Andor Season 2 Will Finally Depict a Bloody Massacre Only Hinted At In Canon
Things are about to get real.
Season 1 of Andor was set 5 years before the events of Rogue One before the formal Rebel Alliance existed. But just because the Rebel Alliance wasn’t officially formed, that doesn’t mean rebels weren’t around. With the help of Luthen Rael, Cassian Andor managed to lead multiple uprisings on far-off planets, at home, and even in prison.
But Season 2 is a different story. With four self-contained adventures, each covering a year, we’re sure to see Rebel activities amp up quickly. Now, we know what one of these activities will be: a peaceful protest gone wrong, leading to one of Andor’s undercover operatives taking a stand against tyranny.
The Season 2 special look confirms the protestors seen in the trailer are Ghorman.
In preparation for Andor Season 2’s streaming premiere on April 22, Disney+ released a special look on the streaming platform, providing some precious insight into what lies ahead. Many included shots are similar to those shown in the Season 2 trailer, but with the addition of closed captioning, they reveal an entire plot point. A shot of a crowd chanting in protest could be any sort of Rebel uprising, but the caption reveals the crowd is shouting in Ghor, the native language of the people of Ghorman. (Interestingly, this caption is only present in the Disney+ version, not the YouTube upload.)
In canon, Ghorman plays a key part in Mon Mothma’s story. In the Rebels Season 3 episode “Secret Cargo,” we learn that the “brutal attacks on the people of Ghorman” prompt then-Senator Mon Mothma to speak out against Emperor Palpatine, essentially starting the political front of the Rebel Alliance — and putting a massive target on her back.
In canon, details of this event are sparse: we just know Empire soldiers murdered a number of individuals during a peaceful protest. But in Legends, the events are far more gnarly: Palpatine sends Tarkin to the planet to quell the revolts, but he finds the landing pad for his ship overrun with protesters. Tarkin lands his ship anyway, brutally murdering dozens of Ghorman people.
Rebels Season 3 showed Mon Mothma’s reaction to the massacre (in hologram form) but not the event itself.
In both canon and Legends, the Ghorman Massacre was the “shot heard ‘round the world,” for the fledgling Rebellion, the proof that Palpatine isn’t the wise unifying leader the Senate thought he was when he was allowed to seize power. It’s the moment public opinion turns from “Palpatine is a strict leader” to “Palpatine is a genuinely violent despot.”
This event also will serve as a key moment for Mon Mothma’s arc in the series. So far, she’s been operating completely undercover, trying to find funding for the rebels while maintaining her political position. But this event prompts her to make a statement, bringing her fully into the Rebel fold and unifying her storyline with Andor’s: both Rebel heroes operating on different sides of the fight.
