Summary
Star Wars: Andorhas fans excited for its upcoming second season, and the first promotional look at the new installment has settled a conflict of canon stemming from the new Disney era of Star Wars media, and it’s one that fans will certainly enjoy seeing regardless of opinion.
TheStar Warsfranchise has seen a shift in focus since the conclusion of the sequel trilogy, with the IP being used more prominently for live-action projects on the streaming service Disney+, starting withThe Mandalorianat the tail end of 2019. However, the high point of the streaming show era ofStar Warsis inarguablyStar Wars: Andor,a grounded story with elements of a drama, political thriller, and dystopian fiction all rolled up together in prequel-era style science fiction. The show’s first season was a triumph that fans didn’t really see coming from a prequel series to a prequel film (2016’sRogue One: A Star Wars Story). Since the conclusion of that first installment, fans have eagerly awaitedthe release date and plot info forAndorseason 2, and now they’ve been delivered.
Alongside more details about the upcoming season, which is set tocontinueAndorseason one’s decision to present itself in distinct story arcs, fans also got a sneak peek at the upcoming season via a teaser trailer for Disney+ offerings debuted at the recent D23 Brazil event, and one scene from the brief look brings an interesting part ofStar Warsto live action. In the footage, which can be seen on theIGN Movie Trailerschannel on YouTube, protagonist Cassian Andor can be seen firing up a unique-looking TIE class fighter that older fans will recognize as a TIE Interceptor, a superior model to the oft-seen TIE fighters. The issue is that according to the formerStar Warscanon, the TIE Interceptor wasn’t created until after the events ofA New Hope,according toStar Wars: The Essential Guide to Vehicles and Vesselsfrom 1997.According to that guide, the ship was made as one in a line of offshoots of the experimental model that Darth Vader utilized inA New Hope.However, that guide and just about everything from that era is no longer considered canon.
Whilefans have discovered some continuity errors inAndorseason one, this latest reveal doesn’t conflict with anything that’s been established since Disney took over the reins of the franchise and relegated the rest ofStar Wars’ expansive media library to the Legends continuity. Rather, the decision to include the ship inAndoractually doubles down on a change to the canon that came in the animated seriesStar Wars: Rebels,which shows the ships earlier than they existed in the old timeline in the fourth episode of its third season. In the new timeline, the ships would predate the events ofA New Hopeby a few years, and Vader would have received his version prior to its first appearance in the movies as well. Many fans contested the change when it was shown inRebelsfor a plethora of reasons ranging from good-natured stubbornness to questions about the design and even the themes of the episode raising doubt about the canon. However, seeing the ship in all its glory on a live-action series settles the debate for all time, and everyone can settle back and enjoy seeing the Interceptor in all its glory for however long Andor gets to keep it.
In the end, fans will have to get used to the idea that everything is fair game in Disney’s new continuity, andAndor’stimeline for the deployment of the TIE variants is the new canon. Settling those sorts of things comes with being the face of the franchise, but that hopefully won’t be the case withAndorfor long. With more than onenewStar Warstrilogy in active developmentat Lucasfilm, there’s hope that there’ll be something to take over the heavy burden thatAndorhas had to bear in recent times as the franchise’s more experimental or nostalgia-driven shows hit or miss in equal measure.
Star Wars: Andoris available to stream on Disney+, with the second season set to premiere in April 2025.
