Yes, All ‘Star Warsʼ Should Be Like ‘Andorʼ
- Alex Batts
- 5 hours ago
- 9 min read
Andor's second season ended a little under two months ago. With the release of its second and final season, there came a flood of Star Wars discussion online. This is par for the course with a Star Wars project. If Star Wars has something releasing, there is bound to be discourse heaped upon discourse surrounding it. In the case of Andor, most of that discourse was strikingly positive. It's been praised by fans and heralded by critics. It is the first television series ever to have five consecutive episodes with user ratings of 9.5 of higher. The episodes in question, "Who Are You?", "Welcome to the Rebellion", "Make It Stop", "Who Else Knows?", and "Jedha, Kyber, Erso" are not just a high watermark for Star Wars, but for television as a medium.
For my money, Andor is up there with my favorite Star Wars media ever. I think it's easily in the conversation for the top three pieces of Star Wars media, and it's not second or third. It's a perfect evolution of the franchise. It capitalizes on the feeling that Star Wars can bring the audience without relying on trying to artificially replicate it by pointing at familiar signposts. Frankly, it's a miracle that it exists. As the discussion around Andor reached a fever pitch going into and following its finale, one particular topic continued to catch my attention. Opposing sides formed on the idea of whether or not "All Star Wars should be like Andor", with some singing its praises and arguing future Star Wars projects should follow in its footsteps, while others vehemently argue that making every Star Wars entry as serious and grounded as Andor is a misstep and that the beauty of Star Wars is its variety.
I think both sides are correct, in a sense. Variety is one of the great treasures of Star Wars as a franchise. However, Andor has set a bar that the series would be foolish not to aim for.
What Does it Mean to be "like" Andor?
Spoiler alert: I fall squarely on the "All Star Wars Should Be Like Andor" side of this debate. I know, shocking, given the title of this article. I think there are some misunderstandings afoot when it comes to this debate online. Many critics of the argument that Star Wars projects should be more like Andor assume that the proponents of this stance mean that all Star Wars should have the same tone and scope as Andor, and that doing so would flatten the franchise into retelling the same types of stories over and over again. This is ironic, given the majority of the series' output over the last few years, but we'll get to that.
In reality, the argument that Star Wars, broadly, should be more like Andor is a qualitative stance. It's not arguing that everything in the Galaxy Far, Far Away should look and feel the exact same as Andor. Star Wars doesn't need to forego the Force (though Andor does feature it in its own right), Jedi and Sith, and all the zany trappings that come with this galaxy in favor of focusing on more "grounded" elements. Star Wars should be like Andor in the sense that it should be, well, good.
Andor is an incredibly well-made show. The costumes, production design, sound design, visual effects, cinematography, and writing are all top-notch. This, paired with consistent standout performances from a stellar cast, an engaging overall story, and impeccable understanding of pace, makes it a wonder to watch. It's structured, consistent, and more than anything, it's thoughtful. Every creative choice made in Andor has been carefully considered and crafted to serve the story it's trying to tell.
Characters in season one find themselves visually trapped within the architecture of their surroundings, mirroring the feeling of being trapped by the confines of the Empire. In season two, a character's descent into melancholy surrounded by blaring club music is juxtaposed in editing with the heavy loss of a key character. These feelings create contrast and unease. These decisions are made on various levels of the production, through cinematography and editing, to enhance the story the audience is experiencing. Those are just a couple of examples in a series that is littered with them. The show simply excels at being a well-rounded production.
Nostalgia and Simulacra
I have qualms with the way the majority of Star Wars on Disney+ has been handled. The series we've gotten tend to lean more into fan service and "Remember this other thing you love?" than not. Ahsoka might as well have been Rebels season five. Obi-Wan Kenobi brought back Ewan McGregor and Hayden Christensen for no real reason other than the mere thought of "Wouldn't it be cool to see them fight again?". And, sure, it could've been cool, had I actually been able to see the fight(s) and had they made any narrative sense whatsoever.
The Mandalorian, a show that was originally praised for its distance (despite its timeframe) from mainline Star Wars, became one of the most egregious examples of pulling in familiar characters from other corners of the galaxy. Bo Katan from the animated The Clone Wars series? Check. CGI Luke Skywalker serving as a Deus ex machina in the finale? Check. Ahsoka Tano making her live-action debut? Check. This all happened in a show about a random bounty hunter, for some reason. Don't even get me started on The Book of Boba Fett.
Listen, I'm a gigantic fan of Star Wars. I geek out over trivial things, random callbacks, and seeing characters I love show up. However, that is not the reason I'm watching and engaging with Star Wars. When a series becomes nothing but a vehicle for empty nostalgia, lacking any real meaning or thoughtful narrative, it's a lost cause. When creators treat characters like action figures from a toy box, meant to be mashed together for the sake of "cool" as opposed to three-dimensional representations of experience, there's something truly awry.
"The simulacrum is never that which conceals the truth - it is the truth which conceals that there is none. The simulacrum is true." - Jean Baudrillard, Simulacra and Simulation (1981).
Simulacra and Simulation is a philosophical treatise that dives into a discussion of symbols, signs, and how they relate to contemporaneity. Baudrillard posits that society has effectively replaced all reality and meaning with signs and symbols, and that these signs and symbols (simulacra) begin to lose all sense of actual reality as they become copies of copies, imitations of imitations, and reflections of a reality that doesn't truly exist. The simulacra become reality, rather than imitating it.
"Alex, what in the hell does this have to do with Star Wars?", I hear you shouting at your screen.
I'm getting there, I promise. Simulacra and Simulation gets fairly heady and rather pessimistic, but I think it's a fascinating examination of how we tend to treat symbols in society. I think it's more relevant now than it ever has been. Think of the way we interact with memes. Have you ever tried to explain a current meme to someone who has no Earthly idea what you're talking about? You can, technically, but you'll still be missing something. There's an indescribable quality to the way we interact with memes, how they evolve in their use, and take on a reality of their own.
So, to wrap it back to Star Wars, I think the franchise is guilty of waving these familiar signs and symbols in front of the audience and banking on that recognition being enough, despite the hollowness behind it. The entire Ahsoka series is a gigantic simulacra, with more woven throughout. Ahsoka Tano has become a fan-favorite Star Wars character in the nearly twenty years since her first appearance. For what it's worth, she's my favorite Star Wars character. She was portrayed in The Clone Wars and Rebels animated series by voice actress Ashley Eckstein and brought to life visually by dozens of incredibly talented artists over the years.
The version of Ahsoka that fans grew to love existed in animation... until she didn't. Ahsoka made her live-action debut in The Mandalorian, portrayed by Rosario Dawson. I think Rosario does a great job with the character, but it's the first instance of a copy we see. At best, Rosario will be reminding the audience of the version of the character they already know. At best, she'll be "pretty close" to how we would imagine animated Ahsoka would act in a given situation. It's a losing game. Don't worry, it gets worse.
Fast forward a few years, and Ahsoka gets her own show, surrounded by more simulacra. I noted above that Ahsoka could've been season five of Rebels, this isn't a joke, it's something made explicit both within the text and according to the showrunners. The audience is greeted with characters that are making the jump from animation to live-action, and they all carry the same simulacra baggage as Ahsoka herself. Don't worry, it gets even worse.
One of the most often praised elements of The Clone Wars is the depth it gives to Anakin, specifically through his relationship with his padawan, Ahsoka. Their interactions and growth are a consistent high point in the series. The thing is, those versions of the characters, the ones that have that emotional attachment the audience is invested in, are voiced by Ashley Eckstein and Matt Lanter (Anakin in The Clone Wars). All the emotional highs and lows the characters experience are made real by those specific people. So, when Anakin (played by Hayden Christensen) shows up in Ahsoka and interacts with both Rosario and Ariana Greenblatt (who plays a young Ahsoka in live-action), it's jarring.
There are copies stacked on copies interacting here. Hayden is playing a version of Anakin from an animated series, who was in turn playing a version of Anakin originally portrayed by Hayden. Hayden is interacting with a version of Ahsoka who made the jump from animation to live-action and is being portrayed by two different actresses. All the actors involved are referencing and hinting at emotional moments that none of the parties present were involved with. It's a jumble of simulacra for the sake of "Wasn't this cool to see?" and nothing more. It's a handwave of nostalgia wrapped in a different coat of paint, slapped on the wrong car.
Production Values
Let's bring things back to Andor. It's been reported that Andor is the most expensive Star Wars show of all time, costing $645M for two seasons. While it's likely true that it is indeed the most expensive Star Wars show ever, it has a couple of things going for it. The first is context. It might have cost the most, but it was also 24 individual hour-long episodes. It was essentially the length of 12 two-hour movies, which works out to be $54M for each movie. If you want to get even more granular, it's even been broken down to the minute to show that Andor is the cheapest Star Wars project. The second thing going for it is the fact that it actually looks like Disney spent that much money on it.
As I discussed at the start of this article, the show is simply astonishing in every conceivable production department. This is something noticeably lacking in most of the other Disney+ Star Wars productions. I've taken to calling the aesthetic of most of the Star Wars shows "The most expensive fan films I've ever seen". You can tell there was a lot of money spent, but somehow, things still don't look quite right. The worlds don't feel lived in. The environments feel shallow. The costumes aren't weathered. The cinematography is bland. There are no thoughtful, creative decisions being made.
I know no one sets out to make a bad production. I know there are a lot of talented people working on these projects, doing the best they can in every situation. That said, taking a random frame from, say, Obi-Wan Kenobi and Andor is simply night and day in terms of quality. That is what I mean when I say all Star Wars should be like Andor.
Star Wars is Meant to be Staggering
Star Wars can be magical. It can be moving, striking, and exciting. Andor captured the essence of what makes Star Wars great and magnified it. It didn't do this solely because of its subject matter; it did this because it excelled at the basics. It crafted a believable world full of rich characters. It created compelling conflict. It brought to life jaw-dropping effects and lived in worlds. Star Wars should have variety. It should showcase all the corners of the galaxy far, far away, but most importantly, it should do it with care.
So yes, all Star Wars should be like Andor.