Boxing Clever: Andor
Every week, Michael Telfer – aka Mike TV – recommends a box set to crack open. This week’s choice is a gritty and brilliant Star Wars story everyone should try
When Disney bought Lucasfilm, the company behind the Star Wars films, for c£2.5bn in 2012 they were very open about their intention to milk the galactic cash cow for every penny they could.
Since then no stone in the Galaxy far, far away has gone unturned in the quest to fill every gap in the narrative and tell any story.
We’ve had three film sequels, three standalone movies and (by my count) 15 live action or animated TV shows. Unfortunately, the main thing they all have in common is a sense of diminishing returns, critically if not financially.
The exception to this depressing trend is the show Andor, which tells the story of the birth of the Rebellion, the uprising against the evil Empire. Its two seasons take us up to the Rogue One standalone film, which is effectively a prequel to the Original 1977 Star Wars movie that started the cultural phenomenon in the first place.
As the title suggests, Andor follows the journey of reluctant rebel Cassian Andor (Diego Luna) who starts off as a petty smuggler on the inter planetary black market but through destiny or circumstance comes to play a vital part in the co-ordinated effort to overthrow the totalitarian state.
In the first episode an unfortunately fatal run-in with some overbearing security guards puts Cassian on the Empire’s radar and throws his life of manual labour and petty crime into upheaval. His efforts to flee his home planet put him in contact with Luthen (Stellan Skarsgård), a key player in the embryonic rebellion.
From there Cassian’s life throws him into heists, prison breaks, daring rescues and double and triple crosses.
The Rebel forces we see in the films are virtuous and unified, bound by a common sense of purpose and direction. The fledgling revolutionary army we see in Andor is disparate and thinly spread over the galaxy, plagued by distrust and in-fighting between its many factions.
The sense of suspicion and fear is tangible throughout. At times Andor feels more like a BBC Le Carre adaptation than a big money Disney production, and this is part of what makes it so compelling.
The cast is also fantastic. Luna and Skarsgård are brilliant as the sparring rebels, Ben Mendelsohn and Denise Gough are perfectly cast as their malevolent imperial nemeses, and Forest Whitaker reprises his role from the Rogue One film as the unpredictable Saw Gerrera.
In keeping with a longstanding Star Wars tradition, there is a significant and brilliant cohort of British actors in the cast as well. Fiona Shaw is terrific as Cassian’s adoptive mother Maarva, Andy Serkis and Christopher Fairbank play fellow prison inmates, and Faye Marsay, Varada Sethu and Elizabeth Dulau all play members of the underground movement.
Unlike nearly every other Star Wars story, Andor is firmly planted in the grim and gritty reality of life under the jackboot of authority. There are no Jedi to save the day, and no sign of the mythical force. If a change is gon’ come, it’s going to be fuelled by blood, sweat and tears, and Andor has buckets of all three.
The birth of the rebellion is a story worth telling, and it’s certainly one that’s worth watching. At two seasons the show is tight, captivating and moving, and never overstays its welcome, something some of the other spin offs could learn from.
For me Andor is easily the best Star Wars production since 1980’s The Empire Strikes Back and stands head and shoulders above everything Lucasfilm have made since.
Both seasons of Andor are available to stream on Disney Plus.