Disney has used a few different tactics to promote Andor ahead of the debut of its second season. There was an upbeat trailer and a free release of some first season episodes on YouTube. But it seems like the strategy its settled on just before release is one of doomed heroism, which is a perfect fit for the only Star Wars show to get the Rebel Alliance right.
The trailer itself is fairly light on plot details, but it does include the important things. For instance, we see all the rebels from season 1 are still kicking, and we know that they are indeed looking into the Death Star more directly this time around — just like the end of season 1 hinted at. We also get a look at Krennic (Ben Mendelsohn, returning to his Rogue One role), one of the Death Star’s principle architects.
More importantly than the trailer’s plot, however, is its overall tone, which matches Andor season 1’s perfectly. We get appearances from Cassian himself (Diego Luna), Luthen Rael (Stellan Skarsgård), Saw Gerrera (Forest Whitaker), and more, all giving their best speeches about the importance of the Rebel’s mission, and acknowledgements of how even success for their team will mean death. It’s all right in line with the solemnness of the first season, and a good indication that we’re once again in for some excellent television.
The fact is, the Rebellion in Star Wars has often gotten the short end of the narrative stick. They mostly have their act together in A New Hope — even if they have to get saved by Luke — but by the time we get to the end of Return of the Jedi, they’re in a bit of disarray. Then the sequel trilogy shows us that apparently they’re totally inept at governing and mostly let the Empire stick around in the form of the First Order, making us wonder what we were rooting for in the first place.
Thankfully, Andor’s first season (and now hopefully its second) exists to show us that somewhere in the Rebellion was a group of people who understood perfectly what they were fighting for, and would do anything in their power to rid the galaxy of fascism — even if it all resulted in Palpatine returning somehow anyway. But regardless of the not-so-great conclusion to the Rebels’ story in the rest of the series, at least Andor season 2 seems to be closing this chapter out with dignity.
Andor season 2 is set for release on Disney Plus starting on April 22.
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