The first episode of Andor begins with a title card that features the abbreviation “BBY 5.” The phrase isn’t defined or commented upon, and it doesn’t come up once more all through the remainder of the episode. You both know what it means otherwise you don’t. Hardcore Star Wars definitely do; however extra informal viewers who like Rogue One or Diego Luna and determined to offer Andor a strive are more likely to be somewhat confused.
“BBY” is a approach time is measured in the Star Wars universe. It is to Star Wars what “BC” is to our personal calendar — and the equal of our “AD” in Star Wars time is “ABY.” Each are acronyms; BBY stands for “Before the Battle of Yavin” and ABY is “After the Battle of Yavin.”
And what, you ask, is the Battle of Yavin?
It’s the incident the place Luke Skywalker blew up the (first) Death Star. So the occasions of Star Wars: A New Hope happen in the yr BBY 0. (Or, in the event you favor, ABY 0; they each imply the identical factor.)
So when Andor says it takes place in the yr “BBY 5” meaning the occasions in the present’s premiere happen roughly 5 years earlier than the occasions of Star Wars: A New Hope, and Luke utilizing the Force to show the Death Star into a large pyrotechnic show.
The Star Wars timeline goes again hundreds of years BBY, however simply 35 years ABY; that’s when the occasions of Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker happen. (Meaning Andor is occurring 40 years earlier than, in some way, Palpatine returned.)
Here are just a few extra notable dates in the Star Wars chronology:
- Star Wars: The Phantom Menace: BBY 32
- Star Wars: Attack of the Clones: BBY 22
- Star Wars: Revenge of the Sith: BBY 19
- Obi-Wan Kenobi: BBY 9
- Star Wars: A New Hope: BBY 0
- Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back: ABY 3
- Star Wars: Return of the Jedi: ABY 4
- The Mandalorian: ABY 9
- Star Wars: The Force Awakens: ABY 34
- Star Wars: The Last Jedi: ABY 34
- Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker: ABY 35
The creator of Andor, Tony Gilroy, has already mentioned that he present was designed with a 5 yr plan in thoughts — which signifies that the present will comply with its hero, Cassian Andor, proper as much as the occasions depicted in Rogue One, which was a prequel to A New Hope. The closing seconds of Rogue One befell proper earlier than the primary seconds of Star Wars: A New Hope. So Andor will span BBY 5 to BBY 0. Supposedly this primary season covers the occasions of BBY 5, and the sequence’ second season will cowl the following 4 years in a quartet of three episode arcs.
It all looks like a complicated system at first nevertheless it’s not when you perceive it. The destruction of the Death Star is Year 0 — which can also be Year 0 for your complete Star Wars mythology, so it makes excellent sense as a temporal demarcation level for each the characters inside its universe, and people of us residing in our actuality.
New episodes of Andor premiere on Wednesdays on Disney+. Sign up for Disney+ right here.
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