Andor‘s second season premiered April 22nd through May 13th, 2025. Andor‘s first season premiered September 21st through November 22nd, 2021. Its showrunner is Tony Gilroy.

Read my review of Andor’s first season here.

Andor‘s first season gave me hope again in Star Wars. For the first time in probably a decade, I was actively interested and passionate about something in Star Wars again. Disney has ruined the franchise, with horrible movie after horrible movie (yes, I include The Force Awakens in that in my review), lackluster show after lackluster show (yes, I include all seasons of the Mandalorian in that), contradictory books, and sparse video games. Because Tony Gilroy was basically just given a corner to make his little pet project and ignored, he produced the best piece of Star Wars content since The Return of the Jedi, and maybe even since The Empire Strikes Back.

I was extremely excited for the second season. I watched it all in a weekend when I had a free weekend alone. It took three years to make this new season. Originally, Andor was going to have five seasons, each season taking place over a year leading up to Rogue One and A New Hope, but instead the first season is entirely that first year and the second season has four 3-episode “arcs,” each taking place over a year apart.

Tony Gilroy claims that he likes it better this way because it made the show more focused. He also says that Star Wars had consumed basically the last decade of his life between his rewrites and reshoots of Rogue One that he helped with, developing Andor, and filming it, and so he was ready to move on to a new franchise. While all of that might be true, it’s also reported that Andor cost $645 million to make (or about $27 million per episode), making it one of the most expensive TV shows of all time. I’m sure the company was looking at the dollar signs and decided it wasn’t worth it. It seems like a horrible financial decision, basically guaranteed to lose money.

But by goodness, the storytelling is worth it.

Andor Season 2, arcs two through four (we’ll get to arc one soon enough), is even better than the first season. At its height, I will echo what was said before: it is the best Star Wars since Empire Strikes Back (while it can’t top the highs of Luke VS Vader in Return of the Jedi, it can top portions of the rest of the movie). However, it also has some of the same flaws as the first season, and some bigger flaws on top of that. But overall, it is truly spectacular to witness.

Spoilers ahead. If you haven’t seen it and you’re at all interested, pawn off a Disney Plus account from someone and watch it right now. You will not be disappointed.

The Flaws

There are, unfortunately, bigger flaws to Season 2 than Season 1.

If you’ve read my review of the first season, you’ll know its biggest flaw is its coincidences. Coincidences often weakly connect that season’s arcs to the next. Andor just so happens to be arrested when he’s at the wrong place at the wrong time. Literally a total coincidence. Andor just so happens to stumble on some anti-Imperial fisherman who say they can take him to the next destination. Those coincidences make the connections between the arcs more tenuous, less interconnected, and you all know how I feel about connections in stories (hint: connections are what make stories stories).

Well, season two has that too. (Spoilers. Spoilers. Spoilers). The one that sticks out the most, to me, is when Orson Krennic reveals Dedra accidentally received files of the Death Star. While some have speculated this is a lie she tells and that actually she went looking for the information after Syril dies, that isn’t in the show. More likely, it’s a pure coincidence, meant to show how the Empire is already falling apart. But instead, it just means that one of the most important moments in Star Wars – how the rebels get their knowledge of the Death Star – was a pure coincidence.

There are other instances, but that same “coincidence” stuff is all over this season.

There is one other big flaw in this season, and one small flaw. The big flaw is Arc One, episodes one through three. These episodes, besides a fun opening sequence where Andor steals a TIE-fighter, a meeting of the secret Imperial group seeking to destroy the planet of Ghorman, a dinner between Dedra, Syril, and Syril’s mother, some fun scenes between Mon Mothma and Luthen Rael for Mothma’s daughter’s wedding, and an intense fight scene where Bix is almost raped by an Imperial officer, are dumb.

The main plot is that Andor is taking an experimental TIE-fighter he stole to be dropped off at an abandoned moon. When he gets there, he finds that the person he’s supposed to drop off the TIE fighter with is dead, killed by a rebel splinter group who crash-landed there. The group has internal bickering and fighting, they hate each other, they shoot at each other, and they can’t get along. It’s two episodes of slogging it through their juvenile and annoying conversations while Andor pretty much rolls his eyes the whole time. In one episode, their arguing is juxtaposed with the board room of the Imperial teams all targeting Ghorman. The point is obvious: the rebels are inept compared to the well-oiled machine of the Emipre. But… is this the way you really needed to make that point?

At the end of the second episode, it’s revealed that the planet is Yavin-4, the rebel base featured in the original Star Wars. Over the rest of the season, we’ll see Yavin-4 grow in the next three years until it becomes its own well-oiled machine. But this isn’t how it should’ve been done. It’s tedious, annoying, and the characters are stupid the whole time, including… forgetting what they told Andor in the first episode, that there are creatures that hunt people at night.

What’s also dumb is the “B” plot. Andor’s crew – Bix, Wilmon, Brasso, and their droid B2EMO – are on a planet as illegal immigrants. Over two episodes, we see them loving life in this chill farm planet that’s so happy and they’re all accepted and Brasso has a fun girlfriend and Wilmon has his first love. It’s all so idyllic and happy, and it’s just too fake and stale for this show. Then, the Imperials come to do a check on illegal immigrants, and they have to leave fast. Wilmon, though, runs back to say goodbye to his girl. Brasso speeders back to find him, which is when he’s coincidentally and very ironically caught for sloppily walking through a field. Then, after a series of events, Brasso is shot and killed while Andor tries to save him.

The plot feels shallow. We never get all the character interactions we need to see – how do they all feel about Brasso betraying them in Season 1? How does he carry that guilt? Has he moved past being Bix’s boyfriend (evidently, and we don’t have to see everything, but some more deeper conversations would have been great to see). And it’s a bummer because he’s caught so easily. You wish that Brasso, as interesting as a man as he is, would have gotten a better send-off. So, Arc 1 feels like a B-level TV show, rather than the A++ level that the rest of the show is.

My other little gripe is this: where are the aliens? It’s a real shame that they don’t spend time on any planets with aliens nor do we have any alien characters. I don’t understand why neither the Aldhani in the first season or the Ghor in this season aren’t aliens. Star Wars is always so fun with its goofy aliens and its amazing aliens, to have characters that you take so seriously yet aren’t like you at all. From Wookies to Kaminoans, from Twilek to Hutts to Ewoks to Jawas, Star Wars has been about aliens with personality, not just monsters. I wish the crew had had the bravery to include a few more alien characters.

But literally, that’s it for the gripes. Because as soon as that first arc is done, this series sheds its flaws and becomes near-flawless besides the occasional coincidence.

The Strengths

Oh my goodness.

This show is incredible.

I had to get that little bit about Arc 1 and the coincidences out of the way first, but after that, man, this show just shines.

As a general summary, Season 2 takes place over four years, every three episodes taking place one year apart. We already discussed the first arc. In the second, Luthen sends Andor to evaluate the rebellion of the Ghor on Ghorman, where the Empire seem to be doing something big. Meanwhile, Dedra gets Syril a position as a spy there, who manipulates the Ghorman rebellion to more drastic action. Then, Luthen sends Cinta and Vel for the Ghorman’s first raid, which goes horribly wrong. In the third, the Ghor are ready to burst, and they do – but all of it is carefully corralled and staged by the Empire, who then massacre the Ghor in brutal fashion. Mon Mothma delivers a key speech about the massacre in the Senate, while the Empire tries to stage it as a rebellion that massacred imperial “boys.” She manages to escape with Andor’s help. In the fourth, taking place days before Rogue One and Star Wars, Luthen – now ostracized from the organized Rebellion – gets his hands on the basics of the Death Star project. When Luthen’s suicide fails, Kleya has to kill him in the hospital while reminiscing on their past. Andor comes to save her, but they themselves are cornered. They escape, only for Luthen’s information to be doubted. Andor has to convince the Rebellion to give Luthen a chance. They do, leading directly into Rogue One.

The speeches. Holy cow. The speeches. The first season still has the best speech – Luthen Rael’s speech on his sacrifice for the rebellion – but we have another half-dozen to get through here that are top-tier. Saw Gerrara’s insane speech to Wilmon about rebellion, Vel Sartha’s speech to the inexperienced rebel who accidentally shot her girlfriend, Mon Mothma’s speech before the Senate finally blaming Palpatine for all the evil, to name the ones I could find clips of. All of them give such profound insight into these characters and who they are, as well as just being clever or insightful pieces of writing in their own right. In addition, they’re all delivered by actors at the absolute top of their game. Yes, they make good YouTube clips you can revisit – which I think will increase the show’s longevity and popularity – but they’re also thrilling and exciting to see in-context.

In addition, this show has some amazing “small group” or two-person scenes. Besides that frustrating coincidence, Dedra’s interrogation by Krennic is spectacular. But there’s more: that dinner scene with Syril’s mom and Dedra, Krennic and Mon Mothma’s debate to cause a scene, Syril’s questioning and assault of Dedra, when Luthen and Lonni meet to reveal the death star plans (my personal favorite), the scene Dedra and Luthen meet, Krennic and Partagaz’s personal conversation as friends and enemies, all of Luthen and Kleya’s flashback scenes but especially this one about making the choice to rebel. There’s a laundry list of great small-group scenes that really stick with you. Again, there is great writing. There are great performances. But all of these are also scenes that are instrumental to the story. They aren’t just put there, isolated, to be cool. They launch the story forward, they reveal secrets and insights, they splinter characters apart or tie them together. While all of these make good YouTube clips, they’re also good in context. And that is super important.

And there are the action scenes. My goodness, this season delivers on the action and suspense. The highlights are Bix’s brutal fight with the imperial officer that seeks to rape her (at the end of this clip), the raid of the Ghorman military supplies where Cinta is accidentally shot and killed (including a really impressive one-take of a box going down a sewer that I couldn’t find), Syril and Andor’s brutal fistfight, Mon Mothma’s escape from the Senate, especially this scene, and K-2SO’s hallway scene featuring an intelligent and capable Imperial strike team. Again, they’re not just the obligatory “two action scenes an episode” of Ahsoka or The Mandalorian, featuring really sloppy fight choreography or untrained actors with enemies that just roll over immediately and are nothing more than cannon fodder. Enemies are intelligent, brutal, just as willing to survive as you are, tricky, and cunning. Or, allies are uncertain, unable to be trusted, untried. Characters get tons of opportunity to show their personality in how they deal or create problems, how they fight, not just swinging their lightsabers like baseball bats at mindless enemies for minutes. I think Syril and Andor’s fight is the best example of this: It’s clear that Andor is better trained and will easily beat Syril when he gets the upper hand, but Syril uses surprise, his desperation, and his environment to give Andor a run for his money.

While all of these scenes and moments are great, there is nothing quite like what is the biggest moment in the show, which is now infamous. While scenes in isolation or action in a situation are amazing, there is something to every, single, piece of the puzzle coming together in an entire episode that grips you at the edge of your seat for forty-five exciting, brutal, terrifying, and spectacular minutes.

The Ghorman Massacre

Massive, massive, massive spoilers ahead. If you haven’t watched Season 2 of Andor, go watch it right now. Then, finish this review.

In episode eight of Season 2, the second episode of Arc 3, “Who Are You?”, we see the Ghorman Massacre. It is one of the best episodes of any TV show I have ever seen, period, and one of my new favorite moments in media. It’s stunning, breath-taking, terrifying, saddening, and so much more.

We find out the plan that everything has been leading to from the very beginning. The Empire plans to traps thousands of civilians in the square at Ghorman, put some young untrained riot control soldiers from several different important Imperial planets at the front, rile up the crowd as much as possible, and then… kill them all. Indiscriminately, using the death of one of the young soldiers as the catalyst. Even though an Imperial Sniper is the one who shot the young soldier in the first place, unbeknownst to the captain of the riot control squad. Then, they block off the exits to the square and begin shooting.

It’s minutes of insanely tense buildup as the pieces fall into place and you realize what is going on. You follow along with both Syril and Andor as they in turn figure out what’s about to happen. Syril figures it out from the side of the imperial agent who has been chewed up and spit out. You see his horror as he interrogates several of his former friends, who he manipulated into having this rebellion in the first place. You see his horror as he’s ushered into the Imperial base and he sees KX droids staring at him. You see him find Dedra and – shockingly – choke her, demanding answers. She runs through a gamut of excuses: The Empire has planned this for years, we’ll be welcomed home as heroes, they would do it with or without us, we want to be together, you didn’t seem to mind the promotions. One after another, they all fall on deaf ears as Syril’s world falls apart. He says goodbye and heads back into the crowd for when the massacre starts.

Andor figures it out as a spy who has gone renegade to try to kill Dedra. What is so sad is that even if Andor killed Dedra, all of this would still happen. There’s nothing they could have done at this point. The entire machine is grinding away and it’s about to chew up and spit out all these people. He tries his best to help defend civilians, but it’s not enough. We see several minor characters in the Ghorman rebellion die instantly and easily from the much more practiced Imperial Storm Troopers and the Terminator-like KX droids, one of them in this terrifying scene. The editing, the camera angles, their slow walk, all of it makes the KX droids completely terrifying and shows how the Empire are in complete control of the entire situation.

And then, in the midst of his world falling apart, Syril sees Andor. And in that moment, Syril knows one thing: This is his enemy. They fight in one of the best duels of all of Star Wars – raw, bloody. As I mentioned before, you see the experience of Andor when he gets a chance but also the ferocity and desperation of Syril in a world falling apart. Syril finally corners Andor with his own gun, to which Andor responds, “Who are you?”

Andor, the enemy who has ruined Syril’s life not once, but twice, his nemesis, who he has hunted for years and years, doesn’t even know who he is. That question – “Who are you?” – not just that Andor doesn’t know who he is, but Syril doesn’t know who Syril is anymore. Everything comes crashing down and he starts to lower his gun.

Maybe he would just walk away. That’s what the actor, Kyle Soller, said. Maybe he would’ve joined the rebellion – or, if not THE rebellion, he would have become angry and disillusioned with the Empire. Maybe he would have killed himself in despair. But Syril doesn’t get that chance. He is shot by one of his former friends, who had declared himself a pacifist several times leading up to the Ghorman Massacre. Syril’s own actions turned a man loving peaceful protest into a violent instigator of rebellion and killed him. With that, Syril Karn is dead.

The Ghorman Massacre is a masterpiece of filmmaking. It is a masterpiece of storytelling. If nothing else, you need to watch this show to see the Ghorman Massacre.

Makes Star Wars Better

And you know what? It makes it so that when Luke does blow up the Death Star, and when the Rebels defeat the Empire, you cheer all the more. You want this Empire that chews up and spits out so many people to die because it is horrible, oppressive, and tyranny. You want the good guys to win even more, and you understand why they should win.

That’s what great about Andor. Star Wars is not worse for having this show, as it has been worse off for so many years under everything Disney has done. Even the prequels made Star Wars ultimately better by throwing up the universe and expanding it widely with so many unique characters and environments; Disney has done none of that, only constraining and squeezing Star Wars with a bunch of uncreative hacks who scrape by with no plan, the bare minimum, and fan service.

But for Andor? Andor makes Star Wars better. If it’s the last chance we’ll get to have that as the darkness of Disney Star Wars continues, then take it while we’ve got it.