Nearly a yr in the past, fantasy mastermind George R.R. Martin personally really helpful Disney+’s hit two-season sci-fi thriller present. Not like its largest opponents, Disney+’s authentic content material has largely been linked to its hottest (and financially profitable) franchises. Other than collection like Percy Jackson and the Olympians and Renegade Nell, a lot of the exhibits labeled as Disney+ Originals are sure to the Marvel Cinematic Universe or Star Wars.
Much more than the MCU, the appearance of Disney+ modified Star Wars endlessly. Fairly than being a theatrical-only franchise, Star Wars may all of a sudden experiment with style, tone, characters, and even eras, culminating in hit exhibits like The Mandalorian and this yr’s Star Wars: Maul – Shadow Lord. Although not each Star Wars present grew to become equally in style — Star Wars’ Excessive Republic-set collection, The Acolyte, didn’t impress the franchise’s die-hard fan base — one of many galaxy’s most stunning TV spinoffs can also be top-of-the-line exhibits Disney+ has ever produced, Star Wars or in any other case.
A prequel to Star Wars’ first and solely profitable anthology film, Rogue One: A Star Wars Story — itself a direct prequel to the unique Star Wars, later retitled A New Hope — Tony Gilroy’s Andor is a fantastically written, completely forged, artfully shot, and extremely considerate examination of the horrific results of tyranny and the emotional and moral value of combating for freedom. In considered one of George R.R. Martin’s well-known Not A Weblog posts, the A Track of Ice and Fireplace writer hailed Andor as final yr’s “spotlight” and “far and away the perfect of the Star Wars spinoffs.”
“Regarded beautiful, Diego Luna was first-rate, and there was a realism and stress to the story that was sadly missing in a lot of the different spinoffs… It’s good to see somebody doing science fiction proper,” Martin continued. He wasn’t improper, both. Andor could also be Star Wars’ costliest present so far, however the threat was undoubtedly value it. Gilroy’s two-season spinoff modified every little thing for the galaxy far, far-off.
Andor Modified What Star Wars May Be
Cassian Andor and Mon Mothma
Andor genuinely modified what it means to be a Star Wars story. Historically, Star Wars has been a comparatively kid-friendly romp concerning the battle between the Jedi and the Sith, the Power’s unknowable nature, and the age-old duality of fine and evil. The battle between the Insurrection and the Empire has at all times been an inextricable a part of that, given Darth Sidious’ Imperial rule over the galaxy and several other Jedi’s involvement within the Insurgent Alliance’s most necessary efforts.
Nonetheless, Andor proved, much more so than The Mandalorian’s bounty hunter theme, that Star Wars may very well be a lot greater than the Skywalker legacy or the Jedi and the Sith. Neither faction is ever a part of Andor’s five-year narrative arc. Star Wars Rebels’ Ghost Crew is not proven when Mon Mothma makes her escape from the Imperial Senate. Darth Vader would not emerge from the shadows of a darkened hallway. Even Emperor Palpatine is nowhere to be seen all through the present’s Coruscant-centric storyline.
A Lengthy Time In the past in a Galaxy Far, Far Away · Eight Questions How Nicely Do You Know Star Wars? “The Power will likely be with you. All the time.”
🗡️Jedi OrderGentle-side guardians
⚡The SithRule of two
⚙️The InsurrectionA brand new hope
🪓Bounty HuntersThat is the best way
👑The EmpireOrder 66
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01
The unique Star Wars movie — later retitled Episode IV: A New Hope — opened in simply 32 American theatres and proceeded to turn into the highest-grossing movie of its period, redefining what summer time blockbusters may very well be. During which yr did it premiere?
A1975 B1977 C1979 D1980
✓ Appropriate! 1977 — particularly Could 25. twentieth Century Fox had so little religion within the undertaking they solely opened it in 32 theatres at first; queues rapidly stretched across the block, and the movie expanded to over 1,000 screens inside months. It earned $307 million in its preliminary home run, received six Academy Awards (with one other 4 nominations) and inverted Hollywood’s economics for the subsequent 50 years.
✗ Incorrect. The reply is 1977. 1975 is when the script was being shopped round. 1979 is when Star Trek: The Movement Image launched as a Star Wars-shaped countermove. 1980 is The Empire Strikes Again. The unique Star Wars is Could 25, 1977.
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02
A New Hope’s writer-director was a then-32-year-old American Graffiti veteran who’d struggled to get the undertaking greenlit and famously took back-end revenue and merchandising rights in lieu of a better wage — the deal that might construct a billion-dollar firm. He returned to direct the prequels however stepped away from the original-trilogy sequels. Title him.
ASteven Spielberg BGeorge Lucas CFrancis Ford Coppola DIrvin Kershner
✓ Appropriate! George Lucas. The merchandising rights he saved (as a result of Fox didn’t worth them) grew to become the monetary bedrock of Lucasfilm and the premise of the trendy toys-and-licensing megabusiness. After A New Hope, Lucas produced however didn’t direct Empire Strikes Again (Irvin Kershner) or Return of the Jedi (Richard Marquand), then directed all three prequels (1999–2005). He offered Lucasfilm to Disney in 2012 and stepped away from artistic management of the sequels.
✗ Incorrect. The reply is George Lucas. Steven Spielberg was Lucas’s shut pal (and the godfather of his post-A-New-Hope profession) however by no means directed a Star Wars movie. Coppola was Lucas’s mentor at USC and at American Zoetrope. Irvin Kershner directed Empire Strikes Again. The unique is Lucas’s.
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03
In 1980’s The Empire Strikes Again, Darth Vader delivers cinema’s most-misquoted line on the climax of his Cloud Metropolis duel with Luke Skywalker. Vader severs Luke’s hand and divulges their relationship. The precise line is — for the report — “No, I’m your father.” What relationship does it verify?
AVader is Luke’s uncle BVader is Luke’s father (Anakin Skywalker) CVader is Obi-Wan’s brother DVader is Han’s father
✓ Appropriate! Vader is Anakin Skywalker, Luke’s father. The reveal was so jealously guarded that Mark Hamill was solely advised the actual line on set the day they shot it (the script mentioned “Obi-Wan killed your father”), and even James Earl Jones recorded the dub with out figuring out the complete plot context. The road — generally misquoted as “Luke, I’m your father” — rewrote what trilogies may pull off and is broadly thought-about cinema’s most well-known twist.
✗ Incorrect. The reply is that Vader is Luke’s father, Anakin Skywalker. The entire basis of the Skywalker saga collapses to this single twist: Anakin (the Jedi prodigy of the prequels) turns into Vader after his fall. Luke and Leia are revealed in Return of the Jedi to be his twin youngsters, separated at start.
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04
Yoda — the inexperienced, ear-twitching Jedi Grasp — was puppeted and voiced from his Empire Strikes Again debut by means of the prequels and the sequels by a single Muppet-show-veteran performer who additionally voices Miss Piggy and Fozzie Bear. Title him.
AJim Henson BFrank Oz CSteve Whitmire DBrian Henson
✓ Appropriate! Frank Oz — longtime Jim Henson collaborator and voice/puppet work on Miss Piggy, Fozzie Bear, Animal, Sam Eagle and Grover. Ouncespuppeted Yoda straight by means of The Phantom Menace earlier than CGI took over for Assault of the Clones onward, however he’s continued to voice the character by means of the sequels and animated collection. Yoda’s syntax was developed collectively by Lucas and Ouncesto really feel outdated, overseas and hard-won.
✗ Incorrect. The reply is Frank Oz. Jim Henson was Ouncess mentor and collaborator (he created the Muppets) however didn’t voice Yoda. Steve Whitmire took over Kermit after Henson’s 1990 dying. Brian Henson is Jim’s son and runs the Henson firm immediately. Yoda is Frank Ouncess.
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05
In a deal that reshaped Hollywood, Disney acquired Lucasfilm Ltd. for $4.05 billion in money and inventory — bringing Star Wars, Indiana Jones, ILM and Skywalker Sound beneath the Disney umbrella. The deal additionally kicked off the sequel trilogy manufacturing. In what yr did Disney shut the acquisition?
A2009 B2010 C2012 D2014
✓ Appropriate! 2012 — particularly October 30. The deal was introduced with simultaneous reveal {that a} Star Wars Episode VII was being developed for a 2015 launch. Lucas had been quietly getting ready his exit from Lucasfilm for years; Kathleen Kennedy had been introduced in as co-chair months earlier particularly to take over. The Power Awakens got here out three years later, in December 2015, kicking off the trendy period.
✗ Incorrect. The reply is 2012. 2009 is when Disney acquired Marvel ($4 billion). 2010 is the yr earlier than Lucas started signalling exit plans. 2014 is when manufacturing correct started on The Power Awakens. Lucasfilm joined Disney on October 30, 2012.
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06
The Mandalorian launched as Disney+’s flagship authentic on November 12, 2019 — the day the streaming service itself launched. Created by Jon Favreau and run by Dave Filoni, the present centres on a helmeted bounty hunter who reluctantly turns into a foster father to “The Baby” (Grogu). What’s the Mandalorian’s actual identify?
✓ Appropriate! Din Djarin — performed by Pedro Pascal beneath the helmet (with physique double Brendan Wayne dealing with a lot of the bodily work). The Mandalorian is broadly credited with reviving Star Wars on TV, popularising the StageCraft LED-volume digital manufacturing know-how now used throughout Hollywood, and turning child Yoda — Grogu — into the meme-economy phenomenon of late 2019. Three seasons have aired with a function movie, The Mandalorian & Grogu, set for Could 2026.
✗ Incorrect. The reply is Din Djarin. Boba Fett is the well-known bounty hunter from the unique trilogy, together with his personal Disney+ spinoff (The Guide of Boba Fett, 2021). Cobb Vanth is the Tatooine marshal performed by Timothy Olyphant. Bo-Katan Kryze is the Mandalorian princess performed by Katee Sackhoff. The Mandalorian himself is Din Djarin.
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07
Order 66 — the key directive that turns the Republic’s clone troopers in opposition to their Jedi commanders and successfully ends the Jedi Order — is dramatised within the climactic third act of which prequel movie?
AEpisode I: The Phantom Menace BEpisode II: Assault of the Clones CEpisode III: Revenge of the Sith DRogue One
✓ Appropriate! Episode III: Revenge of the Sith (2005). Palpatine’s “Execute Order 66” comm to the clone armies results in the methodical, planet-by-planet liquidation of the Jedi Order — one of many saga’s most operatic sequences, scored to John Williams’ “Anakin’s Betrayal” cue. The identical movie options Anakin’s fall to the Darkish Aspect, the Mustafar duel with Obi-Wan, and his rebirth as Darth Vader within the go well with. Broadly re-evaluated as the perfect of the prequels.
✗ Incorrect. The reply is Revenge of the Sith. Phantom Menace ends with Qui-Gon’s dying and the disclosing of Darth Maul. Assault of the Clones ends with the Clone Wars starting. Rogue One is ready simply earlier than A New Hope, after Order 66 has lengthy since occurred. The Order 66 sequence is the climax of Episode III.
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08
Andor (2022–25) is broadly considered essentially the most grownup, politically literate Star Wars undertaking ever made — a slow-burn prequel to Rogue One charting Cassian Andor’s radicalisation in opposition to the Empire. The collection was created and showrun by a author/director finest recognized for the unique Bourne trilogy and Michael Clayton. Title him.
ATony Gilroy BRian Johnson CJon Favreau DDave Filoni
✓ Appropriate! Tony Gilroy. He’d beforehand been introduced in for intensive Rogue One reshoots in 2016, and Lucasfilm gave him near-total artistic independence on Andor. Season 1 (12 episodes, 2022) is broadly considered Star Wars’ most interesting dramatic writing ever; Season 2 (additionally 12 episodes, in 4 three-episode jumps throughout 2025) closes the hole to Rogue One’s opening scene. Gilroy’s prior credit: Bourne Id / Supremacy / Ultimatum / Legacy, plus directing Michael Clayton (2007).
✗ Incorrect. The reply is Tony Gilroy. Rian Johnson directed The Final Jedi (2017). Jon Favreau created The Mandalorian and is Lucasfilm’s Disney+-era animation/live-action lieutenant. Dave Filoni runs the Filoniverse (Clone Wars, Rebels, Ahsoka, the upcoming Inheritor to the Empire movie). Andor is Tony Gilroy’s.
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The Power Has Spoken · Remaining Tally Your Galactic Standing
🗡️
/ 8
Jedi Grasp — or moisture farmer on Tatooine?
⤴ ANOTHER GO
Luke Skywalker’s Power-assisted shot destroyed the Loss of life Star in A New Hope. His confrontation with Vader and Palpatine set the Empire’s destruction in movement in Return of the Jedi. None of that might have been potential with out the sacrifices and heroics of atypical, on a regular basis individuals combating for a morsel of independence and humanity beneath the Empire’s fascist reign, nevertheless. Andor is gritty, grounded, layered, and emotionally transferring storytelling at its finest — season 1’s three-episode Narkina 5 arc is devastatingly haunting — wrapped up in an undeniably recognizable Star Wars bundle.
Andor Is Extra Than Simply A Nice Star Wars Present
Diego Luna as Cassian AndorMovieStillsDB
Andor is a superb Star Wars present. It is arguably the perfect Star Wars present, one that’s unlikely to be topped within the subsequent few years, if ever. Maybe extra importantly, as George R.R. Martin so rightfully mentioned, it is an unbelievable science-fiction present typically, even for these unfamiliar with the Star Wars model. There’s an actual artistry to Andor, from its considerate, empowered writing to its manufacturing design and cinematography. Andor is status TV at its most interesting. It absolutely deserved its whopping 22 Primetime Emmy nominations and 5 official wins, together with Excellent Writing for a Drama Sequence in 2025.
Andor respects Star Wars’ legacy and worldbuilding whereas acknowledging that, in a galaxy as huge because the one far, far, away, there’s room for a lot extra experimentation and narrative threat. Why restrict your self to 1 demographic, one style, one planet, one household, one battle? Star Wars may be something. Andor pushed that concept a lot additional than The Mandalorian or Star Wars: Skeleton Crew ever did.
This strategy makes Andor extra accessible than the common Star Wars story, too. At its core, Andor is a narrative of the battle in opposition to tyranny. Viewers are (re)launched to new Star Wars characters and pivotal gamers alike. Crucially, although, they’re all on an equal enjoying subject, making an attempt to navigate what it means to steer and take part in a fledgling Insurrection in opposition to one of many darkest and strongest organizations the galaxy has ever seen.
As Star Wars’ consideration turns again to its theatrical roots with The Mandalorian and Grogu and Star Wars: Starfighter, it appears unlikely Lucasfilm will produce a present as daring and revolutionary as Andor once more anytime quickly. Fortunately, although, Tony Gilroy and Diego Luna’s Star Wars prequel is timeless; its story is as related now as it will likely be for generations to come back.
All episodes of Andor are streaming now on Disney+.
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