Editor's note: The below contains spoilers for the first episode of Andor.The first complete arc of Andor is unlike anything else ever produced for Star Wars. Gritty, dark, and heavy with political critique, it's the kind of show that, a few years ago, would have been difficult to imagine ever taking place in a galaxy far, far away. Precisely because of that, it has gathered a lot of praise. Like its spiritual (or literal?) sequel Rogue One: A Star Wars Story, it dives deep into the fog of war and revolution, everything seen through the eyes of protagonist Cassian Andor (Diego Luna).
The parallel with Rogue One is heavily hinted at right in the first sequence. Set on Morlana One, it follows Cassian as he fights two Preox-Morlana security officers after they taunt him in the nightclub, where he was looking for information about his lost sister, and follow him into a deserted causeway. The fight is tense and dirty, ending up in one accidental death and one execution at point-blank range. The whole scene is an interesting mirror to his first scene in Rogue One when he is on a very similar mission — with a very similar outcome.
Cassian's First Scene in 'Andor'
It's clear from the beginning that Cassian is not in control of the situation during the sequence. He gets distracted by the Pre-Mor officers in the nightclub, taunts back when provoked, and reveals his intention to the waitress, who then tells him to leave. His mission has already failed — as he is where he needs to be but was already identified by those in charge. He was, for all intents and purposes of someone who was supposed to be acting undercover, seen.
His being identified means also that he can be followed, which he naturally is. As he is on his way to his ship, the drunken Pre-Mor men follow Cassian to a deserted causeway, the perfect spot for a street fight. It's clear that he can hold his own, but he is never in control of the situation. The action is more of a brawl than an actual fight, typical of people who either don't really know how to fight or are really not in the best headspace to do so. Cassian's mission was to gather intel, and no close combat was to be expected — and that's why both of the Pre-Mor officers end up dead and left in the middle of the causeway.
After having failed on all he intended to do in Morlana One, he also gets in a dirty fight in a public space and leaves two bodies behind. The first death was an accident, but it could have been avoided had Cassian been focused and prepared for his mission in the nightclub; the Pre-Mor men could have even helped him had he better navigated the situation. But the second was an actual execution. He reluctantly executes the other, a mix of anger and relief on his face. He didn't seem to know how to kill before, and he learned the worst way possible.
Cassian is clearly no spy when this sequence takes place, and we wouldn't need to know it happens five years before Rogue One to notice that. He is the exact opposite of the person he will be by then and has no idea how to measure a life when confronted by the possibility of having to take one, and that serves as the tipping point that sets him on a fugitive path. From that point on, he knows his life will not be the same. These guys didn't have to die, and he will embark on a journey to discover exactly what the weight of a life is. He was looking for his sister, and these deaths don't get him any closer to finding her.
Cassian's First Scene in 'Rogue One'
The comparison between the scenes in Andor and in Rogue One begs to be made, as Cassian's debut on the show is an interesting way of foreshadowing his growth and future as an exemplary intelligence officer and spy for the Rebel Alliance.
In the 2016 movie, we first meet him on the Ring of Kafrene, in a small alley where he meets a contact that reveals the rumors about an Imperial "planet killer" superweapon are true. Clearly distressed, the contact starts to panic, forcing Cassian's hand as he is about to be surrounded by stormtroopers. His only option is to kill the man and make his escape, which he does in a calm and almost casual way, we don't even see the gun.
The outcome is not ideal, but the mission was accomplished: he went in, gathered the necessary intel, and left without being caught. Loss of life is never how things are supposed to go, but being a spy involves making hard choices when in the field, as this is one of the dirtiest jobs one can have in a war. Cassian had to quickly assess the situation, and weigh the life of the contact against the countless lives he could save by not being caught and delivering the information to the Alliance.
Cassian Learns His Lesson
Of course, there are five years between those scenes, and we already know Cassian does become a fully-fledged Fulcrum agent for the Rebellion. There are people who train their whole lives to achieve that level of excellence in a treacherous line of work such as this, but he does it in less than five years. That is precisely the purpose of the series, to show how someone can get so invested in a cause and go from reckless street brawler to secret agent.
The first step in that journey has already been shown, though. The first sign that he indeed learned a lesson from all that is his decision to spare Syril Karn (Kyle Soller) in the third episode, even though his new mentor Luthen Rael (Stellan Skarsgard) tells him to kill the Pre-Mor inspector. Karn had already given Cassian the information he wanted, and that death would be another one unnecessarily added to an already red ledger. Hopefully, many others will be avoided throughout the show, although we definitely know how dirty a business war can be.
Andor premieres with new episodes weekly every Wednesday on Disney+.