Short Version (TL;DR): Most of the main characters find themselves on the planet Ferrix, each driven by different motivations. The Imperial Security Bureau’s goal is to apprehend Cassian Andor for questioning, regarding his ties to Rebel recruiter Luthen Rael and the Aldhani garrison heist. To counter this, the Rebels plan to eliminate Cassian to safeguard Luthen’s identity. Syril Karn is seeking revenge after being dismissed from the ISB following an unsuccessful attempt to apprehend Cassian. All of this takes place on the same day that Ferrix holds a funeral for Cassian’s adoptive mother, Maarva. During the funeral, a holographic image of Maarva rallies the people of Ferrix to fight the Empire’s influence, sparking a riot. Cassian returns home, rescues Bix from Imperial custody, and aids his friends in escaping Ferrix. The ISB’s interception of the attempted Spellhaus raid is successful, while Mon Mothma creates an alibi for the missing money in her bank account. The season ends with Cassian locating Luthen and formally aligning himself with the Rebel Alliance.
Setting the Stage
The mood in Ferrix is tense and somber on the eve of Maarva’s funeral. ISB supervisor Dedra Meero (Denise Gough) has arrived in Ferrix and gone undercover with Corv (Noof Ousellam). Rebels Vel Sartha (Faye Marsay) and Luthen Rael (Stellan Skarsgård) have also arrived in Ferrix. Syril is there as well, with former colleague Sergeant Mosk (Alex Ferns).
Instead of picking up Vel, Cinta Kaz (Varada Sethu) decides to follow Dedra and Corv after seeing them leave the hotel/ISB headquarters dressed like locals. It’s clear that Cinta’s devotion to the mission has morphed into an obsession, causing a massive strain in her relationship with Vel. When Vel expresses concern that the ISB will capture Cassian before they can reach him, Luthen thinks it’s perfect – let the Imperials do the hunting, which will lead them to Cassian’s location, then kill him before he can be questioned.
Bix Caleen (Adria Arjona) is still in Imperial custody, reeling from the trauma of her interrogations. Wilmon Paak (Muhannad Bhaier) is building what appears to be a bomb. Brasso (Joplin Sibtain) meets up with Xanwan (Zubin Varla), who admits he spoke to Cassian. Later on, when Nurchi goes on a rant about how tragic it would be for Cassian to miss his mother’s funeral, Xan implies that might not be the case…
Guess who’s back!
Despite having multiple people searching for him, Cassian manages to sneak his way back to Ferrix. He pays a visit to the funerary stone for his late adoptive father, Clem Andor (Gary Beadle), who was hanged by Imperials for breaking up a fight in the early days of Emperor Palpatine’s reign. He thinks back to the day his father taught him how important it is to be observant.
“People don’t look down to where they should,” Clem tells him. “They don’t look down, they don’t look past the rust. Not us, though, eh? Eyes open, possibilities everywhere.”
Cassian reunites with his old friend Pelga (Kieran O’Brien), who tells him about Bix’s imprisonment. While Pelga looks for an update on Bix, Cassian finally reads the political manifesto his late ally Karis Nemik (Alex Lawther) wrote before his death.
“Random acts of insurrection are occurring constantly throughout the galaxy,” Nemik wrote. “There are whole armies, battalions that have no idea they’ve already enlisted in the cause. Remember that the frontier of the Rebellion is everywhere. And even the smallest act of insurrection pushes our lines forward.
“The day will come when all these skirmishes and battles, these moments of defiance, will have flooded the banks of the Empire’s authority, and then there will be one too many. One single thing will break the siege. Remember this: Try.”
When Cassian is alone with family friend Brasso (Joplin Sibtain), he shares his regret about leaving Maarva behind, especially since they had argued the last time he saw her. Brasso — or more accurately Maarva — knew Cassian would blame himself, so he delivers Maarva’s final message to her son. None of this is his fault. “Tell him, he knows everything he needs to know and feels everything he needs to feel,” Brasso says. “And when the day comes, and those two pull together, he will be an unstoppable force for good.”
And more importantly, Maarva loves Cassian “more than anything he could ever do wrong.” When Pelga stops by with news that Bix is still alive, Cassian decides to rescue her from the Imperials instead of attending Maarva’s funeral.
Diversions
Using her eavesdropping ISB spy driver Kloris (Lee Ross) to her advantage, Mon Mothma (Genevieve O’Reilly) accuses her husband Perrin Fertha (Alastair Mackenzie) of returning to his old gambling habit. Perrin vehemently denies he’s been gambling again, but this argument is nothing more than a cover for the missing money in Mon’s account.
Just as Mon expected, Kloris reports her accusations to ISB supervisor Blevin (Ben Bailey Smith), who accepts it as a possible explanation for the suspicious banking activity they’ve been monitoring. Meanwhile, the ISB is celebrating their success in intercepting Anton Kreegyr’s attempted raid on Spellhaus, killing him and his crew. Dedra is not happy, as she felt Kreegyr was the key to identifying Luthen (codenamed Axis). Her boss, Major Partagaz (Anton Lesser), reminds Dedra that the whole point of the mission was to wipe “the taste of Aldhani from the Emperor’s mouth.”
“You want to start a conversation? Find Axis,” he tells her. It’s hard to accomplish that objective without any leads. With a boss like Partagaz, Dedra doesn’t need enemies.
The next time we see Mon, she, her husband, and their bratty 13-year-old daughter, Leida (Bronte Carmichael), are all dressed up for some special guests — Davo Sculdun (Richard Dillane) and his wife Runai (Rosalind Halstead), who introduce their 14-year-old son, Stekan (Finley Glasgow), to Leida. It looks like Mon has agreed to a betrothal between Leida and Stekan, a Chandrillan tradition. It doesn’t help that Leida has embraced these traditions to get under Mon’s skin, but will she go as far as becoming a teen bride? Just how deep is Leida’s hatred towards her mother?
Ferrix Unleashed
The ISB is going over the arrangements for Maarva’s funeral. Half of Rix Road has been closed for one block, with a maximum limit of 40 people — concessions the Imperials made with the Daughters of Ferrix, a social club Maarva was a past president of. They also have traps, snipers, and a containment unit in place for Cassian, though Dedra makes it clear she wants him alive. Nurchi tells the ISB where he thinks Cassian will be for double the reward money and a free ride.
However, the Time Grappler clangs the anvil earlier than scheduled, and the people of Ferrix hit the streets in large numbers to mess with the Imperials’ heads. Brasso carries Maarva’s funerary stone while a marching band plays mournful music, with Andor’s family droid B2EMO/Bee (voiced by Dave Chapman) leading the procession. The ISB is struggling with its efforts to control the crowd, while Luthen and Syril watch from afar. The best part of the whole sequence is when Bee projects a holographic image of Maarva (Fiona Shaw), delivering a pre-recorded eulogy. Decked out in her Daughter of Ferrix robe, Maarva gives a powerful speech on how the people of Ferrix have kept their heads down, ignoring the negative influence of the Empire, which she refers to as “a disease that thrives in darkness.”
“Maybe fighting is useless. Perhaps it’s too late,” Maarva says. “But I’ll tell you this — If I could do it again, I’d wake up early and be fighting these bastards from the start.” She ends her speech with three little words: “Fight the Empire!” Using her eulogy to start an uprising — Maarva Andor, you’re a true badass.
Hot-headed Captain Vanis Tigo (Wilf Scolding) knocks Bee over to end the transmission, which of course leads to a riot by the locals. Things escalate when Wilmon shows up and throws his makeshift bomb at the Imperials’ front line. He’s seeking revenge against the ISB for torturing and killing his father Salman, then hanging his corpse in the street. It doesn’t just explode — it makes contact with several cases of ammo, which sets off a chain reaction of explosions.
That’s when the blood really starts to flow. Nurchi is killed in the explosions. Tigo demands officers open fire into the crowd. Xanwan is gunned down by blaster fire, though Pelga does manage to save Bee. The Time Grappler (Neil Bell) kicks a stormtrooper out of the bell tower. Corv is stabbed to death by Cinta when he realizes she’s been following him. Dedra is nearly trampled to death by the angry crowd until she’s rescued by Syril of all people. A visibly shaken (literally, she’s shaking) Dedra isn’t thrilled her stalker is the one to save her, but she does express her gratitude while Syril stares at her creepily. Don’t be surprised if these two become an official couple in Season 2, with their subplots revolving around a relationship that’s as beautiful as it is toxic. Because Disney hasn’t learned a damned thing from the whole Kylo Ren/Rey drama from their post-Lucas Star Wars trilogy a few years ago.
And Cassian is nowhere to be found. He’s actually in the hotel/ISB headquarters looking for Bix. When he finds her, she’s initially reluctant to leave out of fear. But the two are able to slip away from all the chaos and go straight to Pelga’s yard. Bix is slowly coming out of her dazed state when she’s put on a ship with Brasso, Bee, Pelga, Wilmon, and Jezzi (Pamela Nomvete). Cassian stays behind and tells a devastated Bee to look after Bix until he meets up with them again.
“I will find you,” Cassian tells his friends before they leave Ferrix.
Answering the Call
Luthen rides his speeder back to his ship in the desert. As he prepares to leave, he turns around and finds Cassian standing right behind him. Cassian theorizes that Luthen came to Ferrix to kill him, which Luthen doesn’t deny. Cassian gives him an ultimatum: “Kill me or take me in.” Luthen responds with a smirk, pleased to see Cassian has finally embraced the cause.
A Disturbing Revelation
One of the most buzzed-about moments in the season finale is the post-credits scene at the end. Remember those weird six-pronged widgets that Cassian and the prisoners of Narkina 5 were building? We get a close-up of some droids putting the smaller widgets in place to create something bigger. The camera then pans out to reveal that these contraptions support the panels for the dish-shaped laser of the Death Star—an incomplete superweapon that the Empire will use to destroy entire planets.
What makes this scene particularly disturbing is knowing that Cassian and some of his rebel allies are killed by the Death Star in Rogue One after stealing its blueprints. Essentially, Cassian (unknowingly) had a hand in building the weapon that would kill him years later.
Will There Be a Second Season?
Show creator Tony Gilroy has confirmed that there will be a second and final season of Andor, consisting of 12 episodes. The second season will be set over a four-year period, leading directly into the events of Rogue One. While filming has already started, a release date has yet to be announced.
Season 1 of Andor is available to stream in its entirety exclusively on Disney+. You can read recaps for all 12 episodes here.
