I'd say it is the best mature star wars piece of media ever made. Because I (today still, but especially my younger self) do love me some good lightsaber fights or large scale space battles, which we didn't get here. Andor not including those is for the better, but I wouldn't want to completely go without them either.
Andor is a documentary about radicalization, resistance movements, and fascism set in the Star wars universe. It is VERY true to life and based on real revolutions.
It did an excellent job showcasing real politics and social dynamics. Tons of characters and they all had depth.
The first season is very good, the second season is, IMO, some of the best political drama ever produced. It's also highly entertaining.
It was good at all levels - not only did the characters had real human depth as did the story, but it even had details like creating a Gorman language and an actual detailed Gorman fashion, so the Production quality matched the quality of the Script, Direction and Acting.
It's unsurprising that some (maybe many) think this is the best Star Wars ever, at least adult Star Wars.
I saw Rogue One again just after the last episode of Season 2 and whilst they're almost seamslessly linked, you can absolutelly notice the change of pace and story telling style from one to the other: you go from a story of people in the Rebellion to an Action rollercoaster with an almost symbolic bit of background story.
Mind you, both are a pleasure to watch in their own ways, though Rogue One is mainly "chewing gum for the brain" as entertainment goes whilst Andor is a far grander meal.
I just introduced my parents to it. My dad especially is really not in to fantasy media, but he's absolutely hooked on it. They're 6 episodes into season 1. It took until about the 3rd, maybe 4th episode to really get into the swing of things, but after that it's easily the best live action Star Wars has ever been.
Fwiw personally I thought Rogue One was extremely overrated. I didn't particularly care for any of the characters, and I thought some (especially the bizarre "I am one with the Force, the Force is with me" guy) were actively grating. IMO for a lot of the broader public, Rogue One's popular reception rests entirely on the awesome final sequence with Vader, and to a lesser extent on some of the great action leading up to that.
Agreed. Rogue One was basically redeemed with that final act, basically right when it became clear to everyone that no one was getting off that planet alive. But everything leading up to it (aside from the opening) was basically just okay in retrospect, and I found myself rolling my eyes a bit at some of the memberberry cameos like R2 and C3PO just having a random conversation, or bumping into the guy with the weird face from the Tatooine cantina. And uncanny CGI Tarkin, which I remember thinking was fine when I first saw it but now just really sticks out a bit.
Surprisingly, other than the mere presence of some core characters, Andor didn't rely on nostalgia bait at all and I think that really worked to its benefit.
I avoided all media about season 2 until after I had completely finished watching it and then went back and watched reviews etc. Seeing one reviewer who was watching week by week complain about gratuitous fanservice cameos that would turn out in later episodes to actually be core to the story was very amusing. This happened multiple times. To be fair to the reviewer, they didn't say it was some terrible thing, and even at least once described it as being earnt, even if it was out of character for the show.
Spoiler: examples of the above
The reveal at the end of episode 3(?) that they were on Yavin IV, and the inclusion of Senator Organa (whose first episode was seemingly just a minor cameo before he becomes more important in later episodes) are the two that come to mind, but I think there was at least one more.
I've read that the first cameo was just to get people to spend THAT week talking about the Benjamin Bratt re-cast so they'd be calmed down by the time he had something important to do.
Oh that's very interesting. Personally it never occurred to me as something to get upset by. Obviously the actor from 2002 is probably not going to be a great fit to continue playing the character in 2025.
Yeah I’m not that upset about it, but I was at least a bit disappointed that Jimmy Smits couldn’t make it work with his schedule. That’s all it was though, a scheduling conflict. He played the role as recently as 2022 in the Obi-Wan show.
I think this series can be really good for people that don't know Star Wars, too. Anyone that enjoys spy thrillers and political intrigue should really get on well with it.
Yeah, that's exactly why I introduced my parents. I had to assure them it's a political thriller with no Force or lightsabres, and I'm explaining necessary prerequisite knowledge as it comes up (like who Mon Mothma is). I've decided not to tell them about Rogue One, but only episodes III and IV.