By David Craig

Published: Monday, 16 January 2023 at 12:00 am

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Star Wars fans have hailed Andor as one of the franchise’s best series and, lucky for all of us, it’s coming back for season 2.

The finale of the epic series saw Cassian Andor (Diego Luna) return to Ferrix for his mother’s funeral, only to find himself in the middle of a fierce battle between the local population and the oppressive Empire.

Although we might not get to see it for a while yet, season 2 will have plenty of questions to answer after the first season saw Andor evolve into the devout rebel operative we first met in Rogue One: A Star Wars Story.

We’re set to see all the key moments leading up to Andor’s heroic sacrifice on the planet Scarif, during a mission to retrieve the Death Star plans.

While specific plot details are thin on the ground, Luna has confirmed that season 2 will lead into Rogue One in a huge way.

“This next season ends with the beginning of Rogue One and we all know what happens then,” he told Deadline.

“We’re working really hard with the same amount of rigour and energy and passion and it’s lovely to be hearing so much love about the show from audiences because that keeps us fighting to do an even better second season.”

Read on for all your essential information on Andor season 2 on Disney Plus, including all the cast set to return and where the journey will take us next.

Andor season 2 release date speculation

Disney Plus is yet to announce a release date for Andor season 2, but it’s safe to say that it won’t be any time soon.

When the first season launched, showrunner Tony Gilroy said he expects to be working on the show for another two years, suggesting that the follow-up may not land until autumn 2024.

“We start shooting in November on part two. Our past pattern was two years… We’ll shoot from November to August, and then our post[-production] last time was about a year,” he explained to The Wrap.

Andor season 2 cast

Most of the Andor cast is expected to return for the second season in some capacity, which will be led once more by Diego Luna in the titular role.

Based on the recent finale, it seems that Stellan Skarsgård will continue to be a key player in season 2 as rebel spy Luthen Rael, along with his longtime associates Vel (Faye Marsay) and Cinta (Varada Sethu).

The climactic episode also saw three of Andor’s friends escape the Empire’s attack on Ferrix – Bix Caleen (Adria Arjona), Brasso (Joplin Sibtain) and adorable droid B2EMO – with the fugitive promising that he’ll reunite with them one day.

Disney

A great hero needs a great villain to face off with and Cassian has two, with Kyle Soller’s Syril Karn and Denise Gough’s Dedra Meero seeming likely to combine their dastardly plans in the second season.

Meanwhile, on Coruscant, embattled politician Mon Mothma, played by Genevieve O’Reilly, will continue organising the rebellion as her personal life completely unravels.

Tony Gilroy has also hinted that Andy Serkis could return as Empire prisoner Kino Loy, although this is still to be confirmed.

As fans expected, the first season of Andor had quite a high bodycount, killing off Maarva (Fiona Shaw), Nemik (Alex Lawther) and Skeen (Ebon Moss-Bachrach), all of whom are unlikely to reappear – except, perhaps, in flashback.

What could happen in Andor season 2? Plot theories

Disney

Tony Gilroy has teased what’s coming down the line for Andor in several interviews, including a conversation with Rolling Stone where he promised things will be “very different” when the show returns.

“The first year is really about him becoming, and the last line of this tranche of 12 episodes will sum up where we’ve been trying to get to. And we come back a year later. It’ll be very different,” he began.

“The next four years [of story] are not about becoming a revolutionary. They’re about learning to be a leader and how difficult it is to put the alliance together and what happens to people who are the original gangsters versus the establishment and a lot of different other issues.”

Andor season 2 will have a new narrative structure, skipping forward one year for every three episodes, but Gilroy has promised that the show won’t feel any less detailed.

“What becomes interesting is now we can play the negative space. When you jump a year, what happened in between? You know the people, you know what their trajectory was. It’s energising,” he continued while speaking to Rolling Stone.

Disney+

“People grow up and people get tired and people betray each other and people change their minds and people get weak and people get crazy.”

Gilroy has also said that Andor season 2 will tie in more directly with the main Star Wars saga, as it begins hurtling towards the events of A New Hope at lightspeed, with the rebel base on Yavin 4 set to be a key location in the story.

The showrunner let that detail slip while discussing a new addition to the writing team with Collider.

“Tom Bissell is really cool and really, really interesting, versatile, really good writer,” he said. “But also a very, very, very big Star Wars fan, which we really wanted to make sure we had another pro because we’re going into Rogue [One].

“We’re going to Yavin, and then we’re going into places where we eventually need to really weave our way back to the source.”

Is there an Andor season 2 trailer?

Not just yet, but we’ll update this page the moment that new footage drops.

Andor is available to stream on Disney Plus now. New episodes arrive weekly. Sign up to Disney Plus for £7.99 a month or £79.90 for a year.

Check out more of our Sci-Fi coverage or visit our TV Guide or Streaming Guide to see what’s on tonight.

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