Andor Season 2 Can Finally Fix a Big Star Wars Blindspot
“Save the Rebellion. Save the dream.”
As a prequel to Rogue One — and by extension, Star Wars’ original trilogy — Andor is qualified to answer questions that have been decades in the making. How exactly did the Galactic Rebellion come to be? Who were its founders, and how did they find the strength to stand against the empire?
Andor’s first season planted the seeds of a more organized rebellion, but it was largely focused on the journey of its title character, Cassian Andor (Diego Luna). Season 2 will complete his transition from selfish smuggler to rebel martyr, but it must also show just how disparate rebel groups scattered across the galaxy became a unified, level-headed organization. We can expect Mon Mothma (Genevieve O’Reilly), the future leader of the Rebel Alliance, to take the lead (possibly taking the reins from Stellan Skarsgård’s Luthel Rael). But one character in particular may be even more important to the story... if only because he’s been so underused in prior Star Wars projects.
Saw Gerrera is one of the franchise’s most morally complex characters, but Star Wars stories frequently shy away from his potential.
Forest Whitaker is set to return to Andor as Saw Gerrera, one of the Alliance’s most extreme leaders. In most Star Wars stories, he’s actually not a member of the Alliance at all, as his guerilla mentality and general disregard for protocol keep him at odds with other rebels. Luthen finds him leading his own fringe movement in Andor Season 1, but we don’t get to see him or his team in action. Hopefully, Season 2 will change that for the better, and finally allow Saw to join the fray again.
Saw has popped up in a handful of Star Wars stories over the years, from live-action films like Rogue One to animated shows like The Clone Wars and Rebels. It was The Clone Wars that depicted his origin story and showed just how he was radicalized into rebellion. When we catch up with him years later in Rebels and Rogue One, he’s been labeled an insurgent and totally shunned by the larger Alliance. We’re told all about his exploits across the galaxy — his take-no-prisoners attitude, his bond with Jyn Erso (Felicity Jones) — but again, it’s more about telling than it is about showing.
Aside from a few brief, brilliant moments throughout the franchise — including appearances in Rebels and The Batch — Star Wars has only scratched the surface of Saw’s potential as a character. There’s a sense that recent stories are nervous about pushing Saw to his violent limits.
But that shouldn’t stop Andor from leaning on the character more. He’s actually the perfect foil to more altruistic rebels like Mon Mothma, who frequently grapple with the moral toll of the Rebellion. Look no further than the duo’s blistering confrontation in Rebels to see what Andor may still be missing:
With just one scene, Rebels delivered a truly nuanced take on the ideological differences between Rebel factions. Mothma’s dynamic with Saw is not unlike Professor X’s with Magneto: they’re two sides of one coin, but neither of their strategies will completely work on its own. The Rebellion needs Saw’s ruthlessness just as much as it needs Mothma’s strong moral compass. And as we see in Rogue One, only by working together can they actually defeat the Empire. Still, it’s kind of a shame that Saw’s role in the film is so focused on espionage and information, not any of his prowess in battle. Maybe Andor Season 2 can change that.
Like Andor, Rebels takes place in the years leading up to Rogue One and A New Hope. Hopefully, the live-action series takes a page from Rebels when it comes time to build out internal conflict within the Rebel Alliance.
