MOVIE NEWS – Lucasfilm has unveiled the official trailer for the upcoming Star Wars series Andor, starring Diego Luna as the titular rebel.

The official trailer for Andor has arrived, promising a whole new direction for the Star Wars saga. The gritty, intense, action-packed series stars Diego Luna as the thief-turned-rebel spy Cassian Andor, who first appeared in 2016’s Rogue One: A Star Wars Story. Andor takes place five years before the events of Rogue One and follows the title character as a thief who leads a rebellion against the Galactic Empire. However, the release date has slipped slightly. The Disney+ premiere of Andor has been pushed back three weeks to 21 September.

Before you read any further, we recommend you check out the trailer at the end of this article! After watching it (several times, it’s worth it…), it’s time to ask: what can we expect from this series? How is it different from Disney’s previous Star Wars productions?

In the second trailer for Andor, we saw heroes, villains and the outbreak of a terrifying struggle for freedom against the Galactic Empire.

The series will follow Cassian Andor (Diego Luna), an early hero of the Rebellion, as he tries to destroy the Empire from within with the help of a band of brave warriors.

Andor and the sinister tone of the Rebellion

The trailer opens in a sinister mood, showing the civilians of the galaxy languishing under the Empire’s rule. A star destroyer passes overhead, literally casting a shadow over their lives, a powerful metaphor for the rebels’ enormous task in the fight against the Empire. In the distance, they show a smouldering city in ruins, a reminder of what the Empire can do when faced with resistance.

We glimpse the Senate benches from the Star Wars prequels as the universe’s politics are played out behind the battle scenes.

Mon Mothma (played by Genevieve O’Reilly) also appears in the trailer, suggesting that political combat will be part of the physical battle.

Mon Mothma, as we know from other works in the canon, is posing as a harmless idealist in the face of power who poses no real threat to anyone. She pretends to be a token populist of the downtrodden galaxy when in reality, she is a co-founder of the Rebellion and secretly working to overthrow the Empire.

Cassian Andor is a rebel spy?

The trailer revolves around the main character Cassian Andor, who we first met in 2016’s Rogue One. We get a shot of Andor wearing an Imperial officer’s uniform. Will he start as a rebel mole within the Imperial forces? Or is this just a one-off scene of him trying to sneak onto an enemy ship or base? He is primarily described as a spy for the Rebellion, so his infiltration into the Empire would make sense. Such a powerful and formidable force is worth attacking and disrupting from within, as face-to-face combat might not be to the Rebels’ advantage.

Andor is recruited by a leader named Luthen (Stellan Skarsgård) either into the Rebellion itself or into a new band of fighters.

Luthen claims that the Empire is “strangling us so slowly” that the galaxy has become apathetic and fatalistic towards its rule. There’s no escaping this dark power, so if you keep your head down and mind your own business, you’ll get away with it. They introduce the “I’m building a team” topos, flashing glimpses of various alien creatures and humans who are arming up and preparing for battle.

Among the warriors in the fray is Saw Gerrera, played by Forest Whitaker, also reprising his familiar role from Rogue One. His followers and methods were described in the 2016 film as extreme compared to the mainstream Rebellion, so perhaps his presence in the series will give us a glimpse into how he earned that reputation.

Will the Empire sense the Rebellion?

One character claims that there is a “rebellion going on” across the galaxy. With espionage at the heart of the series, we don’t yet know how much of the struggle across the galaxy we will see. Will the Empire realise the threat it faces? We get a glimpse of potential arch-enemy Dedra Meero (Denise Gough), an Imperial officer who is shown interrogating a rebel. This could mean that she is responsible for eliminating any rebel groups that may be rebelling against the Empire.

More Darth Vader?!

Obi-Wan Kenobi’s extremely meaty Darth Vader (Hayden Christensen and James Earl Jones) gave us scenes that showed the Sith lord in the fullness of his powers. The series gave us just enough of Vader to want more: either a series dedicated to him (are you paying attention, Disney?) or for him to appear in another. Maybe we won’t have to wait too much longer for that distinctive raspy, robotic breathing and raging red lightsaber.

This time frame is from Vader’s early days as the Emperor’s right-hand man and, let’s face it, errand boy.

One of these tasks could be to control any significant operation of the Empire, such as gathering intelligence on a possible rebellion. We can all agree that the more Vader we get, the better any Star Wars story will be.

Andor will be unlike any Star Wars TV series to date

Andor will try to bring a fresh colour to the Star Wars palette, focusing on engaging, primarily new characters and using the grim storytelling style of Rogue One. However, as the trailer suggests, there will be plenty of adventure and space battles, as well as espionage and deception.

The series is being produced by Tony Gilroy, a Hollywood veteran known for writing some of the best thrillers of the last century, including the Bourne trilogy, Michael Clayton and The State of Play.

Gilroy seems the perfect choice to unravel the backstory of the title character. The Andor series has already been renewed with a 12-episode second season, in which most of the cast and crew will return. Diego Luna has also promised a very different tone for the series and an incredible transformation for his character, who is not yet the man who will be able to sacrifice himself in Rogue One.

We’re certainly looking forward to the series, the first three episodes of which will be available on Disney+ on 21 September. Check out the stunning new poster below (open in a new tab for full size).

Source: CNN, The Gamer, Total Film