It’s no secret that a hefty chunk of Andor‘s success stems from its willingness to deviate from the more recognizable aspects of the Star Wars franchise; no lightsabers, barely any space battles, a mere whisper of fan service, and not a Skywalker in sight.
Of course, this was all a more-than-welcome omission in the eyes of the fanbase, who have largely been dubbing Andor as one of the greatest Star Wars projects of all-time. After all, to make the space necessary for Tony Gilroy and co.’s masterful fundamentals to flourish, some of those aforementioned staples just had to go.
The show was always telegraphed as one that deviates from the formula, but it’s unlikely that most people were cognizant about just how different it was going to be. We could never have predicted, for example, that Andor would go so far as to grant stormtroopers a passable shooting accuracy, and the folks over at r/StarWars can’t pick their jaws up off the floor after this revelation.
A fair number of responders thanked Andor for doing the dirty work and putting the “stormtroopers can’t aim” joke to bed.
Others suggested that Andor‘s lack of Force users or Force-sensitive characters attributed to the stormtroopers’ increased ability, referencing a theory that it’s the Force that has caused so many to miss their shots in the past.
And a few more applauded the newfound gunplay talents of the stormtroopers, suggesting that it heightened the tension of a show that was already soaring in that department without it.
The first season of Andor is currently available to stream on Disney Plus. A second season, which will also be the final one, is currently in development, so we’ve got 12 more episodes of guaranteed stormtrooper competence; let’s enjoy it while we can.
