Andor Trailer Breakdown -- Our Main Theories Going Into the Show

Following the release of the new Andor trailer, we'd like to take a closer look at it and try to figure out what the show has in store for us. We cannot stress enough that what follows is pure speculation from this writer, and there is a high chance it will all be wrong. But there is a lot of fun to be had analyzing this trailer while we wait for the show to come out, so let's get into it!



The Empire is in expansion mode. We already saw hints of this in the first teaser, with the opening drums, but the threat seems bigger than ever when the Star Destroyer appears in the sky. From what we've seen in both trailers, my guess is that we are going to open the series with the Empire invading a planet, where I think we will find Diego Luna's Cassian Andor.



The place we see in the first three shots of the trailer, ending with a massive Star Destroyer eclipsing the Sun in a shot very reminiscent of the opening moments of A New Hope, seems to be from the Scottish Highlands. We know that the series built at least two sets there while filming in 2021, and some of the pictures taken from one of them (check them out here) seem to be from the same place as these shots from the teaser trailer:



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My guess is that we are also getting reaction shots to the Imperial attack from another location on this planet that we already saw in the first teaser and that look to have been shot at Black Park. We know that the series filmed in this classic Star Wars shooting location in May 2021, and the pictures that leaked online (which you can see here) match the ones seen in the trailer:



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Next to that Imperial Star Destroyer, we see two groups of three small dots, which look like the three carriers that appeared in the last teaser trailer:



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I believe they are about to attack a village, in a scene we've seen in the trailers a few times. This is where we saw a man sound the alarm in the first teaser, where Denise Gough's Supervisor Dedra Meero appears later in this new trailer next to Death Troopers, and where we see lines of Stormtroopers marching and Imperial officers going from door to door:



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And more importantly, it's where we meet Adria Arjona:







Notice that the lighting and aesthetics of all of these scenes match. The set also looks like the one where we first see Cassian in the Celebration teaser, but there, the lighting is different. So there are two options -- either they are the same location but depicted during different points of the day, or they are two different villages from maybe two different planets. Here's my guess, based on what we've seen in the trailer and what we know from the show (keep in mind, this is pure speculation and it will probably be shut down in the first few minutes of the show, probably for a better storyline).



We know that the series is structured in four arcs of three episodes each. We also know that the crew spent a lot of time shooting in a gigantic set in Buckinghamshire, which looks like the village in this scene. So my guess is that the first three episodes will be spent with Cassian away from the fight, possibly hopeless after so many defeats ('I'm tired of losing' is not just a random line, more on this later) and trying to stay away from everything. He might be there with Adria Arjona, who is possibly playing his love interest (his sister is also a possibility, but I think it's less likely). Unfortunately for her, we haven't seen much of the character outside of this village, which makes me think that she is not making it out alive of the third episode. Her death might be what causes Cassian to leave and eventually run into Stellan Skarsgård's Luthen Rael.



From what we've seen so far, the only possible interaction between Diego Luna and Adria Arjona seems to be this one, though the character on the right is kept in the dark and I'm not so sure if she is Adria:







Therefore, my prediction is that after she is gone, Cassian escapes, leading to this scene:







Now, there is still one scene that is seemingly in this location that I haven't placed -- it is the opening scene of the first teaser, with the drummer from the watchtower (see image below). After watching that first teaser, it looked like he was sounding the alarm, letting everyone know that the Empire was coming. However, looking back on it now, and after trying to contextualize the rest, I wonder if he is just announcing a curfew. The scene takes place during nightfall, but earlier than the scene above, judging from the amount of natural light. The character in that watchtower also doesn't have the sense of urgency that the other character that sounds the alarm during the day has -- the stormtrooper patrol from the scene above could be just to make sure nobody is on the streets after the sunset, which is why Cassian is hiding from them. Again, this is pure speculation, but the pieces seemingly come together... until we watch the series in context and realize everything was wrong.







We continue on with Cassian, who we assume has now left town. My guess is that he leaves via the junkyard we see in the first teaser, where there are some workers. Why? Well, we know that he has a companion droid in the series named B2-EMO, who we saw in the Celebration teaser in that place, so it's possible that the droid was just working there and Cassian is picking him up before leaving the planet. Here is a visual breakdown of what I think is the order of events:



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Before we move on, there is one more thing we should address from the trailer. One of the most breathtaking shots that we've seen is this image of a little kid looking at a post-apocalyptic landscape:



Kassa (Antonio Viña) in Lucasfilm's ANDOR, exclusively on Disney+. ©2022 Lucasfilm Ltd. & TM. All Rights Reserved.



We see this kid in a few more scenes out of context, so there's little to speculate here... or is there? Lucasfilm's official description of the image mentions that this is a character named Kassa, played by Antonio Viña. So he is a character around six years old, played by a Latino actor, and whose name is 'Kassa'. It's certainly thought-provoking. Here's what I think is going on.



We know since the release of Rogue One's tie-in books that Cassian's parents were Separatists. Diego Luna also has the famous line 'I've been in this fight since I was six years old', which I always thought was a great setup for the series. I think we are seeing a young Cassian Andor, who at the time goes by Kassa, who has just lost his parents in the Clone Wars. This is also a prediction I have on the bingo card for the series -- we are going to get some Clone Wars action, which is probably where the show's lightsaber will be ignited. As he goes into hiding, he probably changed his name to go unnoticed. We see a few additional shots of the kid, hinting that he could be a key player in the show, and in one of them, he breaks into what looks like an abandoned ship. If it is indeed Cassian, he could meet B2-EMO in one of these scenes, while he's scavenging to survive.







My guess is that shortly after this, he meets someone from the other side who will recruit him to fight for them. This someone could either be Luthen Rael, or it could be someone that Rael meets during the series and that points him to Cassian, as we learn in the trailer that it is indeed Luthen who signs him up for the Rebellion. In this new trailer, we see Skarsgård with two different hairstyles, which could hint at two different timelines. I guess that in flashbacks he will have longer hair, and then shorter hair in the main timeline of the show.



Notice that in the scene where he recruits Cassian, Skarsgård has short hair, but Diego Luna has a full-grown beard. Turning on the speculation mode again, I bet this is from the beginning of the fourth episode -- Gilroy already hinted that there could be some time jumps in between arcs, and it makes sense that the second arc of the series starts with Cassian's mission for the Rebel Alliance.







And Skarsgård is very much in recruiting mode. 'I need all the heroes I can get', says Nick Fury -I mean Luthen Rael- in the trailer. Trying to fulfill that role, he reaches out to Saw Gerrera, who makes his triumphant return in the trailer. Obviously, we met him for the first time in The Clone Wars, and the general audience was introduced to his live-action version in Rogue One. Forest Whitaker is reprising the role here, something that Stellan Skarsgård had already confirmed last year. I was semi-surprised that they revealed this in the trailer, but I guess that Tony Gilroy may have had something to do with the marketing -- the showrunner couldn't care less about Lucasfilm's mystery box tactics, as he showed during Star Wars Celebration, and probably didn't care that they were showing the character. Skarsgård had indeed confirmed Whitaker's return, but it happened so long ago that most people had forgotten, judging from the reactions online.



Apparently, both actors share a couple of scenes in the series, or at least that's what Skarsgård said (he also said that most of his scenes are with Cassian), but I have to wonder what will Gerrera's role in the series be. I'm very curious to see the outcome of this scene -- Gerrera is obviously not going to be one of Luthen's 'Avengers', but I don't think the scene will end with him shutting the door on Skarsgård either (if nothing else, Gerrera didn't seem to completely disagree with him) -- it would basically make for a pointless cameo.



(L-R): Saw Gerrera (Forest Whitaker) and Luthen Rael (Stellan Skarsgard) in Lucasfilm's ANDOR, exclusively on Disney+. ©2022 Lucasfilm Ltd. & TM. All Rights Reserved.



There are some possible outcomes that are actually very interesting. One possibility is that we get a representative from Saw's Partisans on Luthen's team -- this would create great character tension, as the Partisans are the more extremist faction of the Rebellion, and seeing them clash with other Rebels would make for a fascinating exchange. If I were a writer on the show, I would definitely push for having an entire episode dedicated to the different factions of the Rebel Alliance argue with one another, like an extended version of the roundtable scene we got in Rogue One. It will never happen, but if it did, it would probably be my favorite episode of the series.



Another possibility is that Luthen recruits Saw for whatever mission he's planning, but he has a side mission where he doesn't interact as much with the rest of the cast. A relevant subplot that will be just enough to give us a few more scenes of Whitaker in the role, and also show us the more extremist side of the Rebellion, which is something I'm fascinated to see in the series. A third possibility comes to mind, which is that while they are on this base, the Empire attacks them and we don't get a resolution either way. I'm more fascinated by the former two, and there are obviously more possible outcomes, but I think these have a good chance of coming to fruition.



The scenes in Saw's base were clearly shot at the Winspit Quarry in Dorset, England. The exterior shot from the image below is very reminiscent of the pictures here.  Also, as a member of the Star Wars News Net writing staff, I am contractually obligated to mention that the character in this shot is none other than Benthic, a member of Enfys Nest's group in Solo:



Benthic outside of Saw Gerrera's den



A quick final note from Skarsgård -- the scene in the teaser where he's looking through the binoculars seems to take place a few moments after the scene where he leaves the ship in this new trailer. In this new scene, we get a clear shot of his ship, which looks very similar to the prop that was being built in these pictures taken on the second set the show built in the Highlands.



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From Skarsgård, we go to Mon Mothma. It's definitely interesting that she didn't have as big of a presence in the trailer as I think she will in the show. From how the marketing campaign has played out so far, I get the sense that Genevieve O'Reilly will basically be Cassian's female co-star. However, her part in the trailer is relegated to the last few moments, while Luthen Rael, whose part is apparently rather smaller (Skarsgård said in the aforementioned interview that he has one scene per episode, on average), got the spotlight for a good chunk of the trailer.



In the trailer, we see long-hair Skarsgård interact with Mon Mothma, and he also says the line 'I've just been hiding for too long.' I wonder if this is how Luthen got into the Rebellion in the first place, and if so, I wonder if it was Mon Mothma who pulled him in. Or at least back in. I'm also very curious to see when these scenes take place. We know that Mon Mothma will be an Imperial Senator in the series, but I wonder if these long-hair scenes are actually from the Republic era. From the deleted scene in Revenge of the Sith we know that she was already a key political player at the time, and Andor could recontextualize that moment (which isn't canon in the first place).







The trailer also hints that she is looking for political allies in Coruscant and not necessarily succeeding. In the Celebration teaser she already said that the Empire is starting to be suspicious of her, and we might have seen why now. It's also fascinating to me that we haven't seen our two lead characters talk to each other yet, so I wonder if they'll even meet this season. An interesting possibility would be if Mon Mothma was trying to recruit allies in the Imperial Senate, unbeknownst to Luthen Rael recruiting heroes for his mission, and vice versa. But at some point, it is Luthen who brings Mon Mothma into the Rebel Alliance, and thus introduces her to Cassian.



So, to wrap up, what is this mission? From Cassian's line 'To steal from the Empire? You just walk in like you belong', it looks like we got ourselves another heist adventure, much like Rogue One was. Now, before we start sounding the alarm as if there was a Star Destroyer in the sky, we should keep in mind that this could be just a subplot of the series, the adventure of one of the season's four arcs (possibly the second one, if I were to guess). But above everything else, I think there is a major difference with Rogue One -- this will not end up well for Cassian. We already see a shot later in the trailer of Cassian in what looks like an Imperial prison, so I'm guessing that, despite being very confident about it, the Empire caught him:



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There are still a few loose ends on the trailer that I honestly don't have a lot of ideas for. We saw a couple of other shots of Fiona Shaw as Maarva, who I'm guessing will be the leader of another Rebel cell. It looks like B2-EMO is with her, so Cassian is probably around as well, but I don't really know anything else about it. I would love it if she was another Saw-like figure in the Rebellion, in that she disagrees with other leaders like, maybe, Mon Mothma.



We also get a quick shot of Kyle Soller as Syril Karn, but I'm guessing that this is another angle from the scene we saw him in in the previous teaser. He is an Imperial officer, possibly a Sargeant, and we also got a quick glimpse at him in a shot included above, but we don't really know anything about him. That being said, I wonder if he will be this series' Agent Kallus, and he'll end up defecting from the Empire.



(L-R): Officer #3 (Alex Austin) and Syril Karn (Kyle Soller) in Lucasfilm's ANDOR, exclusively on Disney+. ©2022 Lucasfilm Ltd. & TM. All Rights Reserved.



Finally, the subtitles of the trailer revealed the names of three more characters:



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While I don't have more theories on the trailer, I would like to quickly address the slight delay that was announced for the series premiere. Instead of debuting its first two episodes on August 31, Andor will now have a three-episode premiere on September 21. This will allow us to see the entire first arc of the series in full on the first day, and get a sense of what the show is really about. No official explanation has been given for the delay, but there is reason to believe it is purely strategical. And there are probably two factors at play here.



One, which may be the most important one, is She-Hulk. The new Marvel series debuts on Disney Plus on August 17, and so far, it hasn't had the reception the studio was probably expecting. Both shows are still overlapping (She-Hulk is 9 episodes, so they will share four Wednesdays on Disney Plus), but with this delay, Disney is giving audiences more time to get attached to the show before they bury it underneath Andor (this would be easier if they released the shows on different weekdays, but it seems like that's not something they do, for whatever reason).



Another reason is that Andor was going to open two days before the series premiere of the most expensive show of all time, The Rings of Power, which is inevitably also bringing the most expensive marketing campaign in streaming history. For that reason, Amazon might steal the entire week, and they didn't want to fall in second place. This is a bit of old-school thinking on my part (and on Disney's part if they delayed it because of this), as shows are not competing against each other anymore for advertising money, like they used to during the cable network days. But there is certainly something to be said about the heavy presence The Rings of Power will have online, and maybe Andor simply can't compete with it.



Mon Mothma (Genevieve O'Reilly) in Lucasfilm's ANDOR, exclusively on Disney+. ©2022 Lucasfilm Ltd. & TM. All Rights Reserved.



To wrap up, this trailer was fantastic, and I am probably not the only one who is more pumped than ever for this series. I loved Obi-Wan Kenobi, but I'm now in the mood for a great political/spy thriller set in this universe. What did you think of the trailer? Did we miss anything major, or do you think we are already flat-out wrong on one of these theories? Let us know!



https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cKOegEuCcfw



NOTE: A previous version of this story listed the actress playing Kleya as unidentified. She has now been identified as British actress Elizabeth Dulau. She will be a series regular, though no more details are known at this point about the character.



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