STAR WARS: ANDOR SERIES REVIEW

Unless you’ve been living under a pop culture rock for 45 years, you are aware of a little series of films and shows called Star Wars. It’s kind of a big deal. After 12 films and 9 TV series, and more books, comics, and video games than any normal person will ever have time to indulge in, there is something for everyone, though that won’t stop some from thinking every bit of the ongoing space fantasy should be exclusively designed to their specific tastes. And with Disney continuing to expand the franchise further and further, the stories in the galaxy far, far away have branched off in many different directions, which brings us to Andor, the newest episodic series created by Tony Gilroy for streaming on Disney+. It is the fourth live-action series in the Star Wars franchise, as well as a prequel to both the spin-off film Rogue One (2016) and the original Star Wars film (1977). The series follows thief-turned-Rebel spy Cassian Andor during the five years that lead to the events of the two films. Diego Luna reprises his role as Cassian and also serves as an executive producer. But when a franchise has done so much already, is there really anything new to be said and done? Well, it turns out there is, as Marco, Melina, and T.C. are more than happy to discuss. This character driven, action packed, political thriller, drama fills in gaps in the story of the creation of the Rebellion seen in the original trilogy with an ensemble of characters from every facet of the war. As Senator Mon Mothma (O’Reilly) attempts to build the rebellion through her political ties, Luthen Rael (Skarsgård), code-named “Axis” by the ISB, hides in plain sight as an antique dealer while drawing first blood in covert attacks. An ambitious Imperial officer, Dedra Meero (Gough) and zealot Syril Karn (Collar) vy to climb the ranks of the Empire. The Squad is blown away by the maturity of this show, but do they love it like some or loathe it like others?

WATCH HERE

CREATED BY: Tony Gilroy

STARRING: Diego Luna, Kyle Soller, Adria Arjona, Stellan Skarsgård, Fiona Shaw, Denise Gough, Genevieve O’Reilly, Faye Marsay, Varada Sethu, Elizabeth Dulau, Joplin Sibtain, James McArdle, Rupert Vansittart, Alex Ferns, Gary Beadle, Kathryn Hunter, Alastair Mackenzie, Anton Lesser, Alex Lawther, Sule Rimi, Ebon Moss-Bachrach, Gershwyn Eustache Jnr, Stanley Townsend, Ben Miles, Andy Serkis, Duncan Pow, Forest Whitaker, Richard Dillane, Dave Chapman, Zubin Varla, Abhin Galeya, Muhannad Bhaier, Kiernan O’Brien, Raymond Anum, Victor Perez, Neil Bell, Pamela Nomvete, Bronte Carmichael, Ben Bailey Smith, Robert Emms, Michael Jenn, Lucy Russell, Lee Ross, Jacob James Beswick, Wilf Scolding, Nick Moss, Noof Ousellam, Christopher Fairbank, Clemens Schick, Brian Bovell, Tom Reed, Josef Davies, Rasaq Kukoyi, Mensah Bediako, Belle Swarc, Lee Boardman, Stephen Wight, Nick Blood, David Hayman, Adrian Rawlins, Malcolm Sinclair, Sam Witwer

 

YOUR REVIEWERS

 

Marco Noyola (Digital Noise, Highly Suspect Reviews, Screener Squad, Audio Editor)

By day, Marco is a mild-mannered office worker, but by night he is a mild-mannered movie watcher. He does other mild-mannered stuff too.

“You don’t need to follow me. You don’t need to follow anybody!”

 

 

 

Melina Eames (Screener Squad)

Melina first discovered that she carried the nerd gene at the tender age of four following her exposure to a little film called A New Hope. In the twenty-some years that followed, Melina continued to grow into her geek identity through the discovery of Batman, Mst3k,