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When Andor was first announced, some people who questioned whether the Star Wars franchise was once again spending too much time in its past than looking to the future. However, the 12-part series has been roundly praised by fans and critics alike, and the finale has seen the franchise trending on Twitter as fans celebrated “the greatest Star Wars TV show ever.”Of course, some have not been quite as enthusiastic about Andor. The Rogue One prequel series has dispensed with lightsaber battles and The Force and delivered a thoughtful and dramatic departure from the usual Star Wars fare. This seems to have worked massively in its favor in the same way that Rogue One was hailed as one of the best recent Star Wars movies for daring not to feel like a Star Wars movie.As the finale brought the first season of Andor to a close, if a second season were already not in play anyway, it would certainly be getting a big green light from Lucasfilm right now. With over 40,000 mentions on Twitter, the finale delivered for most Star Wars fans, who are now eagerly awaiting the next part of the story.One user commented, “Andor is simply one of the best TV shows of the year. Raw, poignant, tragic. It takes the themes Rogue One had presented to us but actually does something meaningful with them. For somebody who claims not to be a Star Wars fan, Tony Gilroy gets the saga’s core better than most.” This is a sentiment that seems to be mirrored by many, as can be seen in the below comments.
Is The Future of Star Wars To Be Less Star Wars?
For the last few years, the Star Wars franchise has been all about Disney+ TV shows such as The Mandalorian. This is something that Lucasfilm president Kathleen Kennedy promised will change soon as the franchise looks to reassert itself as a cinematic experience. Following the success of Andor, the real question is whether those new movies should try to emulate the past or look to build a new future.
The Star Wars franchise was built on the story of Luke Skywalker and the sci-fi-fantasy world of lightsabers, duels, alien warlords and a battle against the Empire's might. However, after over 45 years, should the franchise look for something beyond this? Andor doesn’t really help answer that question, as the series is still set within the known Star Wars universe but certainly isn’t a quintessential Star Wars series.
With several potential directors planning to bring Star Wars back to the big screen in the next few years, it will be interesting to see where the franchise goes next. While names like Taika Waititi and Rian Johnson are just two of the directors potentially being lined up, fans will have to wait a little longer to find out where the franchise heads next beyond the current Disney+ lineup.