As chances are you’ll know, I’m a giant ol’ Star Wars nerd. And one in all my favourite issues in Star Wars media is all of the tiny references and Easter eggs embedded in every single place. But generally this fan service goes overboard and derails a narrative in a approach that alienates or bores non-fans. Andor, the latest TV present set within the Star Wars universe, not solely avoids this downside, but additionally finds good methods to make the most of nerdy Star Wars lore with out making it tedious or annoying for people simply wanting to observe a great present.
Andor, which premiered in late September on Disney+, is the newest entry within the Star Wars franchise and is ready earlier than the occasions of the unique Star Wars movie and the film Rogue One. It follows the lifetime of Cassian Andor, performed by Diego Luna, as he navigates a galaxy managed by the evil Empire. He’s not but the insurgent we all know from Rogue One, however over the course of this season and presumably the subsequent season, he’ll evolve into the person we met in that widespread spin-off.
People throughout my timeline have been loving Andor. Even individuals who’d beforehand sworn off Star Wars totally are again and having fun with each minute of the collection. Many of them fortunately level out how the present isn’t a large excuse to do fan service each week. But funnily sufficient, Andor has a few of the coolest and most attention-grabbing bits of deep-cut Star Wars lore out of something Star Wars-related in years; it’s simply dealt with so properly that almost all people miss all of it.
An awesome instance is available in how the present handles Cassian’s residence planet. In the primary episode of the present, we be taught that Cassian was born and raised on the planet Kenari. It’s newly created for Andor, which allowed showrunner Tony Gilroy extra freedom to do no matter he wanted with it and its individuals. But, technically, we already knew of Cassian’s residence planet, and it wasn’t Kenari. Back when Rogue One got here out, Lucasfilm launched numerous e book tie-ins. One reference tome listed Andor’s residence world as Fest, an outdated Star Wars planet that first appeared within the sport Dark Forces. So, at first, I assumed the present had merely retconned that origin away. I wasn’t too irritated by this, as I all the time want when Star Wars media deal with story over lore.
But then, in Andor episode two, we be taught that Fest was a lie that Cassian and his adoptive mom informed everybody to cover the reality of the place he was actually from, Kenari. For most viewers, that scene wasn’t that massive of a deal: Cassian lied as a result of he was attempting to cover the place he got here from, received it. But for Star Wars nerds like me, it was a incredible method to retcon one thing utilizing Star Wars lore whereas nonetheless honoring a reference e book from years in the past. And it didn’t intervene with the present in any respect, permitting regular, non-Star Wars sickos to benefit from the present with out rolling their eyes at some compelled little bit of fan service.
Andor is crammed with Star Wars lore and connections like this that it sneakily deploys in ways in which make sense for common audiences, however which have deeper, attention-grabbing connections to the franchise’s many years of prior materials. And not like the final Star Wars present, the enjoyable (however not practically pretty much as good) Obi-Wan Kenobi, Andor doesn’t get tousled in fan service that distracts from the precise story and characters. The refs are there to search out in Andor, in case you care, but it surely’s completely high-quality in case you simply wish to benefit from the thrilling trip as a substitute.
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For instance, Mon Mothma’s daughter, Lieda, isn’t a brand-new character, however as a substitute a really deep-cut one who barely existed within the outdated Star Wars Extended Universe. So her popping up within the present not solely introduced her into canon, however was a really enjoyable little bit of fan service that didn’t stick out to most viewers.
Similarly, the kyber crystal Luthen Rael provides Cassian as fee for serving to with a heist has its personal delicate connection to outdated Star Wars lore. Sure, many viewers in all probability know vaguely {that a} kyber crystal powers lightsabers. And many additionally in all probability recalled that we beforehand noticed Rogue One heroine Jyn Erso carrying an identical necklace. But whereas people had been wanting on the crystal and going, “Oh that’s a thing I kind of know about…” Luthen drops one of many coolest bits of lore within the present, explaining that the crystal “celebrates the uprising against the Rakatan invaders.” That may need set off alarm bells within the heads of any followers who performed Knights of the Old Republic.
That’s as a result of the Rakatans had been created for that sport. They had been an historical race of super-powerful aliens who presumably invented hyperdrive and at one level managed the galaxy as a part of their Infinite Empire. Technically, they’ve been talked about in canon earlier than, however that is actually the primary massive re-introduction of the species. Pondering how they may work into future Star Wars tales set far prior to now has me very excited.
Speaking of online game references, in Luthen’s store—which is chockablock with enjoyable Easter eggs that might fill an entire separate weblog—we see what seems to be a go well with of Sith Stalker armor as first seen in Star Wars: The Force Unleashed. That sport and its predominant character, Starkiller, are not canon, and this armor popping up in Andor doesn’t change that. But it may trace that maybe sooner or later components of Force Unleashed will likely be reintroduced into the trendy Star Wars universe. I imply, if Jaxxon is canon today, something can occur.
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But all of those deep-cut references and bits of fan service had been seemingly by no means noticed by 90% of individuals watching Andor, despite the fact that a few of them straight connect with the plot or the present’s characters. That’s a formidable feat to tug off, and based mostly on interviews with the present’s creator, Tony Gilroy, loads of this was included by Lucasfilm nerds and never himself. He lately informed Variety that he works carefully with lore specialists like Pablo Hidalgo to verify he’s not doing something that breaks the Star Wars universe. But for him, his actual focus is on Andor’s story and its characters, not references to manuals or outdated video video games.
“The art department will sneak in all that crap into Luthen’s gallery,” Gilroy informed Variety. “I had no idea. Like, ‘Oh my God, the thing in the background!’ and people are blowing it up. That’s the art department. So many cool people work on the show. There’s a deep geekdom in Pinewood, believe me.”
That’s the way it needs to be. If Disney desires to proceed to create wonderful Star Wars productions like Andor, it ought to deliver in additional creators and administrators like Gilroy. People who, certain, may not be the largest Star Wars followers on this planet, however who’ve attention-grabbing tales to inform. Let these individuals create cool stuff whereas the nerds at Lucasfilm fill within the gaps with fan service that weirdos like me can get enthusiastic about, whereas by no means ruining the present for everybody else.
I admit, it is a laborious steadiness to strike, and I don’t anticipate all future Star Wars initiatives to be like Andor. In truth, I would like a world the place we get each reveals like Andor, that are for everybody, and reveals like Tales of the Jedi, that are good however clearly goal Star Wars nerds like me. Star Wars can’t develop if it solely focuses on its massive followers, and Andor reveals that whenever you increase the franchise and do one thing totally different, you not solely find yourself pleasing longtime Star Wars nerds like me, but additionally attain an entire new viewers that may by no means have cared about Star Wars within the first place. Plus, Andor is simply actually entertaining, so extra reveals like this appears like a great factor to me.
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