Andor Gives Star Wars Fans the Spy Thriller They’ve Always Wanted

“Don’t you want to fight these bastards for real?”

That’s the key question Luthen Rael (Stellan Skarsgard) poses to Cassian (Diego Luna) early in the first season of Andor, but it’s a perspective the young scavenger has never really considered. For Cassian, life is about getting by, about being so forgettable that you can sneak into a rebel base, steal something small, and no one will notice. It’s never been about “sticking it to the man,” it’s about survival, and using the Empire’s arrogance for his own benefit.

Even though Cassian never verbalizes an answer to Luthen’s question, viewers already know the answer. The journey from ruffian to rebel leads to a layered thriller that makes show creator Tony Gilroy’s new series a unique and addictive look at yet another fascinating aspect of the growing Star Wars universe. It’s also an excellent examination of an indelible character that first made his mark in 2016.

Star Wars fans first met Cassian Andor in what is arguably the best film in the franchise since the original trilogy. In Rogue One, which was co-written by Gilroy, Cassian is the hardened leader of a group of Rebels that steal the plans to the Death Star. The older version of Andor is no-nonsense, cold, and willing to give his life for what he believes in. That’s not who we meet in this new series.

Set five years prior to the events of Rogue One, Cassian Andor has a much different life. The adopted son of scavengers, he’s grown up on the planet of Ferrix, in an industrial town that looks like a mix of Nevarro from The Mandalorian and Bacca from the video game Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order. Cassian has friends but often strains relationships. He’s the type of guy who avoids you when he owes you money, but will hit you up for another favor once he’s paid you back. Initially, Cassian has a lot in common with another Star Wars scoundrel that would eventually become a Rebel leader: Han Solo.

Being a scavenger is dangerous work, and Cassian’s luck quickly runs out when he kills some overly aggressive sentry guards while doing the same thing he was doing at the start of Rogue One: looking for someone important. The death of two guards from the Pre-Mor Corporation, a company the Empire hires to handle security in Outer Rim territories, would normally be swept under the rug to avoid Imperial entanglements, but Deputy Inspector Syril Karn (Kyle Soller) is the epitome of a company man and determined—with his superior’s permission or not—to find the killer. This leads to acts of betrayal, firefights, a daring escape, a fall from grace, and the beginning of a new journey for Cassian.

I won’t spoil the first four episodes, but just know that Academy Award nominee Tony Gilroy’s screenwriting fingerprints are all over this series. The writer of all four Bourne films, Michael Clayton, Proof of Life, and Beirut (let’s just forget sports-romantic-comedy The Cutting Edge ever happened) knows how to build dramatic worlds, and Gilroy does just that with Andor. In fact, it’s his world-building that stands out as one of the most impressive features of the series.