Adding Layers to a Legend
Andor Makes Rogue One, A New Hope and the Rest of Star Wars Even Better
Note: this post contains spoilers for Andor and Rogue One.
As I have mentioned just a few times now, we have been watching Andor season 2. We finished last week and therefore had to watch Rogue One again. I have always been a huge Star Wars fan. The original movies formed a huge part of the culture of my childhood. So much so, I am incredibly wary of the new additions to the Star Wars universe. I have still not seen Episodes VII, VIII and IX, for fear they would clash with the originals and spoil the childhood memories I have of watching those movies far too many times.
sometimes good people have to do unspeakably bad things in the aid of a good cause.
I did however, watch Rogue One a few years after it came out, having heard good things about it. At the time I thought it was good, and fit in between Revenge of the Sith and A New Hope without upsetting things, but also without raising the bar.
When the first season of Andor came out, I also heard good things so decided to watch it. It’s definitely a slow starter (the same as season 2) but I really enjoyed it. As Stellan Skarsgard (who plays the character of Luthen Rael) describes it, “it’s like Star Wars for grown ups.” It really is. It’s a political thriller that expands on the world by showing you more of the day to day, which cannot fit into the length of a feature film. The characters are also solid as it is so well written but also by virtue of there being more time to develop them.
I had planned on rewatching Rogue One after watching the first season of Andor, but never got around to it. I highly anticipated the second season, but waited for all the episodes to come out so I could binge watch them. It was again a bit of a slow start, but got better quickly. The build up to the Ghorman riot and subsequent massacre was exceptionally well done and really showed the evil of the Empire in a gritty and relatable way. The Empire’s subtle political manoeuvring was on show, rather than outright massive acts of aggression, such as destroying a planet.
Following the massacre, Senator Mon Mothma makes a speech in which she calls out and condemns Emperor Palpatine for manipulating the truth. Maybe this and her subsequent escape from Coruscant would not have felt so dramatic if I had watched it as a child. Watching it as an adult however, with an appreciation of what happens in oppressive regimes here on Earth made that entire sequence more impactful and thrilling.
The other thing Andor shows so well is that sometimes good people have to do unspeakably bad things in the aid of a good cause. There many examples of this, but probably the one that stands out the most is when Luthen kills Lonni Jung, an ISB officer who has been risking his life for years to spy for the Rebellion. This more nuanced look at characters is something the original movies did not contain so much of, rather being a classic good versus evil.
Along these lines is also the portrayal of the Rebellion. The original movies depict it as a largely unified entity. However, it is the “Rebel Alliance” - an alliance of many different factions who have a common enemy. Sure, after the events of A New Hope, they are probably more unified, having fought the common enemy together, seen its potential to wipe them out and triumphed. But before this, Andor and Rogue One depict things as more fractured with significant infighting. This makes things a lot more realistic. “Realistic,” you say, I know, we are talking about things that happened a long time ago in a galaxy far, far away. Perhaps “relatable” is a better way to describe it.
Of course, none of this would be possible without the foundation that is A New Hope, the original Star Wars movie. I did a quick bit of research into Lucas’s writing process for Star Wars. This in its self is fascinating, but to cut a long story short, he went through a number of iterations. By the time A New Hope was in production, Lucas wasn’t sure if he would get to make any more Star Wars films, so he gave A New Hope a satisfying ending, the destruction of the Death Star. Although he did have ideas for an extended saga, it wasn’t until the surprise success of A New Hope that he got the creative breathing room to flesh these out. Interestingly, the decision to make Darth Vader Luke Skywalker’s father came after the completion of A New Hope.
This makes A New Hope an even better movie. Not only did it kick off one of the greatest movie franchises of all time, but it is a complete work in itself but has so many threads dangling from it that it spawned one of the greatest story sagas in history.
Many examples show these threads joining, but I especially like the scene in A New Hope where an Imperial Officer warns Vader, “Holding her is dangerous. It could generate sympathy for the rebellion and the senate.” He is, of course, referring to Princess Leia. Later in the film, Governor Tarkin informs the assembled Imperial Officers that “the Emperor has dissolved the council permanently.” This links beautifully back to the speech Mon Mothma makes in Andor, where she condemns the Emperor.
The biggest criticism of Andor I have is that the ending is somewhat flat. Flat if that were the last episode in the series, which it is. But if you treat Rogue One as the last episode and go on and watch this, it works well.
This brings me to the final point. Andor makes Rogue One a great movie which in turn makes A New Hope and the subsequent movies and even the prequels even better. Having that knowledge and character development in place adds so much to them. When undertaking this sort of project, there is a tremendous risk that the new production will fall flat, or worse, detract from the original. However, here it has truly made them even better.
If you enjoy reading “From a Certain Point of View” please consider sharing this blog with anyone else you think would find it interesting. Thanks!
If you enjoy science fiction check out the serialisation of Orphans of Apollo which I am currently publishing weekly.
Orphans of Apollo - Start Here
From the ashes of forgotten space dreams, a new era of exploration begins.