7 Key Things to Remember About Rogue One Before Andor’s Final Episodes Drop

Star Wars: Andor has pulled off something nearly impossible: telling a prequel story that profoundly deepens the experience of the original story (Rogue One: A Star Wars Story). Andor deserves even more credit, as it’s technically a prequel of a prequel (Rogue One’s ending leads directly into the beginning of Star Wars: A New Hope). That all said, Andor Season 2’s final batch of episodes (10, 11, 12) have a unique challenge in front of them: bringing this prequel series to a satisfying close, without getting to see the actual payoff of Cassian Andor’s fight as a Rebel spy (that doesn’t happen until Rogue One).

Star Wars fans who haven’t watched Rogue One in a long time (or are saving that rewatch for after Andor Season 2) may need to do some fresh reconsideration of key moments in that film. It could be required to make the deeper meaning of Andor‘s final episodes truly hit home.

Here are 7 things to remember about Rogue One before Star Wars: Andor‘s final episodes are released.

7) All Those Spy Games Led to Death

The Death Star. In Star Wars: A New Hope and Return of the Jedi it represented the dark and destructive might of facsim and military forces like the Nazis, which has cast shadows of death and destruction across many groups of people. Andor has managed to deepen that metaphor, with Season 1’s prison arc and final post-credits scene painting a brutal picture of how slavish practices like prison labor can not only take away freedom but force oppressed peoples to quite literally engineer their ultimate doom.

Andor Season 2 has deepened the wound even further, with its arc about Ghorman and the ethnic cleansing the Empire planned and executed – wiping out an entire culture for a single resource needed for only part of the Death Star’s completion. The final episodes need to convey why learning about the Death Star (and stopping it) becomes the thematic climax to the show’s storylines for Cassian, Mon Mothma, Luthen, Saw Gerrera, Dedra Meero, and everyone who’s been caught in the web of their espionage cold war.

6) Meet the Ersos

The Erso family is the center of Rogue One’s story, but that’s about the only place you meet them in the Star Wars franchise, so it’s understandable if you don’t remember all the details. Galen Erso (Mads Mikkelsen) was a brilliant Republic theorist, mathematician, and physicist, specializing in crystals, who was drafted into the Empire’s Death Star program think tank by the Tarkin Initiative under Director Orson Krennic (Ben Mendelsohn). Galen’s expertise with crystals (specifically kyber crystals) was the key component the Empire needed to channel the energy of the Death Star’s super weapon.

By the time Andor‘s final episodes take place (1 BBY), Galen Erso is working from within Krennic’s team to turn an Imperial pilot (Bodhi Rook) into a spy and messenger who alerts the Rebellion about the Death Star. The odds of Galen showing up in Andor seem reasonable, and even if his daughter Jyn doesn’t appear, fans need to watch Cassian’s (Diego Luna) final arc closely, as the final sketches of his relationship with Bix (Adria Arjona) will likely redefine how we see Cassian and Jyn’s arc together in Rogue One.

5) Spy Family

Leia’s adoptive father, Senator Bail Organa (Benjamin Bratt / Jimmy Smits), has always been a low-key MVP of Star Wars, showing up like Scotty Pippen for key assists at key moments (helping both Mon Mothma and Yoda escape the Senate? Taking Leia as a final favor to Padme? He’s a saint!). Andor has only helped fans build more respect for Bail, as we now truly understand what kind of fascist boot the man was living under – all the way up to his tragic death, and the annihilation of his entire world.

Andor‘s final episodes may be the last place we get to see Bail Organa (and his family?) shine, while watching him stay cool and maneuver within the lion’s den, even when the jaws of the Empire start to chomp down.

4) The Final Mission

It’s important to remember some key names and terms from Rogue One, regarding Cassian’s mission at the beginning of the film. Cassian comes to the Ring of Kafrene trading post to meet an informant (Tivik) who tells him about Saw Gerrera (Forest Whitaker) having captured Imperial pilot (and defector) Bodhi Rook (Riz Ahmed), and the information that pilot has about a “planet killer” weapon the Empire has built. Cassian coldly shoots the informant rather than risk Imperial interrogation, and he follows his only lead, which is freeing Galen Erso’s daughter and using her to draw out her father. The group’s first stop is the moon of Jedha, where they hope to meet with extremist Rebel leader (and Jyn’s estranged mentor) Saw Gerrera.

The considerations for Andor‘s final run of episodes are all the intricate steps of espionage investigation that had to take place in order for Cassian to show up on Kafrene for the meeting with that informant. We’ve witnessed in Season 2 how methodical and careful he is as a spy, but by the time of Rogue One‘s first act, he’s running and gunning and barely escaping capture with a desperation that’s the total opposite of his usual demeanour. That same desperation will likely be born from the climactic final moments of Andor. The question is: what drastic turn happens to send Cassian scrambling?

3) Saw Long, Old Friend

Saw Gerrera has had one of the most unexpectedly long arcs in Star Wars – from his time as a young idealistic (if hotheaded) revolutionary during the Clone Wars, to the unhinged terrorist (freedom fighter?) he became in the Imperial Era. Saw’s role in tracking down and capturing Bodhi Rook is a footnote of Rogue One‘s story – one that Andor has laid down some purposeful groundwork to prepare for. Seeing Saw pulling off his final mission (a kidnapping at that) is something Andor fans have earned.

2) The ‘Full Luthen’

When Cassian brings Jyn to the Rebel base on Yavin IV in Rogue One, leader Mon Mothma (Genevieve O’Reilly) covertly orders him to kill Galen Erso after making contact, instead of rescuing him (as Jyn believes). Mon and other leaders feel Galen’s knowledge is simply too dangerous for him to live. Cassian accepts without hesitation – not the only instance in the film of his cold killer nature.

Andor‘s final episodes are expected to fill in the final gap of Mon’s arc from being a wealthy elitist senator and spy to going ‘Full Luthen’ and becoming the same kind of ruthless, compartmentalized, and manipulative leader he was. There’s also going to be a clear evolution in Cassian Andor and Mon Mothma’s relationship as Rebel leaders by the time these final eps take place. All those formative years we watched over two seasons led to two Rebel leaders who have little left to lose, and are sharp and ruthless in ways they never thought they’d be.

Where does that leave Luthen? Well, answering that is a big part of what Andor’s climax should be built upon.

1) Where It All Ends

The “Battle of Scarif” was the pivotal climax of Rogue One, which saw Cassian and Jyn’s squad infiltrate the Imperial facility on Planet Scarif, steal the Death Star schematics, and transmit them to the Rebel fleet. Tarkin then annihilated the planet with the Death Star’s weapon, taking Jyn and Cassian with it.

Andor fans spotted the show’s subtle-but-heartbreaking foreshadowing of Cassian’s last moments during Season 1’s episode “Daughter of Ferrix”. After escaping prison on Narkina 5, Cassian returned to the lavish planet Niamos to retrieve his belongings, only to learn that his adopted mother Maarva had died. He stares out over the ocean, heartbroken, which made fans realize his last moments with Jyn, and assuring her that her father was proud, was also his own assurance about his mother’s pride in him.

The final episodes of Season 2 will probably deepen Cassian’s death even further, making us know with agonizing certainty all of the people and experiences that flash through his mind before dying – and all those he hopes to see again on the other side.

Andor and Rogue One can be streamed on Disney+.