Disney today gave us our first look at the most highly-anticipated Star Wars project in 2025, dropping some brief footage from Andor season two as part of a highlight reel of projects coming to Disney+ next year.
The studio has screened exclusive looks at Andor at both D23 this summer and D23 Brazil this month, but neither of them were released to the public. Now, finally, we have our first official glimpses at it, though it is still five months away. The first season of Andor was an overwhelming hit, being met with praise from both fans and critics alike. The second season, which premieres on April 22, 2025, will be the final season and take the storyline directly up to the events of Rogue One.
Given that this is our first official look, let’s break down the (brief) footage that was included, and speculate on what it all might mean.
There are several shots from this planet. We see a group of stormtroopers arriving to a crowded area, and we see a massive fight breaking out. Explosions happen, stormtroopers fire on people inside of the barrier, and Cassian is involved in the fighting somehow as he fires at someone off-screen while people flee. And, while we don’t know if it’s from this scene or not, we hear a woman crying out, “Is there no one who can help us?” when we first cut from to the footage.
I have a guess on what this might be: the Ghorman Massacre. I’m quite confident we will see it in this second season, given the fact that the Empire’s atrocities on Ghorman were directly mentioned in season one, combined with the fact that it is so pivotal to Mon Mothma’s story. In summary, the Ghorman Massacre was an event that happened two years prior to the Battle of Yavin, and it was Mothma’s breaking point. Following the Empire’s horrible actions there, Mothma publicly denounced Emperor Palpatine, resigned from the Imperial Senate, went on the run, and formally convened the Rebel Alliance.
We don’t know many details about the Ghorman Massacre, but I have long thought that Andor could be leading up to showing us this. So, although it’s just a guess, seeing a crowd of people fired on by Imperials while mass chaos breaks out, while knowing that this series has obvious connections to these events and good reasons to show it, makes me think that’s what we’re witnessing. If so, I hope that the series also shows us the fallout from it, with Mon Mothma. I’d love to see her finally snap and go public with her rebellion, growing into the leader that we know she will be for the Rebellion.
The next main piece of footage worth discussing is Cassian stealing an Imperial ship. Again, the editing of this trailer makes it impossible to tell for sure, but it does seem like Bix Caleen is the one who inaugurates this mission, telling someone, “we need a pilot.” We then see Cassian stealing, and flying, this ship.
The most notable part about this to me is the ship design. It looks slightly unique from the other TIEs that we have seen on-screen, so it’s probably a new class of fighter. But interestingly, it looks curiously similar to the TIE Avenger design from Legends. The TIE Avenger has been mentioned in canon but has not been pictured, but the images from Legends material look quite similar to the ship seen here. The TIE Avenger was actually a similar model as Darth Vader’s TIE Advanced fighter, being a significantly more formidable ship than normal TIE Fighters.
If this really is the TIE Avenger, I think that’s a really cool inclusion. I’m a fan of new ship designs, and to pull from Legends like this would be a fun nod too. At the same time, the TIE Avenger shares many similarities with the TIE Defender (Grand Admiral Thrawn’s project), so it would be interesting to see how they would navigate doing so without seeming to drown out the significance of either ship. Given Andor’s track record, though, I trust that this series would seamlessly be able to pull in nods to Legends, weave the story with the current canon, and produce a really compelling story with it.
This trailer also features a glimpse of Cassian aboard Luthen’s ship, dressed up real classy, talking with Luthen. “You’re thinking like a thief”, Luthen tells him. To that, Cassian responds, “I’m thinking like a soldier”, but Luthen tells him, “think like a leader.”
Given season one’s writing, I can’t wait to see as much of conversations like this as we can get, and I think it’s touching on what will be an important theme in season two. The first season of this show was all about getting Cassian Andor into the fight; by the end of it, he was fully a rebel. But now, having learned to rebel, Cassian must learn to lead. That’s much harder to do, and I think we’ll see him growing into it as the second season moves on.
But on the subject of leadership, I think we’ll also see a big focus on what it looks like to lead a rebellion like this. Luthen Rael and Mon Mothma have different ideas of what kind of leadership is required, and therefore as Cassian is growing as a leader he’ll probably be faced with similar types of questions. I’m really excited to see how the series handles it.
We get a very brief glimpse of Bix and a few others on a grassy planet. There’s really no context to this shot, so it’s hard to know what to make of it. But I’ve seen one idea pointed out that I do like: what if this is Dantooine? We know the Rebels had a base on the planet early on, and it would tie in quite nicely were it to be the case. Regardless, it seems like Bix will have more of a role in this season, getting off of Ferix and going elsewhere in the galaxy.
There’s a brief shot of Cassian on Yavin IV, and he’s wearing the same (or a very similar) outfit as the one we see him in on the Ring of Kafrene at the beginning of Rogue One. That suggests to me that this could be from late in the season, right near the end of it. We know that this will take us right up to the start of that movie, with Cassian leaving to meet up with his contact. So this could be part of that.
Whether it is or not, I’m excited to see more of Yavin IV this season. We’ve obviously seen it show up in other projects, going all the way back to A New Hope, as the Rebel headquarters, but getting to see it in the context of a series like Andor will be fantastic. I’m excited to see what the writers do with it.
Finally, there is a glimpse of K-2SO on Coruscant, as a reminder that we’ll be meeting the lovable droid in this season. We’ve known that for a while, but it will be wonderful to see him on-screen again and interacting with Cassian, giving an origin story of sorts to their relationship. This probably means that the current version of that meeting will be changed a bit (it was previously told in a comic), but I’m guessing it will be done in a way that still pays homage to that previous version. The bottom line is that it will be really great to see K-2SO again.
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