Andor is a fantastic Star Wars series for a whole litany of reasons: the grounded perspective through which it presents the galaxy, the deeply nuanced way that Tony Gilroy and the writers engage with themes at the heart of the saga, the empathetic and articulate sculpted character work, etc. But one of the greatest strengths that Andor has brought to Star Wars has been the embracing of moral complications and grey areas, where once things seemed perhaps a bit too black and white.
Nowhere is this more apparent than in Andor’ s storylines, which have served to curtail one of the biggest problems with the third act of Solo: A Star Wars Story. Whereas that film ended on a note that felt woefully simple and trite in regards to the establishment of the Rebel Alliance, Andor has diversified the storytelling approach in such an extreme way that it recontextualizes that Solo ending into something much more effective.
Character Concept Art for Star Wars: Eclipse Leaks
Various pieces of character concept art from Quantic Dream's upcoming Star Wars Eclipse leak.
How Solo: A Star Wars Story Relates To The Rebel Alliance At Large
Solo: A Star Wars Story was not a film without its own fair share of issues. The making of the spin-off was so tumultuous that original directors Phil Lord and Chris Miller were fired midway through production, leaving Lucasfilm to scramble and bring in Academy Award-winning director Ron Howard to complete the film. The resulting film is far better than its pre-release buzz or post-release reputation might suggest; a largely standalone film that features truly remarkable performances from Alden Ehrenreich as Han Solo and Donald Glover as Lando Calrissian.
However, where the film does falter is in its sole connection to the larger mythos of the original trilogy. At the end of the film, Han Solo makes the decision to give the coaxium, which he and the team stole during the infamous Kessel Run, to Enfys Nest and her gang of Cloud-Riders. In response to this, Enfys tells him the coaxium is more than just fuel for their ships, but rather that it is “the blood that brings life to something new: a rebellion.”
While this is a nice culminating moment for Han as a character within the context of this individual film, the implication that his generosity is single-handedly responsible for gassing up the entire rebellion leaves a bit to be desired. Star Wars is this whole vast galaxy of storytelling, but this development makes it feel so microscopically small. Like the moment in The Force Awakens where Harrison Ford’s Han Solo just so happens to have lost his precious Millennium Falcon to a junk-dealer from the same village on Jakku that Rey and Finn happen to be escaping from, or the moment in Rogue One that holds audiences hands right up until the moment A New Hope begins, it makes Star Wars’ galaxy feel tiny and insular rather than vast and full of potential. The idea that one person is responsible for providing the Rebel Alliance with fuel is simple-minded and singularly frustrating on a storytelling level; the idea that the one person is Han Solo is flat-out bad.
How Andor Is Redefining The Entire Rebellion Movement From The Ground Up
However, in the wake of Andor, this climactic moment in Solo feels far less definitive and grating. In covering the years leading up to the events of Rogue One and A New Hope, Andor chronicles not just the origins of Cassian Andor as a rebel but also the Rebel Alliance as a whole. And in Tony Gilroy’s hands, the Rebellion’s origins are messy, intricate, and splintered in fascinating ways. The Empire’s iron grip on the galaxy has spurred rebellions of all kinds in one form or another from all across the galaxy, and the real conflict of Andor is in the central characters’ attempts to unite these disparate strands into anything resembling a unified front.
Because Solo takes place in 10 BBY (ten years before the Battle of Yavin which happens in the climax of A New Hope, for the uninitiated) and Andor begins in 5 BBY, the show’s treatment of the Rebellion has drastic implications about how the fuel which Han Solo gifted to Enfys Nest and her Cloud-Riders was ultimately utilized. Enfys Nest’s fate has yet to be revealed in any films, TV shows, or expanded media, but given Andor’s developments, it's safe to assume that Enfys Nest did not go off and start up the official Rebel Alliance with the fuel she acquired from Han Solo. Instead, she may very well have played an integral role in starting a “rebellion” as she mentions, but it wasn’t necessarily the “rebellion.” This is far better from a storytelling perspective for Solo as a film, for Andor as a series, and for Star Wars as a whole.
Andor Is Proof That Star Wars Can Be More Than It Is As Currently Constructed Under Disney And Lucasfilm
In 1977, Star Wars became an international sensation because of its serialized and fable-esque qualities. However, in 1980, The Empire Strikes Back saw George Lucas, Lawrence Kasdan, and director Irvin Kershner actively diving into the complexities and nuances at play between the stark black-and-white morality established in the first film. No longer was Darth Vader simply a bad guy in all black with a scary breathing mask, but the hero’s literal father. It blurred the lines between good and evil in the name of exploring the gray areas in between. Similarly, Andor has now pulled off a similar feat in the recontextualization of spin-offs like Solo.
