Could Andor Actually Be Good?

 I haven't talked much about Andor, or Acolyte since nothing much has been revealed until recently. Since Acolyte is in pre-production and Andor is ready to launch this September, I'll give my hopes and expectations for the show (including merchandise), and to ask the question: will this show be any good? I'll give what I think the show will cover, and how the involvement of Tony Gilroy who also worked on Rogue One will be something positive. Sadly, it doesn't look like K2-SO is in the 1st season (2nd season is in pre-production right now), so that's a slight negative, but maybe they meet up in season 2?

WHAT MY HOPE'S ARE FOR ANDOR

First of all, I hope there's a good story. I hope that with all the Disney Plus shows. Just as The Mandalorian is in good hands with Jon Favreau & Dave Filoni, Andor seems to be in good hands with Tony Gilroy. Bringing back Genevieve O'Reilly as Mon Mothma, as well as Forest Whitaker as Saw Gerrara is nice to see. Since this (Andor Season 1) takes place before Rebels, we may actually get to see the political inspirations for beginning an active and organized rebellion. As good as Star Wars Rebels is (seriously go watch it!), we never saw the beginning from Coruscant, just from Hera Syndulla's small cell, which would become Phoenix Squad.

As far as Cassian goes, his origin and what lead him to kill a panicy Rebel agent in cold blood as seen in Rogue One needs to be highlighted. Flashbacks are rarely used in Star Wars, but here it's needed. Finding out how he grew up, what he lost along the way I find intriguing. Now I don't want a full immersion so maybe spend about 5-10 minutes of the debut episode to show this, maybe even the first 15 minutes, and then jump into the show and what the current time is (in this case 5 years before Rogue One/A New Hope).

For Saw Gerrara we see a little bit of his extreme methods in Rebels, but we didn't in Rogue One. At this time he's kinda sorta on the growing Rebellion's side but how does he get out of Mon Mothma's approval by Season 4 of Rebels? Forest Whittaker is too good an actor to only appear once, and his origins of expulsion from the Rebel Alliance in the future needs to be shown. Hopefully this seed gets planted.

Now onto Mon Mothma. We see her in these glamorous outfits in the trailer, and we know she's on Coruscant as she has been shown addressing the Senate. But I'd like to know more about her. What puts her over the edge from just offering political resistance to Palpy and start considering a declaration of war? In Legends she had a family, will they play a role here? In the Disney Canon aside from appearing in Rebels and Rogue One we don't know that much about her. Even her appearance in Clone Wars was brief. Her arc is the one that we know will play out the longest of the characters seen so far, as Mon Mothma lives past Rogue One.

WHAT I DON'T WANT TO SEE

Vader. No Darth Vader, please. Also no Inquisitors or even Jedi. References are fine but this show doesn't need lightsabers or The Force. It needs political intrigue, action and extreme violence.

MERCHANDISE

For fans of Rogue One who want Saw Gerrara, Tarkin and Krennic this may be the only chance they get on new Vintage Collection cards. With a new Admiral Piett on the way, and a lot of officers shown in the trailer, including Cassian in officer disguise which is another popular Rogue One VC request, here is the chance. We are getting a VC Cassian from the show, and the female lead (her name escapes me). Now, bad news if you wanted Mon Mothma: that's probably not happening. But expect repacks of the Shoretrooper, and we know Phase 2 Clonetroopers are coming to the VC and maybe on an Andor card instead of their flashback appearance in The Mandalorian. I doubt the antagonist in Season 1 gets a VC figure this year.

Black Series is different. Want Mon Mothma? She'll get a figure. Same with Cassian in officer disguise, Troopers and no doubt the main antagonist. I have, and will continue to say that Hasbro is a 6 inch/1:12 scale company. So do expect Black Series to be the first to get new figures and never before seen figures first.

CONCLUSION

Andor strikes me as a not so typical Star Wars series, and that can actually be a good thing. This series is also using practical sets and not using the technology used in other series like Mando & Kenobi shows a old school approach which again, I like. The trailers have looked really good, but a trailer doesn't always mean what's coming will be good. But, I trust Tony Gilroy and I feel this could be a great bridge series that combines the best of the prequels and mixes in some OT stuff. My biggest fear is this will retcon what Rebels did to show the origins of the Rebel Alliance and IF it does that then it will be a let down. But this show gives us a chance to see non Jedi in heroic roles, and that makes it interesting to see. This could be a series worth your time. But if there are constant retcons, and PC friendly trends, this may not be worth your viewing. I hope that isn't the case as this show looks to buck Disney trends and give us something similar to what Rogue One did. And I hope that is exactly what Andor delivers.