Andor Season 2, which sees Diego Luna return as the titular Cassian Andor, once again accompanied by a stellar cast that includes Adria Arjona, Genevieve O’Reilly, and Stellan Skarsgård among others, was always going to be compared to an outstanding Season 1 and a pretty beloved movie that preceded the show in Rogue One. That the season somehow serves as the missing piece of the puzzle that elevates both, and as a separate story that hits every storytelling and emotional beat, is a testament to the strength of both the idea behind it and the people telling it.
Make no mistake about it, Andor Season 2 is a triumph. It’s bigger, better, more emotional, and yet equally as effective at hammering home the need for rebellion in a world where sometimes complacency might seem like the easier path. Andor Season 2 forces you to look at not just who you are, but what you are willing to do to make the world a better place, and then invites you to reckon with the answer.
This is, somehow, a harder proposition in 2025—though the show was filmed a few years ago—than it was when we watched Andor Season 1, because it feels like the Empire keeps winning. But that is perhaps what makes Andor so important, and so necessary. History is, as they say, cyclical. The lessons of Star Wars have never been lessons of just one particular moment in time, even if they might feel like the story is being written for us right now. Instead, the lesson of the saga has always been about the same thing Nemik’s manifesto told us about in Season 1: just trying.
And there’s great power in that, as Luna’s Cassian Andor, the reluctant rebel turned Rebellion Captain, showcases. Luna is electric as Cassian Andor, not always because he believes in what he’s saying, but because he’s us when he’s pushing against the doubts. Just as there’s strength in Arjona’s Bix Caleen, the character who gets perhaps the most gut-wrenching arc of the show’s second season. It’s impossible to look away from Arjona, much less to look away from Arjona and Luna together.
If I had to choose one defining moment outside of the two of them, it belongs to O’Reilly’s Mon Mothma. But it’s hard even to pinpoint just one, when everyone from Skarsgård to Elizabeth Dulau gets a chance to shine.
Andor is a masterfully constructed story about the nature of fascism and the human desire not for rebellion, but for freedom—one that deepens and reframes the original Star Wars trilogy in ways we will probably not be able to understand until we can sit and do a full rewatch. But it’s also just a really well-told story about a man who grew from a boy who lost everything into a man willing to fight to make sure that would never happen again. And in many ways, even if we aren’t Cassian Andor—isn’t there a part of us that wishes we could be?
The first three episodes of Andor Season 2 premiere on Tuesday, April 22, at 9 ET/6 PT, with three episodes debuting the following three Tuesdays until the full 12-episode season is released.
