginable and wink at the audience. Every reference feels earned, and the show gives meaningful context rather than just doing obvious cameos. Whether it’s creating links to “Star Wars Rebels” or just giving us a catchy wedding song that’s a galaxy-wide mega hit, “Andor” makes the galaxy feel more connected without feeling forced.
This is why it was very refreshing to realize that “Andor” never features the two biggest villains in “Star Wars”: Darth Vader and Emperor Sheev “I am the Senate” Palpatine.
Advertisement
Speaking with Rolling Stone, creator and showrunner Tony Gilroy addressed the lack of Siths in “Andor” and how intentional that was. “No, [Adding Vader to the show] was never on my agenda,” Gilroy said. “Writing for Darth Vader is really limiting. I’ve done it. He doesn’t have a lot to say.” Likewise, when asked about Palpatine, Gilroy simply said he was “too big a piece of meat for me to introduce. It was too heavy a lift. I thought about it at one point, but it was too heavy a lift.”
The evil of the Sith is felt, not seen
It’s true that there isn’t a whole lot to do with a character like Vader in a show like “Andor,” where there are no Jedi and the Rebellion isn’t yet organized enough or open enough to be on the radar of the Emperor’s Fist. But even if Gilroy considered him too big a piece of meat to introduce in the flesh, Palpatine’s presence is very much felt throughout the two seasons of “Andor.” In the first season, we saw several meetings of the Imperial Security Bureau where ISB board members would talk about Palpatine as if he were just a regular dude, which is hilarious. They don’t treat him like the cackling Emperor we know who can shoot lightning out of his fingertips. To the ISB, he is very much just a mortal man with a lot of political power. No one knows of his true identity.
Advertisement
“One of the fascinating things that I realized when I started the show in the very beginning is how many billions of beings are in the galaxy,” Gilroy continued. “Nobody knows about the Jedi, nobody knows about the Sith. It’s just a tiny percentage of people who have any notion of it at all. It’s not in the culture. And I remember being really surprised as it was explained. I thought it was something that everyone knew about, but no, it’s very secretive and small.”
Indeed. The brilliance of “Andor” (like “Rogue One” before it) is how it takes even the more mystified concepts of “Star Wars,” like the Force and the Jedi and the Sith, and takes them down to ground level. Palpatine is not a cartoonishly evil guy; he is a human dictator who commits human evils. And we don’t even need to see him to feel his power and his oppression.
Advertisement