There are no Jedi, Sith, or well-choreographed lightsaber duels in the newest Star Wars series, Andor. Instead, the show focuses on realism as it delves into Cassian Andor’s life (Diego Luna) before he joined the Rebel Alliance and the effect Emperor Palpatine’s rule had on the galaxy far, far away. The series is set five years before the events of Rogue One, which directly preceded A New Hope.
A Bad Night Gets Even Worse…
The first episode of Andor drops viewers into the bleak, gritty world of Morlana One, where neon lights glow over a sleek sci-fi brothel. (Yes, in a Disney series. What timeline is this?)
Cassian walks in hoping to find his long-lost sister from Kenari. He’s told she hasn’t been to the brothel for months and struggles to find any leads on her whereabouts. Throughout the episode, we see flashbacks of Cassian and his younger sister when they were kids living as part of a tribe in Kenari. The two were separated when Cassian decides to investigate the crashed ship with the other kids, leaving her behind.
The night gets even worse for Cassian when he’s harassed by two Pre-Mor corporate security officers, or “Corpos.” He kills one Corpo by accident, which prompts the other officer to beg for his life. But since he’s a witness who just so happens to work for the Empire, Cassian kills him so there aren’t any loose ends.
Cassian Covers His Tracks
Cassian returns to his homeworld, Ferrix, where his adorable droid B2EMO (Bee-Two, or just Bee; voiced by Dave Chapman) greets him with bandages. He asks Bee if anyone has come looking for him and tells the droid to lie on his behalf. Interestingly, Bee is incapable of lying due to being an older model and having limited processing power for deception.
Taking matters into his own hands, Cassian tracks down the person who was searching for him and asks them to vouch for his whereabouts. The man agrees, but on one condition: he makes it very clear to Cassian that he needs to get his act together and get a job while he’s at it.
Secret Dealings
Later, he heads to the garage run by his friend and former lover, Bix Caleen (Adria Arjona). She works as a fence on the side, finding buyers for stolen goods. Cassian wants her to set up a meeting with a potential buyer so he can sell an Imperial weapon. He also suspects she’s romantically involved with one of her employees, Timm Karlo (James McArdle). When he questions whether Timm knows about her second job as a fence, Bix insists he doesn’t.
Unfortunately, this means Timm is clueless about what’s going on, which causes him to get suspicious. When Bix lies about having to run some errands, Timm follows her. Unaware that she’s being tracked, she manages to lose him on Ferrix’s crowded streets. She slips into a hidden room in a hotel, probably to get in touch with the person Cassian wants to sell the Imperial weapon to.
A Corpo Goes Rogue
Back on Morlana One, Deputy Inspector Syril Karn (Kyle Soller) reports the deaths of the two officers to Chief Inspector Hyne (Rupert Vansittart). It’s revealed that the officers were drinking liquor on the job — which is prohibited — in a brothel that shouldn’t even exist. Hyne wants the whole incident buried. “I suspect they died rushing to aid someone in distress,” he suggests as a cover. “Nothing too heroic—we don’t need a parade.”
But Syril wants to bring the culprit to justice, and he isn’t one to let things go. Ignoring orders, he launches his own investigation into the murders. He learns that a ship with no credentials flew in on the night of the killings and that the suspect had been asking about a woman from Kenari. Confident he’s onto something, he orders a bulletin to be put out for Kenari-born human males on Ferrix.
Cassian Andor is officially on the radar—and his past is about to catch up with him.
You can watch the first episode of Andor for free on YouTube and stream the first season in its entirety on Disney+.
📌 Changelog
- April 4, 2025: Rewrote sections and changed the subheadings to improve clarity, also added links to watch “Kassa” on YouTube and Disney+.
- April 13, 2024: Changed the formatting, added subheadings for better flow and a short summary of the article.
- September 22, 2022: Original article was published following the series premiere of Andor.
