‘Andor’ Is The Best ‘Star Wars’ Entry Since ‘The Force Awakens’

2015 was a great year to be a fan of “Star Wars”. “The Force Awakens” was released in December and, in the months that followed, everyone was talking about the last episode of the Skywalker saga.

And I mean everyone. I remember Daisy Ridley appear on Hello America To discuss her role as Rey, and the panelists debating in a lively way if she could be a palpatine or a solo. A woman proudly told him that her son believes that Rey is a Ken-Ob-i, Make sure to clarify: “Am I saying this right?”

The excitement around “Star Wars” remained about two years and generated excitement for “Rogue One”, largely adding to the success of the film derived. There were a few non-knowers who estimated that “The Force Awakens” was too similar to the original trilogy, but overall, everyone was excited to see Luke Skywalker in action.

Until “The Last Jedi” was released in 2017 and all Sh-T hit the fan. There were cries that it was both “too awake” and yet “too racist” coming from opposite parts, with a slugfest of social media which seemed comparable to an American presidential election. Either it was “the best” Star Wars “film of all time”, or “The worst film” Star Wars ” of all time “and there was no intermediary. Fortunately,” passion “has been distant in recent years – we are too exhausted by all the rest these days – but it essentially stole any good will which has ever existed for trilogy in a row.

This inertia quickly infected “solo”, a story of solo han origin that no one had asked, and made the public hesitating to see “The Rise of Skywalker” when he summed up the Skywalker saga of 9 episodes in 2019. After all, a large part of the excitement had already been sucked in history. Who is Rey? Oh, it is not important. Who is the Supreme Snoke chief? Oh, well, he died, so I guess it doesn’t matter much. Remember this actress of “Game of Thrones” that you love who is now playing Captain Phasma? Oh, she died too.

The questions you hoped to have answered? Disappeared. The fate of resistance? Confined to the characters left standing aboard the Millennium Falcon at the end of “The Last Jedi”. At least, in the original trilogy, you have had a sense of rebellion and the greatest fight. The end of “TLJ” suggested that an organization is reborn from the Empire was faced with the resistance of … all about twelve people.

It was clear that the expectations for “The Rise of Skywalker” were weak, and they ran even lower after Colin Trevorrow separated from Lucasfilm, letting JJ Abrams pick up where he had stopped. It seemed that his energy to finish the franchise also decreased; Not only did he get the idea that Rey was a “person” by making her a palpatine, but he also withdrew the background of Poe Dameron from what had already been established in other media. And don’t even get started on the line, “in one way or another, Palpatine has returned”, which continues to make fun of this day (it really gets worse every time you hear it).

Disney won a victory when they released “The Mandalorian”, which was a new version of “Star Wars” which existed outside the Skywalker saga and did not present the emblematic battles of the Laser or the stories of force that so many people have associated with the franchise. This allowed Lucasfilm to get into the sandbox and play with many other ideas. Some have paid, while others, like “The Acolyte” and “The Book of Boba Fett”, crashed and burned.

Even the first season of “Andor” did not meet a lot of love. He was labeled long -term and boring, comparable to the tax debate presented at the start of “The Phantom threat”. The first season criticized and led to a satisfactory final that attracted the public for a second season. This is a good thing they did, because Tony Gilroy Be sure to throw everything on the wall and have always managed to stick the landing.

Simultaneously lowering himself on the history of the Second World War and the events of the real world, Gilroy managed to create a new type of “Star Wars” tale that seemed modern, while invoking nostalgia for the original trilogy. The second season included four sets of three episodes, each affirmed a year, leading to the first minutes of “Rogue One” so that fans can create a clear chronology of the trip of Cassian Andor to join the rebellion.

For the first time, the franchise feels alive again. It looks like the moments after the release of “The Force Awakens” when fans of “Star Wars” could impatiently wait for the future of the franchise with the hope of looking at a single story consistent with convincing characters and a clear story. The second season of “Andor” managed to approach many different genres, creating the hope that Lucasfilm will dare to explore a new type of story in a far, far galaxy.

There was not much love for the prequel trilogy when it was released. It remains to be seen if the reputation of the Trilogy Suite will improve over time. At the moment, it doesn’t look like that. “The Force Awakens” will have its ten -year birthday in December, but no big tribute was held for the film earlier this year during the celebration of Star Wars filled with fan in Japan.