The Star Wars universe hasn’t always given a lot of attention to the early days of the Rebellion against the Empire. It was the central focus of the animated series Star Wars Rebels, but next month, Andor, is set to take an even grittier approach to that era in live-action. This series is a prequel to Rogue One, one of the most widely-praised modern Star Wars films, with Diego Luna reprising his role as Cassian Andor. But as the new trailer demonstrates, Cassian isn’t the only one fighting back.
This is the first time fans have been introduced to Stellan Skarsgård’s Luthen, a man who is outwardly friendly towards the Imperials. But privately, Luthen is one of the early leaders in the Rebel Alliance who is doing everything he can to bring the Empire down. That includes making deals with the militant Partisans, as led by Saw Gerrera. Forest Whitaker is also reprising his role as Saw from Rogue One, and he seems to be more together in his brief scene here.
Genevieve O’Reilly first portrayed Mon Mothma in Revenge of the Sith, where most of her scenes were cut from the final film. That turns out to be an advantage for Andor since the show appears to be positioning her as the female lead. According to Mothma in the trailer, the Empire already suspects her because she speaks out against its injustices. However, the Imperials haven’t realized yet that she is also one of the key figures in the Rebel Alliance.
Another intriguing aspect of the trailer is the suggestion that Cassian will go undercover inside the Empire in order to do as much damage as possible. But that may prove to be his most dangerous assignment yet.
Disney+ and Lucasfilm have also released a new poster for the series, which features most of the main cast including Luna, Skarsgård, O’Reilly, Adria Arjona, Denise Gough, Kyle Soller, Fiona Shaw, and Ben Miles.
The premiere of Andor has been pushed back to September 21. To ease the blow of the wait, Disney+ will drop three episodes of the series on that day. The remaining nine episodes will be released weekly.
