By Carlos Ayala Santa Ana
The highly anticipated “Star Wars” project titled “Andor” has finally hit the streaming service Disney+. As the prequel of a prequel, this show takes some creative freedom from the franchise to bring new perspectives into the famous Galactic Civil War.
Established in the first scene, the main protagonist, Cassian Andor (Diego Luna), is not your typical “all-good” hero. The very first action we see Cassian take is entering a fancy bar to ask questions about his sister, then getting in a fight with two corporate guards who work for the empire. While in the struggle, Cassian accidentally kills one and then shoots the other despite the guard pleading for his life.
This sets the tone for our main protagonist who is not ready to fight for a cause yet but will for his own sake, something not typically shown in this franchise.
On the other hand, the antagonist Syril Karn (Kyle Soller) shows a much more heroic motivation. This officer wants justice for the two employees that were killed, something his superior wants to sweep under the rug as an accident. Unsatisfied with this, Syril forms a task force to track down Cassian.
This sets a nice contrast between the hero and the villain as the audience may be left confused about who to root for.
The set design for the show is also fantastic. Instead of using green screens and Computer-Generated Imagery (CGI), the crew instead chose to use more practical effects as well as shoot the scenes on the site location. This helps to create an authentic feel as the places where the characters walk around all seem real.
Unfortunately for “Andor,” the show is not perfect, as there is a bit of an issue with the pacing. Five episodes in, and the show has already developed a habit of slowing down to introduce new characters. While this is necessary for the audience to get attached to these new faces, the show takes a few too many scenes to accomplish this. On the bright side, this is not a big enough issue to ruin the show but it is something the episodes yet to come can work on.
The next episode looks to be where the small group of rebels will invade an imperial base and will continue to develop Cassian’s character. As of now, he only fights for money, but as audiences saw in “Rogue One: A Star Wars Story,” Cassian is known to believe in the rebellion with his life, meaning this show will at some point have to change his perspective.
With seven more episodes yet to release, it is exciting to see where the founding of the rebellion fits into the story as well as see Cassian continue his journey.
