We’re just one day away from the next three-episode arc of Andor season 2. Dance like you’re Mon Mothma at a wedding you didn’t want to happen as your walls close in around you!
Andor season 2 is being dropped in three-episode arcs over the next several weeks, with each arc making a year time jump, leading right up to Rogue One.
Mark your calendars.
Andor returns for its final season. Don’t miss the three-episode premiere streaming April 22, only on @DisneyPlus. pic.twitter.com/dilaKJkrvk
— Star Wars (@starwars) April 8, 2025
And after catching up with Cassian, Bix, B2EMO, Mon, Dedra and Syril, pieces are moving about the board and plans are in motion.
Timing notes
The longest episode of Andor season 1 came in at 56 minutes and two of the first three episodes of season 2 nearly matched that, with One Year Later clocking in at 53 minutes and Harvest going 55. And after at times feeling like there was a bit of filler for the first time in the series history, it turned out there was a specific reason for it, which we’ll get into below
Notes
(Warning: Spoilers for the first three episodes of Andor season 2 ahead.)
- When we first see Cassian, we get a glimpse of how much he’s grown since we first saw him in season 1. Here, he’s able to calmly soothe the nerves of a young woman taking the leap into joining the Rebellion. For as sideways as the Tie theft and subsequent handoff wind up going, it’s become clear Cassian is on his way to becoming the confident, assured rebel we see in Rogue One.
- Speaking of the sideways handoff, Cassian’s adventures, or misadventures might be more like it, with the unorganized and distrustful rebels show far the Rebellion still has to go in order to become the group that will eventually take down the mighty Empire. It was almost comical how inept the Rebels who Cassian stumbles upon are, with Andor largely unable to hide his annoyance. These are NOT the Rebels’ best and brightest, so busy in-fighting with each other that they lost sight of the grand scheme of things … and their prisoner. I’ll be honest, the segments on this planet felt like filler … UNTIL we see exactly where they are upon Cassian’s escape. That’s right Yavin 4. That puts everything that happened here in a different light. What once felt like filler is now instead an exercise in showing the formative stages of the Rebellion on the planet that will eventually become the base for one of their greatest triumphs. Seeing the primordial Rebellion on its iconic home base before it gets built up is fascinating and shows how much of a leap the Rebels will make in a relatively short amount of time.
- Meanwhile, Cassian’s friends from Ferrix are trying to stay a step ahead of the Empire and start the season helping Harvest crops on Mina-Rau. Bix is still dealing with the aftermath of her torture at the hands of the Empire in season 1, suffering a nightmare where Dr. Gorst is after her again. The way her friends comfort her make it clear this isn’t the first nightmare she’s faced, and it likely won’t be the last. Especially after the trauma she suffers once again when the Empire comes to town and begins searching for undocumented workers in a way that cuts a little too close to home given what is currently going on in the real world. While awaiting Cassian’s return, an Imperial lieutenant in charge of this operation sees Bix and takes a shine to her. She tries to dissuade him by noting that her husband will be returning soon, but unfortunately he is not detered and attempts to use his power and knowledge of her undocumented status to rape her. She says NO multiple times and eventually fights him off, leading to his death.
- While all this is going on Brasso is captured by the Imperials while trying to find Wilmon, who has gone to say goodbye to his local girlfriend. Being the good man he is and in an effort to repay Kellen, who has sheltered them and appears sympathetic to the nascent Rebellion, Brasso decries Kellen as having betrayed him so the Empire doesn’t turn its attention to him. Needless to say, Cassian’s arrival causes chaos, giving Brasso an opportunity to attempt to escape. Unfortunately, before Cassian can take out all the bad guys in his stolen experimental Tie Fighter, one of the stormtroopers blasts Brasso in the back. Cassian has one last moment to hold his friend in his arms before gathering his Bix and Wilmon and escaping Mina-Rau. B2EMO is seemingly left behind, so perhaps this is not our last trip to Mina-Rau. It was stark to see images of stormtroopers in what appears to be a field of wheat with blasters drawn, almost as if they landed on Earth and began to invade. It’s not a visual we’ve really seen in Star Wars before.
- Speaking of Imperials, we catch up with Dedra as she and Major Partagaz are called to a secret meeting by none other than Director Orson Krennic. After stressing the absolute necessity of secrecy and no leaks, Krennic dives into his Ghorman project, which he says is vital to the Emperor’s agenda of energy independence (even in a galaxy far, far away politicians have agenda which include energy independence, apparently). How will they achieve this? By taking control of Ghorman and extracting kalkite … which will likely ruin the planet. After a few decks of how they plan to wage a propaganda war to turn the galaxy against Ghorman. Dedra clearly isn’t buying it and it shows, so Krennic asks for her assessment. After having her attempt to deflect batted away, she says propaganda alone won’t be sufficient and what they really need is an insurgency to spur and justify Imperial action. Upon returning to Coruscant, Dedra says she doesn’t want the assignment but Partagaz says she has to take it, and even though it’s not a demotion she has to play the part. She hasn’t been able to make progress on Axis, but the Ghorman project is a gift as she will be able to run it as she sees fit and Krennic will only be concerned with results.
- As she navigates all this professional turmoil, Dedra also has some drama on the home front. After appearing to be on the verge of kissing in the season 1 finale, we learn that Dedra and Syril are indeed an item. And for as loathsome as they are separate, you can actually almost sort of feel good about them together … if you can ignore their fascist tendencies. Life is good for Syril — he’s a boss now, he’s got the girl and he’s significantly improved his living arrangements from when he lived with his mom. Speaking of, we get a much-delayed dinner that might be the most awkward shared meal since Jan Levinson threw a Dundie at a tiny, tiny TV. Eedy is at her domineering worst, but we learn some important backstory about both Syril and Dedra in the process. And after Syril re-enacts the Michael Cera falling down meme in the other room, Dedra makes a deal with the mother-in-law from hell – she’ll make sure Syril visits so long as Eedy stops domineering and doesn’t inflict emotional damage upon Syril. This suggests that whatever limitations her hard life has placed on Dedra emotionally or the notion that, as Denise Gough puts it, the Empire is Dedra’s real boyfriend, she does care about Syril on some level.
- And finally, we have poor Mon Mothma. The walls are closing in on her in this arc. The wedding she desperately wanted to avoid is now upon us, as her daughter Leida is marrying Davo Sculdun’s son on Chandrila. As a result, we assume her banking woes are behind her, only for her old friend Tay Kolma to enter the picture, divorced, drunk and dissatisfied with how aiding the establishment has worked out for him and his finances. Perrin, steadfastly terrible, doesn’t help matters by outright accusing Mon that she has taken Tay as a lover now that he is back on the market, nor is the appearance of Luthen, who reminds her he advised against bringing anyone else into the fold during season 1. Through it all, Mon puts on a brave face, and true to her morals can’t allow her daughter to go through with the outdated arranged marriage without giving her an opportunity to call off the wedding to the “child” Leida was so upset with the day before because he wouldn’t even hold her hand. However, for all her good intentions and the revelation that Mon’s own mother was drunk at her wedding, Leida smacks Mon down, saying she wished Mon were drunk too and decides to go through with the arranged marriage if for no other reason than to rebel against her mother. Poor Mon can’t catch a break, which continues when Luthen corners her at the reception and chastises her for allowing herself to be shielded from the reality that she didn’t think Tay would become a problem that needed to be taken care of. Which, of course, Luthen does, as we Cinta return (and share a look with Vel) as Tay’s driver, which we can all assume means we won’t be seeing Mon’s old friend again among the living.
- Speaking of drinking, what does one do when the walls are closing in, their ungrateful daughter twists the knife, their unrepentantly awful husband lives down to expectations and your old friend/flame also lets you down? You get drunk and dance … dance … DANCE! See, the rich and powerful really are just like all of us, even in the galaxy far, far away. Mon drowned her sorrows in drink and dance to close out the episode, giving Star Wars the opportunity to tell Marvel and Baron Zemo to hold their beer (likely only after Mon has finished it off.)
Andor is back and just as good as we remember it! Will things get worse before they get better for our heroes and villains? Will Cassian make tough choices? Will Bix begin to heal psychologically? Will Mon dance again? Only time will tell! May the Force be with you!
