How One Scene in Andor Defined An Entire Franchise...

After watching the Star Wars show Andor for the 5th time, I noticed something in one scene that really hit me hard this time around is showing me just how incredibly well written the whole show is. It's a scene that in a way defines the entire Star Wars franchise and I am going to break that scene down here in this video. Enjoy!🎥

Andor, also known as Star Wars: Andor, is an American science fiction television series created by Tony Gilroy for the streaming service Disney+. It is part of the Star Wars franchise and a prequel to the film Rogue One (2016), which in turn is a prequel to the original Star Wars film (1977). The series follows thief-turned-rebel spy Cassian Andor during the five years that lead to the events of the two films, exploring how he becomes radicalized against the Galactic Empire and how the wider Rebel Alliance is formed.

Diego Luna reprises his role as Cassian Andor from Rogue One and serves as an executive producer. The series also stars Kyle Soller, Adria Arjona, Stellan Skarsgård, Fiona Shaw, Genevieve O'Reilly, Denise Gough, Faye Marsay, Varada Sethu, and Elizabeth Dulau.

0:00 Intro
0:48 The Scene Breakdown
2:35 The Big Impact of the Scene
4:00 What The Characters Represent
5:03 Luthen Rael's Impact on Andor
6:18 From the Words of George Lucas
7:57 The Scene Breakdown (Continued)
9:06 Social Commentary on Justice Systems
9:42 The Original Trilogy
10:34 Andor Continuing the Legacy
11:58 Outro

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SOCIAL MEDIA:

#andor #starwars #starwarsandor #tonygilroy #cassianandor #stellanskarsgård #diegoluna #georgelucas

[mitchyoung]

Andor is a piece of art and anyone who says otherwise is willfully shooting themselves in the foot.

SW isn't a genre, it’s a universe and many different genres, themes, characters, and stories have yet to be discovered in that universe. If someone wants the 'feel' of the old movies there is good news, the old movies still exist, so literally go watch them again.

As horrendous as some of the Last Jedi was I have grown to appreciate that Rian was also trying to make something new, his execution in some of that 'newness' was very questionable but the stuff that worked really worked. This misguided unconscious consensus of SW fans that we need to ‘recapture’ those feelings from the first films has led to an over saturation of bad SW trying to live up to something it shouldn’t even need to. Every SW project doesn’t need the same themes, characters, and feeling as the OG trilogy, that'd get repetitive and very boring. Most new projects have virtually become parodies of the source material where nothing is left but references cameos, and generic mic-drop lines that fit in any situation.

I love Andor not just because it is full of heart, nuance, and complex storytelling in a thematically dark setting but also because of what it represents: innovation of SW and a new hope that future SW projects don't have to be self referential, sloppily written, poorly executed, mass produced projects rather than pieces of art that stand on their own merit.

Disneys and the fans problem has been thinking that SW is a genre and everything must fit into very confined rules. If someone thinks Andor is too boring they need to consider spending less time feeding their dopamine receptors with stuff like Tik Tok and take the time to pay attention to what’s happening between action sequences. They’ll realize that that there is a lot of nuance and character work happening, it is a masterclass of writing and direction. If someone thinks Andor doesn't feel like SW they need to reframe how they understand the IP, it is not a genre of itself. The themes, characters, settings, sounds, textures, virtually everything is straight out of the Lucas doctrine and what story he was trying to tell. If someone thinks Andor stands shoulder to shoulder on equal footing as Obi Wan, Ahsoka, or Boba Fett they need to try and summarize one of those shows and try to summarize Andor, the difficulty to do so for Andor succinctly is indicative of the complex level of detail and care. Andor is lightyears ahead of those shows in virtually every cinema or storytelling criteria.

Anyone who loves Andor should be promoting it and recommending it to everyone they know. Systems either change or die and there is only one way out of this SW slump of bad media.

[rhanlon]

We all expected Stellan Skarsgård to turn in an amazing performance in this show, but let's have a round of applause for Genevieve O'Reilly. Who knew when she was cast for the prequels that she would get the opportunity to explore Mon Mothma in such an intimate and challenging way? She has knocked it out of the park.

[UnbekanntesSubjekt]

Ironically, Andor was the one show that nobody expected anything from, but it is by far the best SW live-action series to date, in every aspect. I hope S2 will be released soon.

[dansparkes]

"I'm condemned to use the tools of my enemy to defeat them. I burn my decency for someone else's future. I burn my life to make a sunrise that I know I'll never see. And the ego that started this fight will never have a mirror or an audience or the light of gratitude. So what do I sacrifice? Everything!" - probably one of my favourite bits of dialogue on all of SW. Andor is hands down the best thing to come out of SW in many years. I was at the celebration panel in 2023 which was fantastic and I seriously cannot wait for season 2.

[CATDRL]

Can't get enough of Andor or people analyzing Andor. Best written Live-Action series for Star Wars. Can't wait for season 2. Thanks for the video.

[lornenoland]

Luthen is an accelerationist, while Mon is an incrementalist. These are always the allied yet opposing forces of any resistance or rebellion movement, and Andor explores this excellently.
Add in Sol Gerrera, the extremist, and you’ve really explored all angles of organized resistance.

What makes Cassian so compelling, and Jen from the movie, is that they aren’t idealists. They’re like most people, looking out for themselves and trying to make their way through a bad system. Circumstances place them in a position to take a side and take action, and only when they learn to care about something more than themselves do they become committed to the ideal.
Damn good writing!

[aerochicc]

Until Andor came along, I had always said that Rogue One was the best way to reboot the franchise. Bravo to Gilroy for putting out an engaging story which compliments the series perfectly.

[DaVeO]

Andor is the closest thing we have gotten to an Expanded Universe show. It's the true evolution of a franchise that has been stuck in the past for most of the Disney years.

[allhailthechief]

Luthen’s dialogue in this scene also recontextualizes the destruction of Alderaan.

The Death Star blowing up Alderaan was THE watershed moment during the Galactic Civil War. Because if Tarkin had never given the order to destroy the planet, would the Rebel Alliance have grown to the scale it did by the Battle of Endor?

Alderaan’s destruction single-handedly caused the most outrage towards the Empire and inspired those, originally indifferent to the cause, to join the Rebel Alliance.

And speaking of historic influences on Star Wars, our world has witnessed these watershed moments like Alderaan where the deaths and suffering of many at the hands of an oppressor, as Luthen put, ends up igniting the spark that will rally people together to defeat said oppressor.

EDIT: Also, I’ve always wanted to see an on-screen depiction of the galaxy’s reaction to Alderaan’s destruction.

It was the biggest misstep that the Empire took. And the largest lie Palpatine’s ever had to spin.

I think showing us how Alderaan’s destruction
united the Rebellion on all fronts would absolutely vindicate Luthen for all of his words and actions that may have, at the time, seemed immoral.

[djshiva]

And this is exactly why it's so confusing when Star Wars "fans" get mad at "making Star Wars political." It's always been political. And Andor really gets it.

[desertdry]

11:29 "I'm not the only one out there who considers Andor arguably maybe the best thing that Star Wars has ever done aside from the original trilogy." 🙌

[Martell_Dog]

That's what sets apart Andor, from other Disney SW projects: It's not enough for its writers to have good intentions & politics, they need to weave and represent all of that through the dialogues, all the characters motivations/actions, while simultaneously not compromising the worldbuilding or credibility of other storylines. Being earnest and forthcoming can too easily devolve into becoming too convenient, obsequious or superficial. Which benefits no one.

[CarltonYoung]

What Tony Gilroy did for Star Wars is what Alan Moore did for comics with Watchmen. Years from now more essays and dissertations will be written about this series. Both are twelve part series with each three episodes providing a beginning, middle, and end to a section. Gilroy references Charles Dickens and Victor Hugo in Andor and it is magnificent. What an amazing series, I cannot wait until the next season.

[Aliddotia]

thanks for breaking down peak - what a great scene. "Has anyone ever made a weapon that wasn't used?" was so chilling and well-phrased

[TheKB]

They need the people that made Andor to be making Star Wars. They captured the essence of Star Wars so well and then elevated it to new heights with great acting and writing. This show made me fall in love with Star Wars again.

[HayMax]

I honestly can't understand why this isn't being made into 4-5 seasons. There's SO much to explore here and dive into amazing depth.

[sdriver]

I waited over 20 years to feel the way I did after watching the original trilogy in 1998. Andor gave me that feeling once again. It is a absolute master class in film. I still don't get the hype around the Mandolorian but hey it is what it is.

[Degarth]

I love this series so much. It's so far beyond in skill and execution than the majority of nearly all modern dramas.

The "What do I sacrifice?" monolog is up there with Rutger Hauer's "Tears in Rain" monolog in my opinion.

The acting is amazing too, even smaller roles like Syril's mom are so damn good.

[cbennett]

Luthen's confrontation and subsequent escape from the Cantwell class cruiser has to be one of my top favorite scenes in all of Star Wars. It's a masterpiece.

[battlefieldbob]

The main reason I think this show worked so well is it was written for adults. It took a serious topic and treated it seriously instead of hiding it all in the name of making it kid-friendly