Andor (SPOILERS possible)

[Mister Skeezler]

I caught this little bit in the official site news blurb.  Here are some of the cast:

"...will be joined by a fantastic new cast that includes Stellan Skarsgard, Adria Arjona, Fiona Shaw, Denise Gough, Kyle Soller, and Genevieve O’Reilly as Mon Mothma."

Glad to see Genevieve O'Reilly back in the mix.  I think she's added some depth to the Mon Mothma character.  And to think that she had the part in Revenge Of The Sith and got cut from the movie, but has parlayed it into voice acting on Rebels, a live action role in Rogue One and now this show, too!

Nice! I think O'Rielly does a great job as Mon Mothma, and I agree, it's nice to see some depth added to the character. She was such a non-character in ROTJ. And I can't get past the fact that she's just staring directly at Admiral Ackbar during his presentation, rather than the actual presentation like everyone else in the room. Is that the first time she'd seen an alien or something? Overall, if you told me she was high as **** during that whole briefing, I'd believe you.

On the topic, it would be great to see some development of Admiral Ackbar and the Mon Cal rebellion forces.

[Ryan]

I wonder when we are going to hear any more updates on Andor? We last saw the sizzle real and knew this was in production over a year ago. They have to be getting close at this point. Last I heard this was still the generic Mid-Late 2022 release. I hoping we get a release date for sometime for July-August, maybe a month or so after the Kenobi finale.  It feels like maybe Disney is going to wait a little bit to keep the focus on Kenobi before announcing anything official for Andor.

[Nicklab]

The only things I’ve heard have been rumors. Among them is the fact that a second season is already approved and principal photography begins in the fall.  That’s from a leak from one of the cast. 

Kenobi debuts at the end of May and is supposed to be 7 episodes, IIRC.  That puts it ending in mid July.  There’s also the matter of the second season of The Bad Batch.  I thought I had heard it might be a summer release, but I’m not 100% sure. Based on all of that I could see Andor premiering in October. 

[Dave]

Don't forget Mando Season 3.  Have they announced a date on that?

I get the sense that Bad Batch can overlap with live action releases, which they don't want to overlap.

[Jeff]

12 episodes in Season 1 (set 5 years before Rogue One).

First two episodes premiere on August 31, 2022.

https://youtu.be/j5UX1Adanis

Season 2 also has 12 episodes and leads up to Rogue One time.

[Dave]

I have no idea what the plot is (other than Cassian Andor is a bad ass Rebel assassin), but that looks pretty cool.

[Matt_Fury]

The teaser looks good. 

[Rob]

Trailer looks great.  Can’t wait for this one.

[Nicklab]

The trailer looks like it the show is going to cover a substantial amount of time.  At the very least it seems like there are going to be flashbacks.

The children watching the starship in flames made me think of something Cassian said in Rogue One to Jyn, when he said that he had been in the fight since he was 6 years old.  And then to see those Clone Troopers in phase 2 armor was a surprise as well.  And those gunships?!?!?

The situation looks like it's complicated on Cassian's homeworld.  It looks like there's a corps of local government forces that might be enforcing the will of the Empire.  And that pristine white meeting room?  It looks like a Star Wars show is going to take on the Imperial Security Bureau, and they're pulling the strings.

The Coruscant scenes with Mon Mothma looked interesting.  The city looks different from what we saw in the PT - including that interior shot from the Senate!  And the tone seems like that of a spy thriller.

[Dave]

New teaser poster released. 

I think the poster artwork has been getting more and more simple/lazy.  I'm not sure if the artists don't have enough source material to work with or what. 

[Matt_Fury]

New trailer.   

Some really cool stuff in this trailer and the show looks absolutely amazing!

Unfortunately, it looks like they've pushed it to 21 September.  No worries, I'm patient.

[Nicklab]

That was a great trailer!  And it looks like Stellan Skarsgaard is playing even more of a central role than we might have thought.  Great to see some characters from ROGUE ONE in there as well.

I was a little surprised by the new release date.  They seem to have compensated because they're going to drop three episodes on that first day!  I also just looked up the release date for season 2 of The Bad Batch, and that's currently listed as September 28th.  I wonder if that might move back a little bit as well?

[Dave]

Holy **** that looks cool!!!

[McMetal]

Whew, I just knew this one was going to be next level. R1 was my favorite Disney film, I loved all the gritty realism which this looks to have in spades. Add in a non-OT character with a wide open backstory, it is really going to give them the leeway to do something special here. I am front row ready for this one!

[Dave]

Add in a non-OT character with a wide open backstory...

To me this is critical for a great story.  Its really tough to have characters with known story lines that don't leave writers much room and don't leave tons of suspense for viewers.  Kenobi was nice, but we knew roughly what was and wasn't going to happen with most of the characters.

To me the Rebels / Rogue One timeline is super ripe for telling great stories with mostly or all new characters.