My favorite thing about Andor, the live-action Disney+ Star Wars series that’s returning for Season 2 on April 22, 2025, has always been the way it explores the dangers of authoritarianism and the importance of sacrifice in resisting fascism — making the show as much of a complex political thriller, with modern-day relevance, as it is a flashy space opera set in a galaxy far, far away.
Created and executive produced by Tony Gilroy, the co-writer of the 2016 Star Wars prequel film Rogue One, Andor’s first season unfolded over a year in the life of the title character — Cassian Andor (Diego Luna), a petty criminal with a heroic destiny who eventually joins the fledgling Rebel Alliance to confront the Galactic Empire. The latter, of course, being the totalitarian regime that either co-opts and controls or completely obliterates everything and everyone in the galaxy.
There are no lightsabers, no Jedi, and no awe-inspiring displays of The Force in Andor. It’s about ordinary rebels, good people and shady characters alike, who unite in common cause against a dictatorial regime and war machine — and in defiance of the longest of long odds. And here are five reasons why I think the show is not only the best that Disney+ has released so far, but also one of the best TV shows, period, of the past decade.
A sharp focus on political intrigue
The second season’s 12 episodes will span four years, split into three-episode chunks, and will take viewers up to the events of Rogue One. Look for the new season to continue its focus on intrigue in the Senate, and on the establishment tilting more toward the regime while pockets of high-profile resistance figures keep quiet and secretively support and foment the growing rebellion.
That’s the work that takes place in the halls of power, while in the ordinary lands of ordinary planets throughout the galaxy, the working-class and disenfranchised slowly come face-to-face with the oppressiveness of the Empire, which surveils them all and brings systematic violence upon anyone who steps out of line.
Andor humanizes the otherwise abstract Empire
On a related note, it’s also worth pointing out that in every other installment of the Star Wars franchise, “The Empire” is essentially caricatured as a non-specific, malevolent force of baddies. That’s the “what,” whereas why the Empire does what it does, and how, are only generically implied. Star Wars, until Andor, has mostly focused on investing audiences in the hero’s journey, not the mechanics of the galactic dictatorship.
Andor, however, goes deep on the bureaucracy that allows the Empire’s fascism to flourish, and it develops flesh-and-blood characters like Dedra Meero and Syril Karn — ambitious officers of the Empire who help enable its everyday cruelty. The Star Wars movies are often goofy and just outright forgettable, while Andor offers a chilling exposition of how fascism is born and thrives.
The Rebels are shown as complex and pragmatic
Again, breaking the Star Wars mold here is the way the show avoids presenting the “good guys” as monolithic and morally flawless. A character like Luthen Rael, specifically, is a great example of Andor‘s heroes being shown as willing to make compromises and even put people in danger in service of the greater good (just listen to Luthen’s “What do I sacrifice?” speech, below, to be reminded of his bad-assery, as well as his cold and menacing edge).
Luthen, as a matter of fact, is my favorite character in the series. A pragmatic master strategist, he operates in the shadows, conducts secret missions, and even runs a seemingly legitimate antique shop on Coruscant, which is really just a cover for his work of destabilizing the Empire. He fully understands the costs of war and has no qualms about deceiving or manipulating anyone in the service of that end.
Andor’s tone is more gritty and mature than any other Star Wars release
When you have a Star Wars release that literally opens in a brothel — it turns out, yes, they do have those in the otherwise PG-rated galaxy — you know you’re dealing with the most mature outing yet in the franchise, never mind that no adult activities are actually shown in said brothel.
Compared to the grand escapism inherent in so many of Star Wars’ more whimsical movies, Andor stands out for its darker and more subdued visual and narrative style. There’s a deliberative, weighty tension to the episodes, which ground viewers in the real emotional and physical cost of resisting a fascist empire. It makes Andor, overall, a more personal and even relevant bit of sci-fi, with Maarva’s funeral speech towards the end a rousing call to arms about the importance of freedom and fighting tyranny.
The show is timely and relevant
Finally, Andor may be set in the far reaches of space, in a past that blends futuristic elements like hypersonic space travel with ancient myths and traditions, but the show actually has much in common with viewers in the modern era.
Andor implicitly invites viewers to reckon with their own imperfect world — with the insidious march of authoritarianism, and the erosion of civil rights. Fighting for power structures that lift up instead of oppress the common man is a battle that can play out in space, in sci-fi, and in towns and cities across our own world. Because there always comes a point in the story of tyranny when men and women have had enough, tired of being crushed under the heel of an oppressor. Andor is a show about what happens next.
