Though Kevin Smith has been generally positive about Disney+’s Star Wars-themed shows, he says that Andor is the first to significantly add to the Star Wars canon. The series premiered on the streaming service last month and follows the story of Cassian Andor (Diego Luna) in the years leading up to the events of Rogue One: A Star Wars Story.
That places it directly between the prequels and the original Star Wars film from 1977. Since Disney destroyed the expanded Star Wars canon established by comic books, novels, and video games, that is one of the time periods that has been least explored.
Tony Gilroy, director of the film Michael Clayton, created this series, and in a recent episode of Smith’s Fatman Beyond, Smith and co-host Marc Bernardin discussed it at length. Smith claimed that the premise didn’t interest him, but that he was hooked after the first few episodes.
One of the greatest movies of all time is Michael Clayton, so I have complete faith in this man,” Smith said. “However, I must admit that this show is pretty sick. It was this very show that I had zero desire to watch. Am I Andor, then? The man has passed away! The f—k should I give a rat’s a— about that? Also, I finally feel like the Star Wars canon is being expanded with this show.
This isn’t a Skywalker saga, and it’s not set on Tattooine. The Empire is a storm brewing, but on the periphery, a rebellion is taking shape. What surprised me was how much I enjoyed it. Moreover, it’s breaking new ground in the Star Wars universe. One example is having sex while sleeping casually. The question is, “How about that?”
Since the beginning of his career, Smith has been inextricably linked to the Star Wars franchise; in the first Clerks, Dante and Randall argue over which of the two prequels is superior. Even though there were only three Star Wars films at the time, fans still debated whether or not the contractors hired to build the second Death Star should have been killed by the Rebels after Lando destroyed the superweapon.
That debate went viral, prompting George Lucas to poke fun at it in the DVD extras for Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace. Even the Disney+ shows have made appearances in the View Askewniverse, with a groggy Randal explaining the plot of The Mandalorian to his doctor during heart surgery in Clerks III, which is currently playing in theatres as a roadshow-style theatrical release.
Before Rogue One: A Star Wars Story’s events take place, Andor trails Cassian Andor (Diego Luna). Stellan Skarsgard, Adria Arjona, Denise Gough, Genevieve O’Reilly, and Robert Emms also star in the new series alongside Luna and Fiona Shaw.
The show has been renewed for a second season after the first one was a success, and it will pick up right where Rogue One leaves off.
New episodes of Andor premiere every Wednesday on Disney+.