‘Andor’ fans disturbed and horrified as ‘Star Wars’ gets darker than it ever has before

This article contains spoilers for Andor episode 9

Andor‘s ninth episode is here, and let’s just say it isn’t exactly a lighthearted romp through a galaxy far, far away. Our hero is still trapped in the nightmare manufacturing prison on Narkina 5, his friend Bix is being brutally interrogated by the ISB, and the net is slowly closing in on Mon Mothma.

We got a truly brutal torture sequence involving the screams of dying children, mass murder of prisoners, a character being euthanized in front of his friends, and a truly painful dose of passive-aggressive misery from Syril Karn’s mom. All of which adds up to something a million miles away from usual Star Wars fare. Fans are, to say the least, shocked:

The Imperial torture device was one of the most brutal things we’ve ever seen in Star Wars:

Is this the most evil the Empire has ever been?

Andor is truly gripping television:

We agree that this really shows why the Empire must be destroyed:

With Andy Serkis’ Kino Loy now on board with the escape plan after learning the dark truth that prisoners aren’t released but just recycled back into the system, expect a prison break next week. However, with the ISB slowly closing in on Luthen, and Mon Mothma forced to make a deal with the Coruscant underworld, we anticipate yet more incredibly tense drama. It’s going to be a long wait for next week’s episode.

Andor airs Wednesdays on Disney Plus.