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

EXCLUSIVE: The Cinema Eye Honors announced its first round of nominations today for artistic achievement in documentary film and series, with HBO’s Four Hours at the Capitol earning the most of any contender [full list below].

‘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.

Jon Burlingame editor Writing new music for the “Star Wars” universe would be daunting for any composer, considering its iconic scores by the legendary John Williams. Luckily for “Andor” composer Nicholas Britell, writer-producer Tony Gilroy and Lucasfilm president Kathleen Kennedy gave him “total freedom” to imagine a new, totally unique soundscape for the backstory of Cassian Andor (Diego Luna), the rebel spy first encountered in the 2016 film “Rogue One.” So, unlike “Obi-Wan Kenobi,” the “Star Wars” series for which Williams wrote a new theme earlier this year, there isn’t a note of Williams music in “Andor,” which launched a 12-episode run last Wednesday on Disney+.

Luthen Rael, played by Stellan Skarsgård, has a terrific opening line in the third episode of the “Star Wars” spin-off prequel series “Andor.” “Cassian Andor,” he says with a dramatic pause, “the Empire is choking us so slowly, we’re starting not to notice. What I’m asking is this, wouldn’t you rather give it all to something real?” Rael’s talking about two things.

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.

and, the universe continues to expand on TV with another new spinoff,. The latest Disney+ series created by Tony Gilroy and starring Diego Luna goes back in time before the film , to explore the political intrigue surrounding the dawn of the rebellion as everyday people push back on life under the Empire. For Gilroy, who co-wrote, the two-season series presented an opportunity to “go back and figure out how this person [Cassian Andor] ended up in, being the person that he is and doing what he does and giving his life for the galaxy,” he tells ET. Set five years before the events of the movie, which saw Luna’s titular character, Cassian Andor, sacrificing his life in order to execute the Rebel Alliance’s first effective blow against the Empire, an incident first referenced in the opening of, Andor’s ending may already be known but it’s the journey there that remains unknown.

The first three episodes of Tony Gilroy‘s “Star Wars” series “Andor” premiere on Disney+ today, to much anticipation. In the lead-up to the show, Gilroy “Andor” would be a creative pivot from earlier Disney+ “Star Wars” fare, and advance reviews of the series confirm that.

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.

Star Wars TV series Andor has been hailed as "perfection" and "stunning" by fans, as the highly anticipated show makes its debut.Andor's three episode premiere launched today (September 21) on Disney+ and as the name suggests, is about Cassian Andor, who Star Wars fans first met in the critically acclaimed 2016 film Rogue One: A Star Wars story.Spoiler alert - although Cassian Andor died alongside Jyn Erso at the end of Rogue One, Andor will take viewers back into Cassian's origin story and how he helped to found the Rebel Alliance.READ NEXT: Star Wars and Fantastic Beasts star Mads Mikkelsen announced at For The Love Of Sci-FiThe show is already gaining rave reviews from fans and critics alike, with one fan saying on social media: "#Andor is excellent. Nigh on perfection. Episode 4 please.""Perfect Star Wars," added a second, while a third tweeted: "OMG! The three episode premiere of #Andor is INCREDIBLE."A fourth commented, "#Andor is so good," with a fifth saying: "One ep into #Andor and blimey, it's stunning."A sixth"#Andor That's it, that's the tweet."Other fans praised the look of the series, with some saying that it felt different to any Star Wars film or series that had come before."#Andor is brilliant," said one viewer, adding: "I loved that I forgot I was watching a Star Wars show.

“You just walk in like you belong,” Diego Luna’s Cassian Andor impatiently explains in the impelling Rogue One: A Star Wars Story prequel series Andor that debuts Wednesday on Disney+ with three episodes and rolls out once a week thereafter.

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.” 

Ryuichi Sakamoto has shared two new songs that were made for the Netflix anime series Exception – listen below.The two songs – ‘Opening for ‘Exception’’ and ‘Oxygen’ – soundtrack the new space horror anime series, which is based on a new story by Hirotaka Adachi.The series is due to launch globally on October 14, with ‘Exception (Soundtrack From the Netflix Anime Series)’ out on the same day via Milan Records.The official synopsis of the series reads: “In the distant future, humanity has been forced to leave Earth and migrate to another galaxy. A spacecraft is sent to a planet to terraform it and the crew is created one by one by a biological 3D printer.“However, a fatal error occurs during the creation of one of the members.

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.