We have long suspected that one of the arcs in the second and final season of Andor will show the Ghorman Massacre, and that seems all but confirmed now. In the epic new special look that was released recently, the closed captions include a description reading, “protestors singing in Ghor”, while highlighting once more the riots and fighting breaking out.
That seems like good enough proof to me that Ghorman will be featured, and that the fighting scenes we’ve seen a lot of are actually the Ghorman Massacre taking place. And if that’s the case, that’s a really big deal.
Let me explain why.
Already in season one, Mon Mothma mentioned the Empire having just cut off shipping lanes for Ghorman, clueing us in on the fact that the Imperial crackdown on the Ghorman people had already begun, five years prior to A New Hope. Things wouldn’t get any better for them, either, until things reached a tipping point in 2 BBY (Before the Battle of Yavin). It was then that the Empire turned on the people of Ghorman, who were peacefully protesting, and massacred them.
This repulsive event was the last straw for Mothma, who up to that point had tried to fight the Empire behind-the-scenes, in the Senate, by being a thorn in Palpatine’s side. Aware of the atrocities on Ghorman, however, Mothma went public. In quick succession, Mothma: (1) gave a public speech blaming Palpatine for the massacre; (2) resigned from the Imperial Senate; and (3) was placed atop the Imperial Security Bureau’s most-wanted list. Forced on the run because of this, Mothma was escorted by Hera Syndulla and the Ghost crew to safety. While aboard the Ghost, she issued a call that was publicly broadcast throughout the galaxy for people to stand up, and in space above Dantooine, many ships arrived to answer her call.
The Alliance to Restore the Republic, also known as the Rebel Alliance, was formed.
To be getting this event on-screen in Andor, then, means that one of the most important moments in escalating the fight against the Empire into open warfare will be seen for the first time. We don’t know much about what happened at this massacre, at least in canon, but in Legends it involved Grand Moff Tarkin landing his ship right on top of the protestors when they blocked his landing pad (could that make the “Imperial ships are already landing” dialogue overheard in the Andor special look more significant?). Of course, in Legends the event took place much earlier in the timeline and was not the spark that formed the rebellion, so already things are different.
One of the main reasons why I’m really hopeful, and excited, that we get to see these events play out in Andor is not just because of how significant they are, but because I’m hoping it will lead to us getting to actually see Mothma’s speech to the Senate decrying the massacre and Palpatine himself. I’d love to see Genevieve O’Reilly get a chance to have an epic speech in this format.
Whatever the case, it won’t be long before we’re seeing all of it unfold.
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