After three years and two seasons, Andor has ended its run on a high note. The series has been praised for its grounded, realistic take on the Star Wars universe by exposing the brutal ways fascism and authoritarian regimes operate.
For the show’s final three episodes, they use it to set the stage for Rogue One as it plays out the events that lead into the film’s main plotline…
A Chilling Revelation
It begins with Luthen Rael (Stellan Skarsgård) meeting with Lonni Jung (Robert Emms), the Imperial Security Bureau Lieutenant Supervisor slash mole for the Rebel Alliance. Lonnie reveals that the Empire’s clean energy project is a lie.
Kyber crystal mining on Jedha, the Ghorman massacre, the crackdowns that resulted from the The Public Order Resentencing Directive (P.O.R.D.). Everything the Empire has done over the past four years has been a part of the construction of a dangerous superweapon: the Death Star.
Lonnie begs Luthen to get him and his family out of Coruscant. He burned himself by stealing Dedra Meero’s (Denise Gough) clearance and accessing her files to see if she discovered Luthen’s identity and stumbled upon the Death Star files by accident. Unfortunately for Lonnie, Luthen kills him to ensure that nobody learns about the leak.
Dedra Closes In
Luthen returns to his antique shop to destroy his communications array only to be interrupted by a surprise visitor: Dedra Meero. Their conversation is tense and loaded with innuendos until Dedra shows Luthen the stolen Starpath unit Cassian tried to sell him years ago.
But Dedra is too busy relishing the fact that she actually found Axis that she doesn’t realize he was prepared for her arrival. By the time she realizes that he’s destroying evidence, Luthen has already stabbed himself with a knife.
When Luthen is rushed to a hospital and put on life support, his assistant and adopted daughter Kleya Marki (Elizabeth Dulau) steps in. She single-handedly breaks into the hospital, disguises herself as a nurse, uses explosives to get security away from Luthen’s room and shoots down anyone who gets in her way. Once she makes it to Luthen, she disconnects him from the life support machine and gives him a kiss on the forehead as he passes away.
The Fall of Dedra & The ISB
While Kleya infiltrates the hospital, Dedra is arrested for overstepping her bounds and being linked to the security breach. Her unauthorized raid on Luthen’s antique shop has caused a series of problems for the Imperial Security Bureau. Nobody knows how the plans for the Death Star leaked, Lonni is dead, their only suspect that could aid their investigation into the Rebel Alliance died before he could be interrogated.
There’s too much to handle all at once and it doesn’t help that an enraged Director Orson Krennic (Ben Mendelsohn) is breathing down their throats. Supervisor Heert (Jacob James Beswick) and Major Partagaz (Anton Lesser) search for Kleya with the cover of her having a deadly disease while Krennic rips into Dedra for her actions. Turns out the only reason she had access to files related to the Death Star was because a staffer sent her the files by accident and she didn’t report the mishap. This explanation doesn’t come close to satisfying Krennic who accuses her of being a Rebel spy.
Meanwhile, Kleya sends a distress signal to Yavin 4, which Wilmon intercepts. Cassian (Diego Luna), Melshi (Duncan Pow) and K-2SO (Alan Tudyk) leave Yavin for Coruscant to extract Kleya. She informs Cassian of Luthen’s death and everything she knows about the Death Star. Heert and his troops are closing in on the rebels and they successfully find the safehouse Kleya’s hiding in. But thankfully, K-2SO intervenes and slaughters the ISB officers with ease.
Following his failure to capture Kleya, Partagaz kills himself after Supervisor Lagret (Michael Jenn) comes to his office to arrest him. Dedra has been made a scapegoat for the Death Star leak and sent to an Imperial prison similar to the one on Narkina 5.
One Final Mission
After bringing Kleya to Yavin 4, Cassian shares news about the Death Star to the leaders of the Rebels Alliance. Everyone is dismissive of the news about the Death Star, chalking it up to either a trap planned for Luthen or one of his delusions. However, Senator Bail Organa (Benjamin Bratt) changes his tune and gives Cassian his permission to investigate the matter. One of the last scenes of the series is Cassian walking towards his U-Wing to meet with Tivik at the Ring of Kafrene, neatly transitioning from the end of his story in Andor to his very first scene in Rogue One.
The ending montage shows the surviving rebels Wilmon and his girlfriend Dreena, Mon Mothma and her cousin Vel happy on Yavin. Kleya begins to feel a sense of peace following Luthen’s death now that she finally gets to see the Rebellion Luthen and her help build.
We even get to see Bix again. She has returned to Mina-Rau where she’s reunited with B2EMO and is now a mother to her child with Cassian. The series ends with her holding her baby while she gazes at the sun in an open field, finally living a peaceful life. It’s not clear if she’s aware of Cassian’s death at this point but it’s made clear to the audience that his legacy will live on.
You can stream all the episodes of Andor exclusively on Disney+.
