What is quite possibly the best Star Wars show in existence ended its first season this week and now we all have to suffer in wait for Andor season 2. The silver lining is that a second season is definitely coming, but it will be a while until we know more about Cassian’s next adventure.
Regardless, let’s do our best impressions of rebel spies and see what we can find out about Andor’s second season.
What is Andor about?
If you’re yet to watch Star Wars: Andor, stop what you’re doing and binge it on Disney+ right now.
The first season of the Star Wars series spans 12 episodes. It follows the adventures of Cassian Andor, a character audiences were introduced to in Rogue One, in the years before he and Jyn Erso lead a team to steal the plans for the Death Star.
Andor has been a welcome take on the galaxy, far, far away with a grittier and more adult aesthetic that digs into the complexities of the rebellion. The series has received rave reviews from critics (including us), currently sitting at 93% on Rotten Tomatoes.
What happened at the end of season one?
Spoilers for the season finale of Andor are ahead.
After a season of political subterfuge, near-misses and a stint in prison, everything came to a head in Andor’s finale.
The last episode saw everyone gathering on Ferrix for Maarva Andor’s funeral. The Imperials are lying in wait to capture Cassian, believing he may be drawn out of hiding for his mother’s funeral. They are correct.
Luthen, Vel and Cinta also have plans to assassinate Cassian, but none get the chance after he manages to infiltrate the ISB, rescue Bix and escape.
Things do not go smoothly at the funeral, however, when B2EMO projects Maarva’s last message to the people of Ferrix, which incites a riot against the Empire.
Instead of leaving Ferrix with his friends, Cassian presents himself to Luthen, offering him a choice between killing him or taking him in.
We’ll have to wait until season 2 to see what Luthen decides, but something tells us Cassian will upgrade to a fully-fledged rebel next season.
A post-credits scene also reveals that the parts Cassian had been building during his time within the Narkina 5 prison are being used to construct the Death Star – the weapon that will (spoiler alert) eventually kill him.
What do we know about Andor season 2?
It’s always been planned from the beginning for Andor to span 24 episodes in total.
Now that the first 12 are out, we’re lying in wait for the second half, which is full steam ahead in development right now.
We don’t know a lot about the plot, but showrunner Tony Gilroy did reveal to Polygon in an interview that the second season will pick up a year later:
“We’re going to skip a whole year. We come back a year later, many things have changed. And we’ll do three episodes, and we’ll jump a year. And we’ll do another three episodes, and we’ll jump a year. And we’ll come back to the final four episodes, and those episodes will be the last three days really before Rogue One, and the final scene of the show will be walking you into Rogue One.”
Gilroy also said the second season will see Cassian “becoming a leader” after overcoming his doubts in season one.
As we’ve seen, the plot of Andor can go in wildly unexpected directions. Some things we know still have to happen are the unifying of the rebel factions into the rebel alliance, the completion of the Death Star and Cassian’s introduction to his robot friend, K-2SO. How will it all play out?
Which cast members are returning?
We don’t have a confirmed cast list for season 2 of Andor, but we can presume that most of the characters from season 1 will be back.
That list definitely includes Diego Luna as Cassian, as well as Stellan Skarsgård as Luthen Rael and Genevieve O’Reilly as Mon Mothma.
The door is also open for season one cast members (whose characters survived) to return like Denise Gough (Dedra Meero), Kyle Soller (Syril Karn), Faye Marsay (Vel Sartha), Adria Arjona (Bix Caleen), and Varada Sethu (Cinta Kaz).
Quite frankly the cast of Andor’s first season is incredible. They simply all have to return for season 2 or I will personally incite a riot.
Could we also see some of the faces from Rogue One appear in season 2? It’s certainly possible and it’s highly likely at least Alan Tudyk will appear to voice K-2SO.
When will Andor season 2 be released?
There’s no fixed release date for Andor season 2 just yet, but we do know things are moving forward behind the scenes.
Gilroy confirmed to Collider in an interview that filming for the next season is happening now and is expected to last until August 2023. Assuming it sticks to the same timeline as the first season, that means we’ll likely see Andor in mid-2024.
That does seem like an agonisingly long time, but luckily we’ll have The Mandalorian season 3 in early 2023 to distract us and plenty of other Star Wars series after that.
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