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I have noted it before, but Rogue One is my favorite Star Wars film. As such, I was looking forward to Andor, the prequel about Cassian Andor, as played by Diego Luna. When I found out Disney+ was dropping three episodes at once to open the show’s run, I was extra enthused. After watching the three episodes, I see why Disney+ did that. What I find a little odd, though, is why they bothered to make it three episodes. Was Disney+ afraid to call the first three episodes of Andor a movie? Because, honestly, that’s what it is.
As Cassius and Stellan Skarsgard as Luthen Rael fled in a speeder, I came to the assumption that the world of the first three episodes was being left behind. In the world of Star Wars, that can be taken more literally. To me, it feels entirely possible we won’t see Cassius’ planet again in this show. These three episodes felt like a prequel to a prequel.
The first three episodes of Andor are a self-contained story. That much I feel confident in. So why, exactly, make them “three” episodes? To me, it truly feels like Disney+ was afraid to call it a movie. That would make it a “Star Wars movie,” and obviously that is a turn of phrase that carries a lot of weight. Maybe Disney felt like they couldn’t release a “Star Wars movie” on Disney+. Perhaps they feared the optics of that.
That is a fair assessment. However, why not just say there are 10 episodes of Andor and make the first one 90 minutes long or whatever? Look at Stanger Things. In its fourth season, they had multiple episodes that were movie length. They were still considered episodes, though, and viewers accepted that. Andor could have done the same thing. The episode breaks across the first three episodes of Andor felt unnecessary, perhaps even gratuitous.
I think Andor would have been served well by Disney just admitting the first three episodes are one story, and a self-contained story. It could have saved us some Andor ardor in the long run. Because, all in all, I enjoyed the first three episodes. I was just also a little dubious of the fact it was “three episodes” of television.
