As the year 2022 draws to a close, the Star Wars social media accounts have been posting a series of clips highlighting some of the best moments from Andor, the most recent live-action series. They posted four different clips, each of them a monologue from a key character in the series, and each of the four are fantastic.
First up is the monologue from Kino Loy (Andy Serkis) in episode 10, “One Way Out.” It takes place as Kino and Cassian lead a prison break in the Imperial prison on Narkina 5, rallying other prisoners to climb to safety. Encouraged by Cassian, Kino delivers a fiery speech over the prison’s intercom system, building in intensity as he culminates in shouting repeatedly, “one way out!” Take a look:
Next is another monologue from episode 10, this time from Luthen Rael (Stellan Skarsgard), who is asked by the spy Lonni Jung what he’s had to sacrifice for this rebellion. Luthen’s response is a chilling look into the character, one we saw play out over the season as he fought for the rebellion at any cost, sacrificing his very soul in the process. In short, he tells Lonni, he’s given “everything.” Take a look:
Then there’s the monologue from Maarva Andor (Fiona Shaw) in episode 12, “Rix Road,” in which Maarva gives her own funeral eulogy. As the people of Ferrix gather for the customary funeral procession, B2EMO plays a previously recorded video from Maarva which serves to rally the people to fight. They have slept for too long, thinking things would get better, but she says that she has come to one conclusion: they must fight the Empire.
Finally, there’s another monologue from the final episode, this one from Karis Nemik (Alex Lawther), who appeared earlier in the season in the arc centering on the Aldhani heist. Nemik was devoted to the cause and even wrote his own manifesto, and even though he died in the escape, his manifesto was given to Cassian. So, in the final episode, we hear a voiceover of Nemik reading from it. Re-watch it below:
These four monologues are all fantastic, and it’s fitting that Star Wars is celebrating them as among the best moments from the franchise this year, because they absolutely are. It’s remarkable that all four of them came within a three-episode span of the same series, and it’s a pretty significant development for the Star Wars franchise as well. It shouldn’t be overlooked that, in posting these ‘best-of’ clips, it’s all heavily dialogue-driven and not an exciting action moment. Star Wars had plenty of those this year, but that’s been the case for the entire history of Star Wars. What hasn’t been the case is Star Wars having truly tremendous scenes driven by monologue. Andor breaks the mold, and does it in astonishingly good ways.
It’s a testament to the performances of these actors and the script they were given, and it’s awesome to see it being celebrated like this. It’s most definitely deserving.
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