‘Andor’ Review: ‘Rogue One’ Prequel Series Takes A Galaxy Far Far Away To A Whole New Level

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“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.“They are so proud of themselves, they don’t even care,” the future Rebel Alliance intelligence officer tells the mysterious Luthen Rael (Stellan Skarsgård) as Imperial minions are on their way. “They are so fat and satisfied, they can’t imagine it …that someone like me could get inside their house, walk their floors, spit in their food, take their gear,” Andor adds of the realities of living under the harsh bureaucratic boot of the Empire in the George Lucas-created galaxy far far away.Set in a derelict industrial building, this two-hander scene from the Toby Haynes-helmed third episode of the Tony Gilroy-created Andor strikingly illustrates that if you are expecting a barrage of highflying action and irreverent repartee, then this may not be the Star Wars series for you.

However, if something more down, dirty and narratively daring is more to your taste, then welcome to the pitiless edge of the galaxy, the seeds of the fight to bring down the Death Star, and another star turn by the prodigious Luna.Or, to make the jump to review hyperspace, the Force is very strong with this incomparable offering from Gilroy, the Michael Clayton filmmaker who co-wrote 2016’s Rogue One movie with Chris Weitz.With the worlds and ideological backdrop established over successive offerings in the franchise, Andor is set five years before the events of Rogue One and the heist by Andor, Jyn Erso (Felicity Jones) and others to snag the plans for the Galactic Empire’s most powerful weapon.With all that