Editor’s note: The below contains spoilers for Andor Season 2 Episodes 1-3.
Andorhas made its mark on the Star Wars franchise in many ways. Not only has it offered a look at justhow bleak the galaxy wasprior to the events of the original trilogy, but it’s made secret of how the Empire is a fascist movement. Just in case any fans still need convincing, the Season 2 premieredraws a chilling parallel to real-life WWII history. Around the 20-minute mark, Orson Krennic (Ben Mendelsohn) gathers together high-ranking Imperial officers, including Dedra Meero (Denise Gough), to discuss mining for a special mineral on the planet Ghorman — before adding, almost off-handedly, that said mining operation will lead to Ghorman’s destruction. Krennic also tells his fellow Imperials that they cannot let their plans leak out by any means: “No notes, no records, none of you were here, nobody puts this in their calendar… You’re colleagues, superiors, if they’re not in this room, they’re not cleared for the project. The group in this room is the tightest of closed circles.”
Krennic’s plan reflects the meeting of 15 high-ranking German officers at the Wannsee Conference in 1942, where the “Final Solution” — the orchestrated mass killing of the Jewish people — was enacted.AndorshowrunnerTony Gilroyhas gone on to say thatthis parallel was more than intentional,telling the Hollywood Reporter: “The very first scene that Krennic has where he talks about Ghorman, that’s based on the Wannsee convention — the Nazi convention where the Nazis got together and planned the final solution over a business lunch.” This not only highlights the Empire’s evil, butalso hearkens back to the origins of the Star Wars franchiseand how it draws upon World War II aesthetics.
‘Andor’ Continues a Trend of Star Wars Drawing From Historical Events
Andorisn’t the first time that Star Wars has drawn design and/or story inspiration from historical events.Most of the Empire’s clothing and structure mirrors that of Nazi forces:the Stormtroopers draw their names from theSturmabteilung, the paramilitary unit that helped Adolf Hitler rise to power in the 1930’s, while the slow dismantling of the Republic by the Empire is another parallel. In 2005, Star Wars creatorGeorge Lucasalso divulged the inspiration for his original story: “It was really about theVietnam War, and that was the period where Nixon was trying to run for a [second] term, which got me to thinking historically about how do democracies get turned into dictatorships? Because the democracies aren’t overthrown; they’re given away.” In the same way that Lucas drew upon various touchpoints of history, Gilroy is attempting to use history itself to illustrate how fascism can lead to unspeakable acts.Gilroy even hammered home his intentwithAndorin a Polygoninterview:
“The show was supposed to come out a year ago, [but] for the strikes. So the opportunity of the show was to be given this gigantic canvas and to do a show about revolution. And the opportunity for me was to use all the debris that I’d accumulated in my brain from reading about history that I never thought I’d have a chance to use. So I’m catalogue shopping throughout 6,000 years for all kinds of things I can [use] all the way through the show.”
Gilroy’s approach doesn’t just result in a compelling, often chilling scene;it gives greater meaning to the battles that permeate the Star Wars franchise. The fight between the Rebel Alliance and the Empire might have been depicted as “good versus evil” in the films, but shows likeAndorandStar Wars: Rebelshammer home how destructive the Empire’s reign is. Whole worlds are subjugated, whole races are wiped out, and despite their best efforts, the Rebels find themselves vastly outnumbered. It’s also a reminder that history tends to repeat itself; the Clone Wars in the prequel trilogy set the stage for Palpatine (Ian McDiarmid) to become Emperor, while the sequel trilogy saw the rise of the First Order and the destruction of the New Republic.
Tony Gilroy Reveals Why ‘Andor’ Season 1 Scripts Were Never Released As Promised [Exclusive]
“I wanted to do it. We put it together. It’s really cool. I’ve seen it, I loved it.”
In One Scene, ‘Andor’ Makes the Death Star’s Origin Even More Chilling
Krennic’s pursuit of Ghorman’s minerals surely hides an ulterior motive: he intends to use those minerals to coat the reactor lenses on the Death Star, inching one step further toward completing the planet-killer. The fact that he’s willing to commit genocide to do soonly makes the creation of the Death Star that much more horrifying. This isn’t the first timeAndorhas dived deep into the hidden horrors of the Death Star; when Cassian is imprisoned on Narkina 5 in Season 1, he’s forced to work on machinery with other prisoners until he makes a daring escape. In a post-credits scene, it’s revealed that this machinery was meant to createthe dish that fires the Death Star’s super laser.
Ghorman also won’t be the first genocide committed in the name of creating the Death Star, asStar Wars: Rebelsreveals that the Empire killed off the entire planet of Geonosis after its people helped construct it.Rogue Onetouches upon the tragedy of a brilliant mind like Galen Erso (Mads Mikkelsen) being forced to work on the Death Star, even drawing parallels toJ. Robert Oppenheimer’s creation of the nuclear bomb. The decision to destroy Ghorman shows thatthe “Death” part of the Death Star isn’t just limited to the lives it claims with its massive laser, but the blood shed to create it.
The Fallout of Ghorman Leads to a Major Turning Point in Star Wars History
When the Imperials make their plans to destroy Ghorman, they couldn’t know that it would ultimately lead to their defeat. The fall of Ghorman leads to Mon Mothma (Genevieve O’Reilly) publicly holding Emperor Palpatine responsible for its people’s massacre,and launching a speech that brings together the Rebel Alliance. This is a major turning point; up until Mothma’s declaration, the Rebels were mostly separate cells, conducting their own missions.Andoris hurtling toward this moment,with “One Year Later” showcasing how the disjointed elements of the Rebel Alliance put Cassian Andor (Diego Luna) in danger despite him being on the same side as a Rebel cell, and Mothma having to deal with the fallout of her decision to fund the Rebel Alliance. This is a perfect parallel to Krennic’s meeting with the Imperials; it shows that while there might be those who try to seize power, there’s also those who are pushed hard enough to fight back.
New episodes ofAndorpremiere Tuesdays on Disney+.
