Off the deluge of Star Wars content post-Disney acquisition Andor was one of the best. I’m looking forward to season 2.
Literally the only Star Wars content I’m exited for.
And even then with huge reservations, considering how the Mandalorian went post season one.
I’m quite worried that like Westworld, Andor will kind of just lose the plot and fail to maintain that cohesion and masterful story of the first season.
I’m less concerned about cohesion because Season 2 is the series finale.
Season 1 took place over about 1 year.
Season 2 is planned to take place over 4 years.
Season 1 starts at 5BBY, Rogue One takes place right before A New Hope, and that film has our Battle of Yavin.
So it’s clear to me there is a plan. There isn’t time to lose the plot.
My concern would be too much time passing between episode arcs, and too many gaps leaving us wondering what happened. (Although I’m pretty trusting that this won’t be an actual problem.)
My main source of worry is Disney insisting on the show integrating a bunch of shit from the other shows, or the Star Wars brand at large.
I know the Andor showrunners have a plan. So did the writers for Westworld, but there the writers lost the plot because after season one came out, people connected a bunch of dots, and inevitably, because season one was internally consistent and full of well-done foreshadowing, someone got it right.
The writers of Westworld didn’t like having their subversion of expectation subverted, so they threw all their plot threads out and started over. All the foreshadowing, all the plans, dumped in favor of doing something that made no sense just to ensure no-one would see it coming.
I’m not so worried about Andor losing the plot for the same reason, but rather suffering a similar devolution into nonsense due to Disney forcing in a bunch of “brand integration” that all their other stuff has suffered as soon as they gain steam.
Especially since it’s a series finale, Disney will have no qualms shitting all over a show that’s ending anyway, just to shove some more “brand awareness” down our throats. Doubly so because they know season one has fans that will definitely tune in for season two.
Disney only makes good stuff by accident anymore, and when it happens, it immediately attracts the attention of the higher-ups, who then try to squeeze out even more “optimized brand synergy” from it.
Disney only makes good stuff by accident anymore
I disagree. I think former Disney CEO Bob Chapek caused the company an incalculable amount of damage. He might have left (been fired) in 2022 but we’re only at the end of his damage now (2025 and beyond). And yes, I am using him as a convenient scapegoat.
Obviously the Sequel Trilogy was a mess when they didn’t plan anything out. A lesson they’ve hopefully learned from.
In terms of Disney having no qualms about shitting all over a show that’s ending, I think they would. If you screw with talent it goes elsewhere, and that includes writers/directors. Tony Gilroy isn’t a huge name, but I still think they would have qualms. This wasn’t true under Chapek who decided to fight Scarlett Johansson for some reason. Under Bob Iger, it’s a different story.
(And obviously I could be totally wrong, if we see more garbage over the next few years I’m not sure what the fix will be.)
The solution is to not have one giant company own literally all mainstream video entertainment.
I know that’s a bit of an exaggeration, but not by much.
I don’t think a media company as big as Disney is capable of becoming a heaven for artistic integrity and creative expression.
They are changing course on things because they started losing money, not because the shows sucked. Disney+ has been a disaster, but that’s because the business model was dumb. The shows being good would not have helped much.
Case in point, their live action remakes are atrocious. But no-one at disney cares that they’re shit, because they make bank at the box office anyway.
I stand by my statement. Current day Disney only makes good stuff by accident. They’re not going to fix that, unless it starts losing them money. Which it isn’t.
If theres one thing that studios like Illumination have proved, it’s that making money in no way requires quality.
Andor was so good it made me sad when it was over that other Star Wars media wasn’t this good.
