'Andor': A look at the latest 'Star Wars' series on Disney+

‘The Rogue Ones: A Star Wars Andor Podcast’ returns with hosts Mike DeAngelo and The Playlist’s Editor-In-Chief, Rodrigo Perez. As with the previous episodes, each week, our hosts will recap and review the latest “Andor” episode and welcome cast members and creatives from the show to discuss all things “Andor” and all the intrigue and machination of the “Star Wars” galaxy.

It’s been about seven months since the release of “The Batman” in theaters. And upon seeing the film, one of the most talked about scenes involves a tease for a new version of Joker played by none other than Barry Keoghan.

Christian Bale has had a lifelong dream of being in Star Wars.

Actor Ebon Moss-Bachrach is riding high at the moment. Known initially for his work in Lena Dunham’s “Girls,” his breakthrough appearance essentially, in the ensuing years, he’s put in the work and been in all kinds of indies, dramas, and varied film and TV works.

Star Wars instalments is London. Londoners who watch Star Wars: Andor on Disney+ might even recognise a few of the places they see in the background. Far from being on another planet, the filming is actually done at Canary Wharf Underground Station, along the London Docklands.

“Andor” Episode 4 just debuted on Disney+ in the “Star Wars” series’ second week of release (the first three episodes were dropped on premiere day), and more than anything, this installment of the series cements that the new show is a very different approach to a galaxy far, far away. And that, according to showrunner Tony Gilroy, was entirely by design.“Andor” follows the radicalization of Cassian Andor (Diego Luna), who we last saw giving his life for the nascent Rebellion in “Rogue One.” The show eschews the almost videogame-like plotting of Lucasfilm’s breakout series “The Mandalorian” for something grittier and earthier; textures feel tactile; characters feel troubled and broken, they look for their way and move in with their parents; dialogue is emphasized.

‘The Rogue Ones: A Star Wars Andor Podcast’ returns with hosts Mike DeAngelo and The Playlist’s Editor-In-Chief, Rodrigo Perez. As with the previous episodes, each week, our hosts will recap and review the latest “Andor” episode and welcome cast members and creatives from the show to discuss all things “Andor” and maybe a few other “Star Wars” properties.

Naman Ramachandran Propstore has revealed details of its annual live action auction of film and TV memorabilia, with the items on offer expected to fetch in excess of $12.6 million. Over 1,500 lots will be sold during the auction. Top items to be sold at the auction – with estimated sale prices – include: • Superman’s (Christopher Reeve) complete costume from the Superman franchise (1978-1987): $287,270-574,540. • Darth Vader’s (Dave Prowse) gloves from “Star Wars: A New Hope” (1977): $172,362-287,270.

It’s a more intricate and complex Star Wars than you’ve ever seen.

A new “Star Wars” show is upon us. That’s right, with the release of the first three episodes of Disney+’s “Andor,” Editor-In-Chief of The Playlist, Rodrigo Perez and Co-Host Mike DeAngelo dust off their blasters and launch into a galaxy far, far away with a brand-new podcast dedicated to what the hosts are calling “the evolution of Star Wars.” On what we’re officially called ‘The Rogue Ones: A Star Wars Andor Podcast,’ each week our hosts will recap and review the latest “Andor” episode and welcome cast members and creatives from the show to discuss all things “Andor” and maybe a few other “Star Wars” properties.

SYFY noted the historic mention of sex, which happens in the first 10 minutes of the show, “makes the show an absolute game-changer for the nearly 50-year-old franchise.”Creator Tony Gilroy told Rolling Stone magazine that the very first scene of the first episode opens with a trip to a brothel, which leaves viewers in no doubt about the show’s tone.“It sure is a good tell when you turn in that first episode for them to say, ‘Whoa! OK, this is what the show’s gonna be like,’”“It was a marker, but it’s also good for the story. It served double duty.”The series marks a transition for the sex-less franchise, which has always been geared to more family-friendly content.

Anna Tingley If you purchase an independently reviewed product or service through a link on our website, Variety may receive an affiliate commission. Yet another “Star Wars” series arrives on Disney+ today, this time a “prequel of a prequel” that centers around Diego Luna’s Cassian Andor following his home planet’s destruction and the rise of the Rebel Alliance. “Andor,” whose first three episodes premiered on the streamer on Sept. 21, stars Luna as the eponymous Rebel leader. It’s mostly set five years before the events of “Rogue One” with the exception of some flashback scenes tracing Andor’s childhood. Written by “Rogue One” co-writer Tony Gilroy, the series serves as an enthralling set-up to the dramatic mission that takes place in the 2016 film, which sees Cassian’s “Star Wars” legacy solidified when he successfully steals the Death Star plans.

“Andor” is the first Star Wars live-action show that does not star a Jedi or a bounty hunter. Instead, the series focuses on the beginning whispers of the Rebellion through the eyes of Cassian Andor, an assassin and a Rebel spy introduced during the last days of his life in “Rogue One: A Star Wars Story.” And it’s all the better for it, resulting in one of the best “Star Wars” stories yet told.The series chronicles the five years leading up to the events of “Rogue One” and takes place just four years after “Obi-Wan Kenobi,” the most recent Star Wars live-action series to debut on Disney+. In the four episodes released to the press, there are no Skywalkers or Sith yet, no light sabers or force users.

Caroline Framke Chief TV Critic “Andor” is, both by design and circumstance, immediately different from its “Star Wars” television predecessors. Where “The Mandalorian,” “Boba Fett,” and “Obi-Wan Kenobi” wove their biggest reveals into the larger fabric of the Lucasfilm universe, “Andor” doesn’t rush toward those moments that might make fans gasp out of pure recognition. Instead, it does something more surprising still: it tells the story of people who have nothing to do with Solos, Skywalkers or Palpatines, but whose lives matter nonetheless. Of course, at least part of the reason the series can take its time this way is because haunted hustler Cassian Andor (Diego Luna, also an executive producer) isn’t a brand-new character at all. As the reluctant hero of 2016’s “Rogue One,” which portrayed the rebel pilot mission to steal the Death Star plans which drive “A New Hope,” Cassian’s “Star Wars” legacy is already written. We already know Cassian’s life will eventually intersect with someone like rebel leader Mon Mothma (Genevieve O’Reilly, returning for more in-depth work in “Andor”). We already know his fate — dramatic and hopeful and unforgettable in those final minutes of “Rogue One” — and that it’s well and truly sealed.  

Despite that online halfwit insisting, “politics have no place in ‘Star Wars,’” or some nonsense about wokeness, I’m sorry to break it to you that George Lucas’ films have always been, in fact, political from the jump. It is an era where a totalitarian regime rules the galaxy with an iron fist wiping out all dissidents and agitators, after all.

Michaela Zee editor Diego Luna never expected Cassian Andor to return to “Star Wars” following the Rebel spy’s heroic sacrifice in 2016’s “Rogue One: A Star Wars Story.” “I was shocked,” Luna told Variety at the “Andor” premiere in Los Angeles on Thursday. However, the titular star was ecstatic about the concept, saying that the show is “a beautiful journey, and an inspiring one.” “I think ‘Rogue One’ is a film about an event, but you don’t get to know much about these characters,” Luna said. “This long format [is] a great way to go deep into who they are and why they make the choices they make.” 

Diego Luna remains shocked that he’s involved in the franchise. In an appearance at The Late Late Show With James Corden, Luna talked about how he first got involved with Star Wars and how, upon meeting with the film’s director, Luna thought he was going to be asked for Gael Garcia Bernal’s number.Diego Luna is back on ‘Star Wars’ and shares why fear is a motivator for his workEiza González joins Gael Garcia Bernal and Diego Luna in new showLuna was at the show alongside Elisabeth Moss, and was asked about how he first got involved with the project. “It was fun, I received a call,” said Luna.

There’s a lot of “Star Wars” to come before “The Acolyte” makes its Disney+ debut. But the more news that breaks about the upcoming show, the more exciting it sounds.

Star Wars series Andor has received positive first reactions after the first four episodes were released to critics.The Disney+ series is a prequel series set five years before events in 2016 film Rogue One. Diego Luna reprises his role as revolutionary Cassian Andor during the formative years of the Rebel Alliance, as they mount in opposition to the Galactic Empire.The series is created by Rogue One co-writer Tony Gilroy, and stars Genevieve O’Reilly as senator Mon Mothma, Stellan Skarsgard as Luthen and Forest Whitattaker as Saw Gerrera.