Andor has always been viewed as something of an outlier in the Star Wars universe for its more mature themes and serious, grounded (relatively, at least) vibe, but this week's three-episode season 2 premiere pushed the envelope to a place many found uncomfortable and maybe even unnecessary.
Spoilers follow.
In episode 3, Imperial officer, Lt. Krole (Alex Waldmann), shows up at the home of Bix Caleen (Adria Arjona), who has been working as an "undocumented" engineer on the agrarian planet Mina-Rau for the past year. Krole attempts to force himself on Bix, who manages to fight him off with a few blows to the head, killing him in the process.
Just to hammer home what viewers were witnessing, Bix shouts at another officer who orders her to surrender, “He tried to rape me!”
“I remember reading that, and within the truth of that moment of the abuse of power, being really scared to go into that scene,” Arjona tells Variety. “But there was also something — I’m going to curse — really f*cking powerful about the fact that I get to showcase this in a galaxy far, far away. The fact that Tony gave it to Bix was a big honor — and it was right. She’s in the most vulnerable state she can possibly be in, and someone tries to take advantage of her. We’ve heard that story many times.”
“Tony saw something in me that I didn’t even know I was capable of,” she adds, reflecting on showrunner Tony Gilroy's decision to cast her as Bix. “I remember watching Star Wars and really wanting to transport myself into these universes, but I never really saw myself in it. So it means the world. We belong in Star Wars. The more Star Wars is expanding, the more it’s becoming a mirror of our real world, and it’s beautiful.”
In a separate interview with THR, creator/showrunner Tony Gilroy explained why he felt it was important to include the harrowing scene.
“I get one shot to tell everything I know — or can discover, or that I’ve learned — about revolution, about battles, with as many incidents and as many colors as I can get in there, without having [the story] tip over. I mean, let’s be honest, man: The history of civilization, there’s a huge arterial component of it that’s rape. All of us who are here — we are all the product of rape. I mean armies and power throughout history [have committed rape]. So to not touch on it, in some way … It just was organic and it felt right, coming about as a power trip for this guy. I was really trying to make a path for Bix that would ultimately lead to clarity — but a difficult path to get back to clarity.”
What did you make of the scene in question? Let us know in the comments section.
Season 2 will see the characters and their relationships intensify as the horizon of war draws near and Cassian becomes a key player in the Rebel Alliance. Everyone will be tested and, as the stakes rise, the betrayals, sacrifices and conflicting agendas will become profound.
Rife with political intrigue, danger, tension, and high stakes, the series is a prequel to Rogue One: A Star Wars Story, which portrayed a heroic band of rebels who steal the plans to the Empire’s weapon of mass destruction: The Death Star, setting the stage for the events of the original 1977 film.
Andor sets the clock back five years from the events of Rogue One to tell the story of the film’s hero, Cassian Andor, and his transformation from disinterested, cynical nobody into a rebel hero on his way to an epic destiny.
Says creator and executive producer Tony Gilroy, “One of the great thrills of making ‘Andor’ is the scale of the story and the number of characters we’re able to meet -- ordinary people, Imperial overlords, passionate revolutionaries. They are real people making epic decisions, all of them staring down questions with terrifying consequences. Cassian’s journey is the soul and spine of our story, but it’s the choir that makes the show. I’m so excited for audiences to see where we go in Season 2.”
The final season will unfold over 12 episodes, broken down into four chapters of three episodes each. The first chapter will premiere April 22, with subsequent chapters debuting each week.
Andor Season 2 stars Diego Luna, Stellan Skarsgård, Genevieve O’Reilly, Denise Gough, Kyle Soller, Adria Arjona, Faye Marsay, Varada Sethu, Elizabeth Dulau, Alan Tudyk, with Ben Mendelsohn and Forest Whitaker. The series was created by Tony Gilroy, who also serves as an executive producer along with Kathleen Kennedy, Sanne Wohlenberg, Diego Luna, Luke Hull and John Gilroy.
Gilroy wrote the first three episodes, with Beau Willimon writing episodes 4-6, Dan Gilroy penning episodes 7-9 and Tom Bissell putting pen to paper for episodes 10-12. The directors for the series are Ariel Kleiman (Eps. 1-6), Janus Metz (Eps. 7-9) and Alonso Ruizpalacios (Eps. 10-12).