Why 'Andor' is the 'Star Wars' Show for Grownups

The critically acclaimed series is a thriller with serious themes, historical resonance and great 50+ actors, not kid stuff for Yoda fans

Tracey Minkin,

AARP

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Published April 23, 2025

fiona shaw appearing as maarva in a still image from the tv show andor

Maarva (Fiona Shaw) in Lucasfilm's ANDOR, exclusively on Disney+

Courtesy Disney+

Andor, the Star Wars spinoff series now back on Disney+ for its second season, is not a Baby Yoda type of TV show. That adorable alien, officially known as Grogu, made the Star Wars series The Mandalorian (2019-23) so popular he’ll star with Pedro Pascal, 50, and Sigourney Weaver, 75, in a 2026 movie, The Mandalorian and Grogu.

Unlike Grogu's show, Andor doesn’t make you want to go awwww, and that may be why the first season wasn’t a hit, except among critics. Andor is simply the best Star Wars TV show ever made — especially for grownups.

What made the first season so great, with eight Emmy nominations? And what can grownups who love un-cuddly, non-sci-fi shows like The Americans and Slow Horses expect from the new season? Here’s the lowdown:

It takes Star Wars ideas seriously

Technically, Andor is a gritty prequel to the 2016 film Rogue One, which itself served as a prequel to 1977’s very first Star Wars film. What Rogue One explored, and what Andor sets up even more, are the events and ideals that led to the original rebellion against tyranny, so important to the original Star Wars trilogy.

In other words, there’d be no Luke, no Darth Vader, no Storm Troopers, without the events of Rogue One and Andor.

You don’t have to have seen a single Star Wars show or film to get sucked into Andor

The beauty of a prequel is that you meet characters who make later events possible, with their own distinctive storylines and arcs. In Season 1, the galactic Empire is tightening its cruel grip on the lives of its planetary citizenry, and rebels not yet fully unified work to undermine the oppressors. We get the origin story of Cassian Andor (Diego Luna), a street thief who grows into his role as a rebel spy. It’s a juicy, up-close look at the Empire’s inner politics and machinations — think House of Cards meets Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy, or a spy thriller set in pre-Revolutionary America, but make it galactic.

It's ideal for grownups who aren’t Star Wars geeks.

For grownup viewers whose eyes cross when pondering Disney’s kudzu-like expansion of the Star Wars franchise, Andor is surprisingly devoid of “Easter eggs” — hints and references to other franchise shows, characters and incidents — are sprinkled throughout to delight nerdy fans who know way too much about the opus. There’s nary a drop of Star Wars nostalgia here. The characters and space dramas stand on their own. It's "designed by, and designed for, people who aren’t all that interested in more of the same Star Wars,” wrote Julia Alexander in Puck.

Andor is more spy thriller than sci-fi epic, tackling big themes

It’s created by writer/director Tony Gilroy, 68, a thriller guy: His first hit was George Clooney’s 2007 high-IQ legal hit Michael Clayton, which nabbed seven Oscar nominations. He wrote the first two Bourne Identity films, and wrote and directed The Bourne Legacy, so it’s no wonder his vision of a pre-Luke Skywalker galaxy would be a place of spies, crosses, and double-crosses. Beau Willimon, creator of Netflix’s critically acclaimed political thriller House of Cards, was a major collaborator, bringing his own command of taut TV storytelling (and good baddies).

It's partly about actual history, not just future fantasy

Gilroy is also a history buff, and grownups will catch his references to historical events like the rise of Nazi Germany in Andor's Imperial massacre of residents of the planet Ghorman in Season 2. "The propaganda that's used against the Ghormans, think of the Reichstag fire there," Gilroy told The Hollywood Reporter. "Think of 'Remember the Maine,' when Hearst brought us into the Spanish-American War. The Gulf of Tonkin brought us into Vietnam. You can go all through history to see how propaganda has ben used to make public opinion turn against somebody. So there's historical comps all over the place." More interesting than Easter eggs for people who know way too much Star Wars lore!

It’s a really good show

While Andor didn't win any of its eight Emmy noms (understandably, it lost Best Drama to the titanic Shogun), the show got the best Rotten Tomatoes score of any Disney Star Wars project: a near-perfect 96 percent from critics, and 87 percent from audiences. Andor stands one full ranking higher than the popular Ewan McGregor vehicle Obi-Wan on IMDb (8.1 vs. 7.1). Time Magazine's Eliana Dockterman wrote, "What I approached skeptically as yet another Star Wars spinoff has turned out to be a thrilling — and chillingly relevant — indictment of fascism." On the original Star Wars set, Harrison Ford, 82, once mocked George Lucas's childish, comic-book-level dialogue: "You can write this shit, George, but you can't say it." Dockterman says Andor "boasts some of the best writing I can recall in franchise fare."

The cast is top-shelf, packed with 50-plus talent

Surrounding Luna, 45, in the leading role is a grownup ensemble worthy of any prestige drama. Theater powerhouse and Emmy-winner Fiona Shaw, 66, plays Maarva Andor, Cassian’s adoptive mother. Stellan Skarsgård, 73, is Luthen Rael, a member of the Rebel Alliance who poses as an eccentric antiques dealer. Forest Whitaker, 63, is Saw Gerrera, the leader of a military insurgent group, and Andy Serkis, 60 (Gollum in Lord of the Rings), plays Kino Loy, a prisoner and floor manager at an Imperial factory.

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Andor’s music is out of this world

No offense to legendary Star Wars composer John Williams, 93, but Season 1 of Andor featured a score at least as brilliant by composer Nicholas Britell, who won an Emmy for his haunting theme and scored the entirety of HBO’s Succession. Season 2 is scored by fellow Emmy winner Brandon Roberts (Free Solo, The Twilight Zone, A Quiet Place).

If it's so great, why isn't it a hit?

A good question! The first season released in late September of 2022 as some heavy hitters — House of the Dragon and Rings of Power — wound down their seasons. Audiences weren’t up for yet another franchise series, especially one that doesn’t aim for super fans or the youngster Disney demographic. With its prestige DNA, gritty style, and complex writing, it might have done better on HBO.

“It’s its own thing, you know? And that’s one of the reasons ‘Andor’ has been so celebrated, because it’s different,” Luna said at the 2023 Critics Choice Awards. “We are a part of Star Wars, but we are different from anything else that Star Wars brings. It’s exactly what we wanted to do.”

With Season 2, Andor may finally get — and enthrall — the audience it wanted all along: Grownups.

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