The iconic words that grace the beginning of the Star Wars movies tell the audiences that the following happened “a long time ago in a galaxy far, far away.” What this phrase leaves out is how vast and diverse that galaxy is. With the upcoming slate of Star Wars television shows and limited series, it seems it is ever expanding. There is the upcoming Star Wars: The Acolyte, which tells the story of a Sith in training, with Russian Doll co-creator Leslye Headland acting as showrunner. Another upcoming series is Star Wars: Lando which tells the tale of Lando Calrissian’s life and stars Donald Glover. The most recent Star Wars show to be released on Disney Plus, however, is Andor. This show introduces us to a new planet named Kenari.
What is Andor about?
The plot of Andor centers around the journey of Cassian Andor, played by Diego Luna, from refugee to rebel spy. Audiences first met Cassian in the prequel movie Rogue One, and have wanted to know more about the rebel who made the ultimate sacrifice. Because of Rogue One‘s ending, the only way to really do that was to tell his origin story. Although he took some convincing, Tony Gilroy, who co-wrote Rogue One’s screenplay, eventually came on board to deliver a precursor series focused entirely on Cassian.
What do we know about Kenari?
This leads us to the setting of Andor. Thankfully, audiences are finally taken to another location besides Tatooine. Kenari has never been seen or discussed in the Star Wars universe before, but its addition helps tell the story of the Empire’s ruthless colonialism. We learn in the first three episodes that Kenari is a Mid-Rim planet that many have never heard of. It has lush jungle vistas and soil rich in mineral deposits. These mineral deposits are valuable, and the Empire comes to exploit them.
Cassian was once known as Kassa. He lived in a tribe with other young people, including his sister on Kenari. The absence of adults is vital to note. Audiences are not completely sure what happened to them. We are told of a “mining accident” that took place on the planet, which could mean that the Empire’s mining killed them all off. The Empire also could have taken them as slaves. On the planet, the characters speak in a native language that is not translated for audiences. We see a rich culture that the Empire is actively working to destroy.
The flashbacks to Cassian’s past also tell how he came to leave his native home world. An Empire ship crashed, and his tribe went to investigate. After his friend was killed by an Imperial officer, Kassa went on board the vessel. Maarva, a scavenger, found him and took him to live with her to save him from more Imperial officers who would have killed him, subsequently going on to adopt him. His sister is left behind on Kenari, but adult Kassa, now known as Cassian, continues to search for her.
No doubt we will continue to learn about this planet as the series progresses. New episodes of Andor are released every Wednesday.
