The following post is going to get into spoilers for the Andor season finale, and the season in general. If you are not caught up, now’s the time to bail.
The first season of the Disney+ series Andor traced the birth of the Rebellion, and the spark of resistance found in the eventual freedom fighter, Cassian Andor (Diego Luna). If you have been using your Disney+ subscription to keep pace with Andor, you likely recognize that it is the best story Lucasfilm has released since Disney acquired the Star Wars brand and began making new features in a galaxy far, far away. Andor eventually will connect to the feature film Rogue One: A Star Wars Story, which was heavily involved with a pack of Rebels racing to acquire the plans for the Empire’s devastating weapon, the Death Star. So naturally, we get a glimpse of that beast in the end-credits scene for Andor Season 1.
This makes sense. Anyone trying to watch Star Wars in order knows that Andor is a prequel to Rogue One, which itself was a prequel to Star Wars: Episode IV - A New Hope. Thinking how long it would take to build the Death Star, the weapon would be in construction for years before Luke Skywalker managed to hit the blast of all blasts that delivered a death blow to the Death Star. But in the process of showing us the weapon’s construction in the end-credits scene of Andor, the show confirmed a heartbreaking and tragic Star Wars theory, which we will dig into after this image.
When Andy Serkis sat down with CinemaBlend to break down his three-episode arc in the Narkina 5 prison facility, we made note that the parts the convicts were diligently constructing were going to be important. And he noted that Star Wars fans might even be able to recognize some of the technology, noting:
I think, for the discerning eye, I think there’s a strong possibility that (the parts) could be used for some nefarious activity.
You would have to be a keen Star Wars fan to pick up on the fact that the six-pronged mechanical joints were tiny couplers in the larger scene of the Death Star. But as the Andor end-credit scene pulls back farther and farther, you realize that the captured rebels being held in Narkina 5 were, in fact, building parts that would be used for The Death Star, confirming a rumor that Star Wars fans had been trading since the moment the prison arc began.
It hurts knowing that the Empire was using prison laborers to construct a weapon that ultimately would be turned against them. Had Cassian understood the full scope of the work being done in Narkina 5, he might have stoked the flames of rebellion even faster. Still, he managed to get back home and spark the resistance in the season finale of Andor, and now we will have to wait to see how the story continues in Season 2, which already is being filmed.
Even if you haven’t watched a Star Wars show in some time, Andor is worth checking out. The new characters and the full fleshed-out environments amount to some of the best Star Wars storytelling we’ve ever seen, and our anticipation for Season 2 is at an all time high. So make it happen, Lucasfilm, and make it happen quickly, please.
