Star Wars: Andor Season 2 Footage Reaction: Higher Stakes And The Return Of The Best Droid [D23]
Everyone, say it with me now: Fight the Empire!
Against all odds, season 1 of the Disney+ series "Andor" ended up establishing a new standard for the entire "Star Wars" franchise to live up to upon its debut in September 2022. The prequel series to "Rogue One: A Star Wars Story" revealed how Cassian Andor (Diego Luna) first rose from a total nobody on a backwater planet to a reckless trafficker of illegal items to, ultimately, a spy in service of the nascent Rebel Alliance. Creator Tony Gilroy's darker, more mature take on the material instantly set it apart from the rest of the series, while the sheer efficiency of the well-written scripts left fans eager to see where this story would take them next. It's been a long, long wait for its next season, but that patience is finally about to pay off.
This week marks Disney's ever-popular convention known as D23, and naturally, we have boots on the ground in /Film's Jacob Hall to cover all the major announcements, reveals, and updates. Of all the highly-anticipated franchises under the conglomerate's umbrella, the Lucasfilm hype surrounding "Star Wars" stands as one of the most exciting — in terms of both quantity and quality. We've known that "Andor" season 2 would likely premiere sometime in 2025 and feature returning characters such as Andor, Mon Mothma (Genevieve O'Reilly), the villainous Syril Karn (Kyle Soller) and Dedra Meero (Denise Gough), Ben Mendelsohn's Orson Krennic, and, of course, the main Rebel with a cause Luthen Rael (Stellan Skarsgård).
For the first time in quite a while, however, we now have new information about what to expect from "Andor" season 2. Read on for all the details!
Alan Tudyk is back as K2!
Diego Luna took the stage to introduce the second season, greeting everyone in Spanish and continuing to be the sweetest man on this side of the galaxy. "In many ways, 'Rogue One' changed my life," he said. "I've lived with Cassian Andor for almost 10 years now." He said that his goal was to complete the story and bring it full circle to "Rogue One," with season 2 covering four years of Andor's life, with the audience seeing him grow into the man we were first introduced to on the big screen.
"The stakes are greater, the enemies more organized, and the clock is ticking," he said. Luna continued, "Cassian is fueled by a sense of purpose," meaning, the fight for freedom and a better tomorrow. D23 audiences were shown a sizzle reel of season 2, which didn't include a whole lot of new footage worth describing but there was the confirmation that Alan Tudyk is returning as K2, the beloved droid from "Rogue One!" As for the footage, it sounds like "Andor" is getting much more intense for the second season, and a sizzle reel before the whole presentation also showed a fancily-dressed Cassian. Ooh-la-la!
Jacob Hall tells us there's some seriously big-scale action, including explosions and bombings on steps and streets, and Rebels running away as stormtroopers are blown to bits. And although he was only on screen for a few seconds, Ben Mendelsohn was shown once again as Krennic, glowing, and staring menacingly. Other stand-out moments include someone riding on a hover bike through a wheat field, and plenty more of the K2 security droids.
"Andor" season 2 is due out sometime in early 2025.