Andor’s Best Scenes Show One Crucial Lesson Star Wars’ Next Movie Needs To Learn

Some pretty funny and incredibly accurate posts online have proven the crucial lesson future Star Wars movies need to learn from Andor. Having recently concluded, the critically acclaimed series is widely considered to be one of the very best Star Wars projects of all time. To that end, some ironic comparison videos have perfectly pointed out a key reason why.

Naturally, countless Star Wars fans have gone online to praise Andor and its solid writing, its dynamic cast, and heart-pounding action. However, one of the best posts comes from Reddit user u/Zool539, who compares a moment from Andor season 2 and a reveal in The Rise of Skywalker’s final act:

As momentous and intimidating as Palpatine’s Final Order fleet is meant to be, most fans will point to Kleya’s removal of a microphone in Andor season 2 as the more tense Star Wars moment (and rightly so).

Andor Doesn’t Need High Stakes, Because You Care About The Characters

“Where Do You Feel More Tension?”

There are plenty of other similar comparison posts that have also been made. Palpatine’s return or Imperial discussions about kalkite? Thousands of starships arriving to support the Resistance or Saw Gerrera getting high on rhydonium with Wilmon Paak?

Despite having relatively lower stakes compared to more culminating events happening in the sequel trilogy, even Andor’s more innocuous moments do a better job of keeping viewers captivated, allowing them to truly feel the tension due to stronger narrative development. This is primarily done through its characters, like Diego Luna’s Cassian Andor or Genevieve O’Reilly’s Mon Mothma.

Over time, you know exactly who these characters are, how they feel, how much they’ve sacrificed, as well as the full extent of the dangers/consequences facing them.

Unfortunately, this is something the sequel films like Rise of Skywalker do not achieve nearly as well. It’s why the struggle to dismantle a bugged artifact undetected by nearby Imperials is somehow far more intense and gripping than the reveal of more Star Destroyers than we’ve seen on screen at one time.

After all, we weren’t given any context as to where Palpatine’s secret Sith fleet had come from, let alone the full details of his own resurrection, at least not until future shows, books, and comics filled in the details.

It’s The Characters That Make For Good Stories – Not Just The Scale

Solid Character Development Creates Peak Tension

By the end of both seasons of Andor, you are motivated to care for every single character, be they part of the Rebellion, Empire, or anywhere in between. Each one has been fleshed out to varying degrees, at least enough that their actions are engaging enough to create that desired tension.

The aforementioned microphone scene is a prime example as it features Kleya, Luthen, Mon Mothma, Director Krennic, and Lonni Jung as the principal characters.

Kleya is quite literally bleeding in silence to remove the microphone without being detected with the help of Lonni, Kleya and Luthen’s mole within the ISB, who’s terrified of being discovered. Meanwhile, Luthen continues to play the part of the antique collector while Mon Mothma and Krennic spar with their opposing ideologies.

There’s a reason to care and be engaged with each member of this well-developed cast simultaneously, and it’s a core foundation for the scene’s palpable tension. With any luck, it’s something Lucasfilm will continue to incorporate in its future narratives, especially with their imminent return to the big screen beginning with next year’s The Mandalorian & Grogu.

All episodes of Andor are now streaming on Disney+.

Source: Reddit