As you could know, I’m an enormous ol’ Star Wars nerd. And considered one of my favourite issues in Star Wars media is all of the tiny references and Easter eggs embedded in all places. However generally this fan service goes overboard and derails a narrative in a means that alienates or bores non-fans. Andor, the latest TV present set within the Star Wars universe, not solely avoids this downside, but additionally 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 present.
Andor, which premiered in late September on Disney+, is the most recent entry within the Star Wars franchise and is about 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 subsequent season, he’ll evolve into the person we met in that widespread spin-off.
Folks throughout my timeline have been loving Andor. Even individuals who’d beforehand sworn off Star Wars fully are again and having fun with each minute of the sequence. Lots of them fortunately level out how the present isn’t an enormous excuse to do fan service each week. However funnily sufficient, Andor has among 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 nicely that the majority of us miss all of it.
A terrific instance is available in how the present handles Cassian’s dwelling 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 individuals. However, technically, we already knew of Cassian’s dwelling planet, and it wasn’t Kenari. Again when Rogue One got here out, Lucasfilm launched varied e-book tie-ins. One reference tome listed Andor’s dwelling world as Fest, an previous Star Wars planet that first appeared within the recreation Darkish Forces. So, at first, I believed the present had merely retconned that origin away. I wasn’t too aggravated by this, as I all the time desire when Star Wars media give attention to story over lore.
However then, in Andor episode two, we study that Fest was a lie that Cassian and his adoptive mom informed 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 making an attempt to cover the place he got here from, obtained it. However for Star Wars nerds like me, it was a unbelievable strategy to retcon one thing utilizing Star Wars lore whereas nonetheless honoring a reference e-book from years in the past. And it didn’t intrude with the present in any respect, permitting regular, non-Star Wars sickos to benefit from the present with out rolling their eyes at some pressured little bit of fan service.
Andor is full of 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 a long time of prior materials. And in contrast to the final Star Wars present, the enjoyable (however not practically nearly 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, for those who care, but it surely’s completely high-quality for those who simply wish to benefit from the thrilling journey as a substitute.
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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 previous 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 cost for serving to with a heist has its personal delicate connection to previous 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 an identical necklace. However whereas of us had been trying on the crystal and going, “Oh that’s a factor I form of find out about…” Luthen drops one of many coolest bits of lore within the present, explaining that the crystal “celebrates the rebellion towards the Rakatan invaders.” Which 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 had been created for that recreation. They had 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 up to now has me very excited.
Talking of online game references, in Luthen’s store—which is chockablock with enjoyable Easter eggs that might fill a complete separate weblog—we see what seems to be a go well with of Sith Stalker armor as first seen in Star Wars: The Drive Unleashed. That recreation and its primary character, Starkiller, are now not canon, and this armor popping up in Andor doesn’t change that. Nevertheless it might trace that maybe at some point elements of Drive Unleashed will likely be reintroduced into the trendy Star Wars universe. I imply, if Jaxxon is canon as of late, something can occur.
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However all of those deep-cut references and bits of fan service had been doubtless by no means noticed by 90% of individuals watching Andor, despite the fact that a few of them straight connect with the plot or the present’s characters. That’s a powerful feat to tug off, and primarily based on interviews with the present’s creator, Tony Gilroy, a number of this was included by Lucasfilm nerds and never himself. He lately informed Selection that he works intently 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 previous video video games.
“The artwork division will sneak in all that crap into Luthen’s gallery,” Gilroy informed 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 individuals work on the present. There’s a deep geekdom in Pinewood, imagine 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 carry in additional creators and administrators like Gilroy. Individuals who, certain, may not be the most important Star Wars followers on the earth, however who’ve fascinating tales to inform. Let these individuals 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 arduous steadiness to strike, and I don’t count on all future Star Wars initiatives to be like Andor. In actual fact, I would like a world the place we get each reveals like Andor, that are for everybody, and reveals 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 reveals that once you broaden the franchise and do one thing completely different, you not solely find yourself pleasing longtime Star Wars nerds like me, but additionally 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 reveals like this seems like factor to me.
