--- description: There are many reasons why the excellent Disney+ series has lacked buzz. And the lessons Disney takes from it may affect the future of the Star Wars franchise. title: 'Andor' Is the Best Star Wars Show. Why Is No One Talking About It? image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt0a52a788c6fca689/698a35c0cabb1d35b6e50ae4/PGM-FF-000886.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  * [Entertainment](/section/entertainment/) ## Entertainment Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close * [Television](/tag/television/) ## Television Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close # _Andor_ Is the Best _Star Wars_ Show Yet. Why Does It Feel Like No One's Watching?  by [Eliana Dockterman](/author/eliana-dockterman/)  ## Eliana Dockterman Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Correspondent Nov 23, 2022 1:00 PM CUT  Cassian Andor (Diego Luna) in Lucasfilm's new Disney+ series 'Andor' Cassian Andor (Diego Luna) in Lucasfilm's new Disney+ series 'Andor'Lucasfilm Ltd.  by [Eliana Dockterman](/author/eliana-dockterman/)  ## Eliana Dockterman Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Correspondent Nov 23, 2022 1:00 PM CUT **_Warning: This post contains minor spoilers for_** **Andor** Like every other media company on earth, one of Disney’s motivations for churning out _Star Wars_ content is to increase Disney+ streaming subscriptions (and to [sell that Baby Yoda merch)](https://time.com/businessperson-of-the-year-2019-bob-iger/ "undefined"). _Andor_, Disney’s latest _Star Wars_ spinoff, is doing none of that. Analytics groups, which often struggle to capture the full picture of who is watching what in the fractured streaming era, calculate that _Andor_ is [_Star Wars’_ least-watched live-action series to date](https://puck.news/disneys-star-wars-streaming-puzzle/ "undefined"). The show is ostensibly a prequel to the 2016 film _Rogue One_, itself a prequel to the original _Star_ _Wars_ trilogy. And yes, its story centers on grim, murderous spies who can’t use the Force, and the series contains no adorable critters to slap on lunchboxes. The show staunchly refuses to feed [Twitter and Reddit with _Star Wars_ Easter eggs](https://time.com/6216136/andor-easter-eggs/ "undefined"). But those aspects are what make _Andor_ great, if not particularly marketable. What I approached skeptically as yet another _Star Wars_ spinoff has turned out to be a thrilling—and chillingly relevant—indictment of fascism. It boasts some of the best writing I can recall in franchise fare. I understand why certain _Star Wars_ fans haven’t tuned in. We’ve been burned before. Fans of fantasy and sci-fi have endured endless spinoffs, sequels, and prequels. Most felt like pale imitations of their source material. That’s been particularly true of the latest _Star Wars_ TV shows. Though the first season of _The Mandalorian_ charmed adults and kids alike, [_The Book of Boba Fett,_](https://time.com/6130332/book-of-boba-fett-what-to-know/ "undefined") [_Obi-Wan Kenobi_](https://time.com/6174970/obi-wan-kenobi-fits-star-wars-timeline/ "undefined"), and even the second season of [_The Mandalorian_](https://time.com/5922946/mandalorian-season-2-finale-rogue-one/ "undefined") have never managed to reach the high of that first moment we saw Baby Yoda’s adorable little hand reach out of his futuristic bassinet. By the time _Andor_ debuted, I suspect it found a jaded audience either too exhausted by spinoffs or too busy finishing seasons of [_House of the Dragon_](https://time.com/6224266/house-of-the-dragon-season-2-questions/ "undefined") or [_Rings of Power_](https://time.com/6205837/the-rings-of-power-amazon-most-expensive/ "undefined"). The truth is, we’ll probably never know exactly how well _Andor_ performed compared to those shows. Streaming services share little data, and what they do release is often recorded in minutes watched, as opposed to audience size, a maddening trend that makes comparing viewership across shows nearly impossible. Still, Parrot Analytics found that demand for old seasons of _The Mandalorian_ was equal to that of _Andor_ from Oct. 29 to Nov. 4, and demand for the animated series _Tales of the Jedi_ exceeded both of those shows. That’s far from ideal. And the audience that _Andor_ is really catering to—people who love a taut thriller—are understandably suspicious of cinematic universe content with a patchy track record. That’s too bad, because _Andor_ is the best _Star Wars_ show to date—by a long shot. People ought to be watching. In a bid to boost its viewership, Disney is presenting the first two episodes of _Andor_ across several of its channels and platforms, including ABC, Freeform, FX, and Hulu over Thanksgiving weekend, [an unprecedented move for a Disney show](https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/tv/tv-news/andor-disney-star-wars-abc-hulu-fx-release-1235261390/ "undefined"). But our current TV landscape has proven hostile to a series that abhors fan service and targets solely an adult audience, even if it cloaks itself in the trappings of franchise fare. ## _Andor_ is an even better thriller than _Rogue One_  (L-R): Luthen Rael (Stellan Skarsgard) and Bix Caleen (Adria Arjona) Lucasfilm Ltd. _Andor_ centers on Cassian Andor (Diego Luna), the spy who helped steal the Death Star plans in _Rogue One_ that Luke would use to destroy the Empire’s greatest weapon in _A New Hope_. It would be fair to assume that the series would be chock-full of cameos and tie-ins to those films. Blessedly, it’s not. Like _Rogue One_, _Andor_ is focused on the sacrifice rebellion requires. All the main characters in _Rogue One_ die during the mission to secure that Death Star intelligence—hence why you never see them or hear about them in the original _Star Wars_ trilogy. The twist in that film worked so well exactly because nobody expected a _Star Wars_ movie to be quite that brutal. By the end of that movie, Cassian Andor is prepared to die for the cause. _Andor_ turns back the clock to a time before Cassian was a rebel spy. When he’s first recruited to rebellion, he approaches any efforts to overthrow the Empire with skepticism. He’s more mercenary than radical. But as he executes missions, meets true believers, and finds himself on the wrong side of the Empire’s wrath, his mind begins to change. We watch in real-time how suffering transforms a person’s personal philosophy. Divided into three-episode arcs, _Andor’_s 12-episode first season unfolds at a satisfying pace. The length of _Andor_ allows creator Tony Gilroy (who also wrote _Rogue One_) to fully settle on each new planet the show visits and establish new characters, conflicts, and even a geography. By contrast, the serialized _Mandalorian_ series, with a new adventure each episode, reads as frenetic. With _Andor_, Gilroy has put forth essentially four interconnected movies, all with their own players, arcs, and tragic moments. Gilroy consistently subverts our expectations. His use of language is precise, and we’ll often hear the same turn of phrase uttered by both Empire stooges and the rebels, blurring the lines between good and evil. We’ve been taught by years of television to cheer on hardworking female characters who experience sexism in the office. One such character in this show earns our empathy in the first few episodes, but when she overcomes institutional barriers, we realize we never should have rooted for her in the first place: She’s a monster, and what’s scarier than an ambitious and efficient worker laboring on the side of evil? Gilroy has long been interested in the inhumanity of spy-craft and the moral gray areas of bureaucracy: Along with the _Star Wars_ movie _Rogue One_, he penned several of the _Bourne Identity_ films and the Oscar-winning thriller _Michael Clayton_. He has found a like-minded collaborator in Beau Willimon, the showrunner of _House of Cards_, who wrote an excellent and deeply unsettling three-episode arc for _Andor_ set in a labor camp: The plot has particular resonance at a moment when [anti-Semitism](https://time.com/6224899/adidas-kanye-west-antisemitism-nazis/ "undefined") and [Holocaust denial](https://time.com/6229231/nike-suspends-kyrie-irving/ "undefined") is rampant. Without characters who wield the Force—or even that many aliens—in the show, the audience is forced to reckon with what normal people like them would do if confronted with fascism. ## How _Andor_ avoids typical prequel problems  Andy Serkis in Andor Lucasfilm As various franchises try to extend their lifespan with prequels, projects like _Fantastic Beasts,_ _House of the Dragon_, and _Rings of Power_ have all run into the same issues. Every beat can feel like a moment of fan service ([look! the Mirror of Erised!](https://time.com/5407258/fantastic-beasts-2-dumbledore-mirror-of-erised/ "undefined")); every twist a lame red herring ([that dragon rider killed that other dragon rider in a slightly different way than you’d previously been told](https://time.com/6224185/house-of-the-dragon-finale-dragon-fight-books/ "undefined")); every unnamed character inevitably a major player in the drama we’ve already seen ([yep, that one guy was Sauron all along](https://time.com/6222116/sauron-halbrand-the-rings-of-power/ "undefined")). Building tension is difficult when the eventual fates of well-known heroes and villains loom large over the story. These projects succeed if they can make their audience invest in the unknown characters as much as the known ones, and if they can break free of the confines of “the canon.” _Andor_ rejects the very idea that its story needs to tie into the _Star Wars_ universe beyond existing within it. While we know Cassian Andor must survive—until the events of _Rogue One_, anyway—Gilroy takes the time to write several new, compelling characters whose ends we do not know. Plenty of them die, which only underscores the crucial message of both _Andor_ and _Rogue One_: Scores of forgotten heroes died to save the galaxy. They never got a medal ceremony. Indeed, after watching _Andor_, it seems rather cruel that Han, Luke, and Leia are celebrated for simply surviving when so many until-now anonymous rebels suffered and sacrificed far more than those three ever did. ## Few easter eggs makes for a better show—and less chatter  Mon Mothma (Genevieve O'Reilly) in 'Andor' Des Willie—Lucasfilm Ltd. _Andor_, to its credit, staunchly refuses to feed the internet the sort of Easter eggs and inter-franchise connections that fuel listicles and theory videos. Search YouTube for videos of fans watching the series, and usually loquacious _Star Wars_ nerds simply sit there silent and slack-jawed as they watch the show. There are no [precocious kid versions of future heroes](https://ew.com/tv/obi-wan-kenobi-premiere-leia-vivien-lyra-blair/ "undefined") or shots of boots that could belong to a certain famous bounty hunter. The planets and characters are for the most part new and unrecognizable. That’s a major break from other _Star Wars_ series: Even _The Mandalorian_, which maintained its distance from the main franchise in its first season, couldn’t resist reanimating Luke Skywalker for the Season 2 finale. But social media thrives on fan service. Marvel’s _WandaVision_ was a fascinating experimentation in form, but the plot point that set Twitter aflame was [a major cameo that hinted the X-Men may be headed to the MCU](https://time.com/5942709/mcu-after-wandavision/ "undefined"). _House of the Dragon_ jammed [allusions to the “song of ice and fire”](https://time.com/6207683/house-of-the-dragon-song-of-ice-and-fire-prophecy/ "undefined") prophecy into its episodes as a feeble tie-in to the _Game of Thrones_ plot hundreds of years in the future—and, inevitably, writers like myself churned out stories on what it could all mean. Even though _Andor_ includes characters like Mon Mothma, who has been kicking around the _Star Wars_ universe for decades, the show is more interested in fleshing out her story and motivations than in finding ways to get her in the same room as Bail Organa or Princess Leia. ## Franchise fatigue is real  Ewan McGregor in Obi-Wan Kenobi Lucasfilm In retrospect, the premiere date for _Andor_ was probably ill-advised. The spy thriller debuted on Disney+ just a few short weeks after the lackluster _Obi-Wan Kenobi_ show aired its finale. _Obi-Wan_ had been the most anticipated _Star Wars_ series to date. Ewan McGregor was slated to return as the beloved character for over a decade before the show finally made its way to the screen. Millennials who grew up with the much-maligned prequels hoped that the show would somehow redeem the Obi-Wan-Anakin story. It didn’t. [Critics](https://www.polygon.com/reviews/23180150/obi-wan-kenobi-review "undefined") [and](https://ew.com/tv/tv-reviews/obi-wan-kenobi-review-disney/ "undefined") [fans](https://thedirect.com/article/obi-wan-kenobi-review-bombed-rotten-tomatoes "undefined") walked away ever more convinced that these prequel shows simply could not work: The audience knows that Obi-Wan cannot defeat Darth Vader—one of the most iconic villains in the history of movies—in _Obi-Wan._ As a result, the show has no tension. What’s worse, Obi-Wan is now complicit in the mass murder of the entire planet of Alderaan by virtue of letting his old ward walk away when he had the opportunity to bring Vader’s reign to an early end. Not a great look for Old Ben Kenobi. _Andor_ was tarnished by association. _Andor’_s late September release date also fell in the midst of a slew of other major sci-fi and fantasy releases. Audiences were already inundated with episodes of _House of the Dragon_ and _Rings of Power,_ and TV journalists like myself were too busy breaking down the [Targaryen family tree](https://time.com/6208973/targaryen-family-tree-house-of-the-dragon/ "undefined") to tune into _Andor_ in a timely fashion. By the time those shows wrapped, audience appetite for yet another franchise series had dwindled. ## Disney+ is still figuring out how to market shows to adults  Forest Whitaker in Andor Lucasfilm _Andor_ announced its intentions early: Cassian kills a cop just minutes into the very first episode. But I don’t think Disney knows what to do with a show that argues you must sacrifice all that is good and innocent to violently throw off the shackles of oppression. After you finish an episode of _Andor_ set in a labor camp, Disney+ will encourage you to watch Baby Yoda toddle around with a cup of tea next. The dissonance is jarring. Disney has found success when the various entries in its franchise remain tonally similar. Perhaps with the exception of the somewhat scary _Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness_, all of Marvel’s movies stick to a quip-punch formula, even when things get dark in _Avengers: Endgame_ or _Thor: Love and Thunder_. They all fall under the general banner of “family friendly fare.” (HBO, by contrast, has moved in the opposite direction and turbocharged the blood, sex, and violence in its [adults-only _Game of Thrones_](https://time.com/3907881/game-of-thrones-violence-against-women/ "undefined") franchise.) Tonal consistency makes franchises easier to market: You can identify as a “Marvel fan” or “_Game of Thrones_ fan,” and whenever you turn on a new show, you generally know what you’re getting. The downside is when you try to appeal to the widest possible audience, the edges get sanded down, and the product becomes less artistically sound. Making an adult _Star Wars_ TV show means losing the kids who delighted in Baby Yoda when they watched _The Mandalorian_, and probably many of their parents as well. Somewhat hampered by its family-friendly reputation, Disney+ has not figured out how to cater to multiple audiences on its platform. A lot of Disney’s more mature content winds up on Hulu, but Marvel- and Star Wars-branded shows have remained on Disney+, regardless of their intended audience. The show would have been more suited to FX or even HBO, if not for its galactic setting. ## The future of _Star Wars_ after _Andor_  The Child in The Mandalorian LucasFilm Disney+ announced before the show even debuted that _Andor_ would get two seasons, so its future was never in doubt. Elsewhere in the _Star Wars_ universe, _The Mandalorian_ will get a third season, and shows like _Ahsoka_ and _The Acolyte_ are on their way, along with a Lando Calrissian spinoff that’s been in the works for years. It’s doubtful that any of these shows will inspire _Mandalorian_ levels of excitement given how saturated streaming services have become. On the big screen, LucasFilm looks to be treading water. Every year the studio announces new projects with major talent_—_[_Wonder_](https://www.avclub.com/patty-jenkins-rogue-squadron-star-wars-pulled-1849542756 "undefined")[ _Woman_‘s Patty Jenkins](https://www.avclub.com/patty-jenkins-rogue-squadron-star-wars-pulled-1849542756 "undefined"), [_Thor: Ragnarok’_s Taika Waititi](https://www.indiewire.com/2022/10/star-wars-taika-waititi-krysty-wilson-cairns-update-1234774535/ "undefined"), [_Game of Thrones’_ David Benioff and D.B. Weiss](https://www.nytimes.com/2019/10/29/business/media/weiss-david-benioff-star-wars.html "undefined"), [_Knives Out’_s Rian Johnson](https://www.denofgeek.com/movies/star-wars-rian-johnson-trilogy-holding-back/ "undefined"), [Marvel Studios’ Kevin Feige](https://www.denofgeek.com/movies/star-wars-kevin-feige-movie-confirms-first-plot-details/ "undefined"). We haven’t gotten an update on any one of their projects in months or, in some cases, years. A new _Star Wars_ movie could debut on the silver screen in late 2025 at the absolute earliest, a full six years after J.J. Abrams’ _The Rise of Skywalker_ premiered. What remains unclear—beyond whether any of these projects will ever get made—is whether LucasFilm will offer these writers and directors free rein to make bold choices as Gilroy did in _Andor_ or whether the studio will be spooked by _Andor’_s lack of buzz and pressure these artists to create more movies in the J.J. Abrams mold. I would love to see what a writer like Damon Lindelof, rumored to be [working on a _Star Wars_ project](https://variety.com/2022/film/news/star-wars-damon-lindelof-sharmeen-obaid-chinoy-1235412206/ "undefined"), would do with the universe. The brain behind excellent, thought-provoking series like _The Leftovers_ and _Watchmen_ ought to find some new angle into the story. But the future of _Star Wars_ as an artistic endeavor may depend on what lessons Disney takes away from _Andor’_s run. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/6234534/andor-best-star-wars-show/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/6234534/andor-best-star-wars-show/"},"headline":"Andor Is the Best Star Wars Show Yet. Why Does It Feel Like No One's Watching?","datePublished":"2022-11-23T13:00:36.000Z","dateModified":"2026-05-11T04:53:44.013Z","description":"There are many reasons why the excellent Disney+ series has lacked buzz. 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