It’s been nearly three years since Andor proved Disney is actually capable of making a good Star War. All it had to do was get out of the way and let showrunner Tony Gilroy (of Michael Clayton fame) do his thing. A prequel to a prequel, the series occupies a strange place in the saga’s timeline, because it’s destined to lead into the events of Gareth Edwards’s 2016 spinoff prequel Rogue One, which itself leads directly into George Lucas’s 1977 original. However, there’s very little you actually need to know about those films going into Andor — whose first season begins in Star Wars year BBY 5, or five years Before the Battle of Yavin, a.k.a. A New Hope — since the show is less about reshuffling the puzzle pieces of the Skywalker saga and more about examining the mechanics of fascism from a grounded point of view.
There’s nary a Jedi or lightsaber to be found, but Andor is filled with espionage and political intrigue, following characters who are either deeply embedded in the Empire or the fledgling Rebellion, or looking to take the leap on either side. The events of the original Star Wars (a.k.a. A New Hope) are well known — Rebels! Death Star! Boom! — but learning the meaning and weight behind all that space-operatic bombast is a key reason Andor works so well. As we head into its second season, which is set to release three episodes at a time on Disney+ starting April 22 (each three-part “chapter” unfolds a year after the last), it’s worth catching up on all our heroes, villains, and in-betweens to see where they stood before the show jumps ahead in time, inching ever closer to events we recognize.
The Rebellion
Cassian Andor
When the show’s first season ends, its namesake, Cassian (Diego Luna), finally decides to join the Rebellion, but not before a tumultuous journey. Separated from his sister, the Kenarian orphan was rescued and adopted by scavengers Clem and Maarva Andor (Gary Beadle, Fiona Shaw), who raised him on the Imperial mining planet Ferrix, where he gets into gambling debts and trouble with the law. You know, all the stuff you’d expect from a Star Wars rogue.
After killing a private-security guard, Cassian sells stolen Imperial technology to make his escape, but the buyer — underground Rebel ringleader Luthen Rael (Stellan Skarsgård) — has other plans. Seeing Cassian’s potential, Luthen recruits him for a heist on Aldhani targeting the Imperial payroll in the hopes that Cassian will see the bigger picture. Instead, the Kenarian does his job and flees to the Miami-like Niamos, but even this seeming paradise isn’t immune to the Empire. For the arbitrary charge of loitering, our reluctant hero is sentenced to five years in the labor prison Narkina 5, a punishment that ends up radicalizing him. Upon his escape and return to Ferrix for Maarva’s funeral, the Empire catches up to him, but so does Luthen’s team, in the hopes of killing him and tying up a loose end. However, having seen that fascism will come for him no matter what, his confrontation with Luthen takes the form of a counteroffer to team up, as he joins the fight for real.
Luthen Rael and Kleya Marki
Posing as erudite antique sellers on Coruscant — the Empire’s capital — Luthen and his diligent assistant, Kleya Marki (Elizabeth Dulau), secretly coordinate a number of cloak-and-dagger Rebel operations in plain sight, risking exposure at any moment. From hiring spies and other personnel, to liaising with sympathetic politicians and imperial sources, to maintaining secret radio communication with Ferrix mechanic Bix Caleen (Adria Arjona) in order to keep tabs on Cassian, the duo builds the foundation of the Rebel Alliance in the dark. Their any-means-necessary approach sheds uneasy light on what sacrifices must be made when totalitarianism festers — as Luthen puts it, he’s made his mind “a sunless place” by operating from the shadows. However, Luthen’s disagreements with his terse assistant might rightly make one curious about the real nature of their relationship and how their dynamic first came to be.
Vel Sartha and Cinta Kaz
A mercenary duo enlisted by Luthen, Cassian first meets heist ringleader Vel (Faye Marsay) and her second-in-command Cinta (Varada Sethu) on Aldhani, when he’s suddenly added to their crew. They’re also a couple, whose relationship is complicated by their allegiance. Forced to walk a fine line between what she’s told (by Luthen) and what she owes to her subordinates, Vel is a sharp, headstrong communicator, while Cinta operates in silence, with an intense and linear focus on any task she’s given. While they seem like broad “types” found in genre stories, these traits help connect them to the larger drama. Vel, born into a rich family from Chandrila — she’s cousin to the wealthy senator Mon Mothma (Genevieve O’Reilly) — often tries to reconcile fighting evil with living a life of contentment. For Cinta, however, the Rebellion comes first, even if it means putting her happiness and her relationship aside, a deadlock the couple reaches while hunting Cassian on Ferrix before he joins their team at season’s end.
Saw Gerrera
First seen on the animated series The Clone Wars, Saw Gerrera made his live-action debut in Rogue One, where he was played by Forest Whitaker. Often branded an extremist by fellow Rebels, the guerilla militant lives in isolation with his crew, known as the Partisans, on the planet Segra Milo.
As the Rebellion picks up steam, Saw remains armed to the teeth and ready to jump into battle at any moment. However, even his supposed zealotry is no match for Luthen’s vicious cunning. During Andor, Saw is reluctant to accept Luthen’s invitation to join an Imperial raid led by Rebel leader Anto Kreegyr, owing to their differing ideologies. However, when Luthen learns the Kreegyr raid is a trap, he advises Saw to stay far away so he can sacrifice Kreegyr to maintain his Imperial source. This willingness to sacrifice anyone for the cause seems a step too far for Saw, though he reluctantly agrees to keep Luthen’s secrets and keep him as an ally, if only to keep the Rebellion alive.
The Chandrilans: Tay Kolma, Mon Mothma, and Davo Sculdun
The upper classes of the planet Chandrila have an outsize importance in politics and business, which makes them the center of political intrigue on Coruscant. Mon Mothma — the Rebel leader first played by Caroline Blakiston in Return of the Jedi — made a brief appearance in Rogue One, where she was portrayed by Genevieve O’Reilly (who also played her in a deleted scene from Revenge of the Sith). This version of Mothma is forced to walk a careful tightrope as a politician in the public eye, who secretly funnels money into Rebel causes by way of Luthen, her antique dealer.
Having entered into the Chandrilan custom of child betrothal, Mothma lives with her distant husband, Perrin (Alastair Mackenzie), who’s none the wiser that she’s been seeking the help of a childhood friend sympathetic to Rebel causes, the banker Tay Kolma (Ben Miles), in order to get around the Empire’s suffocating financial regulations and access her family funds. The eyes of the surveillance state (including her chauffeur, an Imperial plant) imbue her actions with great risk, especially when Kolma finds an uneasy solution to her financial problems: a loan from the notorious Chandrilan businessman and gangster Davo Sculdun (Richard Dillane). What ought to be a straightforward transaction soon becomes a harrowing compromise, when it turns out Sculdun’s demand before doing business is marrying his teenage son to Mothma’s young daughter, a tradition of which the secret Rebel benefactor doesn’t approve. As the show’s first season ends, the question of how far she’s willing to twist her morals for the greater good hovers like a dark cloud.
The Ferrix Gang: Wilmon Paak, B2EMO, Bix Caleen, and Brasso
The characters who most become emotional collateral damage are those in Cassian’s vicinity — i.e., his closest allies. His former flame Bix Caleen has long been a Rebellion go-between (whether or not she knows it), helping smuggle spare machinery to Luthen so he can build his Alliance. Her boyfriend, Timm Karlo (James McArdle), grows jealous of her friendship with Cassian and turns him into the authorities, catalyzing his escape, though Timm is one of the many citizens unceremoniously gunned down by Stormtroopers on Ferrix. This leaves Bix vulnerable and alone, eventually leading to her being captured and tortured by Imperial officers, in the hopes she’ll reveal Cassian’s whereabouts.
The Empire also tortures her co-worker Salman Paak (Abhin Galeya), who doesn’t survive his internment, and leaves behind a son, the tech-savvy Wilmon (Muhannad Bhaier), an ally who keeps Cassian in the loop from afar. He isn’t the only one keeping Cassian safe: Best friend and co-worker Brasso (Joplin Sibtain) is ready to help Cassian and his family at the drop of a hat. He and Wilmon become the first to attack the Imperial troops imposing on Maarva’s funeral, leading to all-out chaos when Cassian swoops in to save them. At the end of the season, Bix, Brasso and Wilmon all flee the planet with Cassian, alongside his adorably anxious helper droid B2EMO, his most loyal companion.
Formerly of Narkina 5: Kino Loy and Ruescott Melshi
The prison colony Narkina 5 is home to some of the show’s most rigorous ethical calculus. Prisoner and floor manager Kino Loy (Andy Serkis) has mere months left on his sentence, so keeping fellow inmates in line at the cost of his humanity seems like a worthwhile trade-off. However, the worse the prison’s conditions become — as the workers are forced to slave away on secret Death Star parts with no promise of release — the more Kino is pushed to join Cassian and his brewing prisoner revolt. After proving himself a charismatic leader, he helps guide his fellow prisoners to the exit, only to discover that their “one way out” is a steep drop into the ocean. Kino, it turns out, cannot swim.
Unlike most characters on this list, there’s little reason to believe Kino will reappear, because in Andor, people die constantly, suddenly, and unceremoniously. This is true of fan favorites like Kino as well, but the door remains open since, as Serkis himself points out, we never actually see him die. There is, however, one character from Narkina 5 we know for sure eventually joins the cause: Ruescott Melshi (Duncan Pow), who appears in Rogue One as one of Cassian’s crewmates. He escapes the prison alongside Cassian and ends up with him back on Niamos before our hero travels ahead to Ferrix for the finale. We know their paths will cross again — it’s just a matter of how.
The Empire
Dedra Meero
A rising strategic supervisor at the Imperial Security Bureau, or the ISB, Dedra Meero (Denise Gough) is stern and ambitious, and spends most of the show’s first season on Luthen’s tail. Dubbing him “Axis” since she doesn’t know his identity — or much about him, other than he’s a nexus point for stolen tech and information — she begins devoting all her efforts to tracking him down, even though her supervisors aren’t entirely convinced he exists.
Although she has to deal with workplace sexism and the ambitions of rival men, Dedra remains steadfast in her commitment to bringing down the Empire, even if it means stiffly casting others aside. By the end of the season, she makes her way to Ferrix in order to follow the breadcrumbs, in the hopes that catching Cassian will eventually unravel the Axis plot. However, when the citizens of Ferrix revolt, she’s caught in the crossfire and comes close to being mowed down — until she’s rescued by the obsessive Syril Karn (Kyle Soller), an unlikely ally she once dismissed.
Syril Karn
The galaxy’s most pathetic worm, Syril Karn is a private-security officer who makes his way to Ferrix to investigate the killing of two security guards, which happens to be Cassian’s doing. Ambitious to a fault, Syril is a climber who keeps up appearances in the strangest of ways, including tailoring his imperial uniform to raise the collar. When his attempts to arrest Cassian go awry, he’s dismissed from his post, but his domineering mother, Eedy (Kathryn Hunter), uses her family connections to help him find a job at the Bureau of Standards.
It’s here that he first meets Dedra, albeit as a subject of her inquiry. Syril is devoted to the idea of order and is desperate to get back into the Empire’s good graces. He also develops a fixation with Dedra, if only because she embodies the iron fist in which he so desperately believes. After being tipped off that Cassian might attend his mother’s funeral, Syril heads to Ferrix to follow up on his unfinished business and rescues Dedra from an angry mob when things go sideways, ending the season on an unexpectedly touching romantic note between two of the Empire’s most devoted toadies.
Other Imperial Thugs: Dr. Gorst, Lio Partagaz, Heert, and Lonni Jung
Several other supporting characters are set to return on the Imperial side, including Major Lio Partagaz (Anton Lesser), Dedra’s superior at the ISB. Partagaz commands the room but understands the red tape, the internal politics, and the individual egos that come with running such an operation. He takes a liking to Dedra (when he’s not scolding her, that is), and encourages her to come up with more concrete information on “Axis” before pulling the trigger. Helping Dedra on this quest is her equally encouraging assistant Heert (Jacob James Beswick), though he appears to harbor just as much ambition as his boss.
Another officer who does Dedra’s bidding is the slimy Dr. Gorst (Joshua James), a Josef Mengele type who deals in psychologically torturing suspects like Bix. There’s no dearth of evil Imperial thugs in Andor — however, one character who seems to exist in a complicated moral gray is Lonni Jung (Robert Emms), a fellow ISB officer who attends Partagaz’s closed-door briefings alongside Dedra but relays the Empire’s plans to Luthen in secret. Lonni wants out of this predicament since it puts his wife and daughter in danger, but Luthen insists he keep spying for the Rebellion, implicitly threatening his and his family’s safety if he doesn’t comply.
Orson Krennic
Director Krennic (Ben Mendelsohn) doesn’t technically appear in Andor’s first season, but as a major player down the line in Rogue One, he’s worth remembering — especially since Mendelsohn has been cast in the series’ second season. Given that his role in Rogue One is all about building the Death Star, it’s safe to assume the Imperial superweapon might have something to do with his appearance in Andor. Mendelsohn’s role in the film is a treat, so it should be a delight watching him once again embody Krennic, a man as slimy as he is charismatic, with a pompous presence befitting that flowing cape.
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Catch up with our heroes, villains, and in-betweens to see where they each stood before season two jumps ahead in time.
