*Spoilers*
Like basically everyone, I had to follow up the finale of Andor with a rewatch of Rogue One. On the whole, I think it made me feel better about some of my disappointments with the end of the show, although there are still certain aspects that don’t work for me. What it especially reaffirmed, though, is how much I adore Rogue One and its characters.
Before I get to Cassian, I’ll look at other elements of the film and how Andor affects them. One of my biggest concerns was that Luthen’s intel from Lonni in the final arc would undermine Bodhi’s Imperial defection to bring Galen’s message. Now, key members of the Rebel Council have already heard that the Empire is building a super-weapon using Galen’s scientific knowledge and kyber from Jedha (along with fuel from Ghorman,) even if they’re doubtful about the intel when Cassian brings it back to Yavin 4. It does feel like a bit less of a revelation when Bodhi’s intel is more about confirming what Luthen found out—and members of the Council still don’t believe it anyway—but it ultimately works for me. First of all, Bodhi is a great character who contributes a lot to the mission, beyond just bringing the message. As for the message itself, the most critical part of it is the revelation that Galen built a flaw into the Death Star, and the Rebels can use that flaw to destroy it if they can get to Scarif and steal the plans. And I do think Cassian’s initial meeting with Tivik is able to retroactively square with Andor. The way Cassian immediately locks onto the name “Erso” and confirms that Tivik means Galen, and the urgency with which he pushes for details about the weapon, lend credence to the notion that he was already familiar with some of this.
I really enjoy Jyn’s characterization in light of Andor. There are the obvious parallels, of course, like the kyber necklace and the years she spent trying to keep her head down, avoiding the fight. But I also think of how she emerges almost effortlessly as a leader in the mission, unassuming but inspiring, in ways that make me think of Cassian on Narkina 5. And in the first scene we get of Jyn as an adult, we see her sitting in the transport glaring at another prisoner, and the line, “Oh, that is a hard look for a little thing like you,” jumped into my head.
Melshi’s appearance definitely feels more meaningful here now that we know him better, both as an inmate on Narkina 5 and as a Rebel/Cassian’s friend. K-2SO’s characterization in Andor feels pretty close to his portrayal in Rogue One, although I can’t imagine Rogue One K-2 making such belabored points about disobeying orders—he’s always had a rather flexible view towards such things. Of course, in Andor we do see how he improvises his own plans when it suits him, so that holds true, but pestering Cassian about how they’re breaking the rules just doesn’t seem like something he would do.
There are points that are most notable for the obviously missing information that’s not being mentioned, since they didn’t exist at the time of Rogue One. How is it that Bodhi defects and brings Galen’s message to Saw at almost the exact time that Lonni uncovers documents about the Death Star through unrelated means? Tarkin needles Krennic about the security breach of the Imperial pilot, but Krennic had already been on thin ice when Kleya escaped Coruscant with Luthen’s intel. The Rebels grab Jyn in the hopes that she’ll be able to get them in to meet with Saw, and it’s never suggested that Wilmon, who has a history with Saw, should be involved in the mission. After spending a good chunk of the last two episodes with everyone saying, “Luthen Rael died for this intel,” it’s never mentioned in the film. None of these things are Rogue One’s fault, naturally—rather, they’re unforced errors on Andor’s part, creating these holes without accounting for them in the show.
As far as Cassian goes…it’s kind of frustrating. Because at the start of the show, I was fascinated by how different he was to Rogue One, and I really enjoyed watching his development over season 1. There’s a throughline to that season, taking him along that journey toward his Rogue One self. He grows and changes a lot over the course of BBY5 while still keeping that core of who he is. I like seeing him go from a cynical survivor to seeing glimpses of the man who will absolutely say, “Rebellions are built on hope.” I like seeing him start to become a leader in his own way, focused on the collective victory over getting the credit or having to be the one out front. I like seeing his devotion and loyalty, knowing that once he starts to trust Jyn, he’ll always come through for her.
Season 1 does a brilliant job of positioning him so he’ll be able to become Rogue One Cassian, but in my view, season 2 doesn’t really take advantage of all that work. Part of it is how rapidly the season is forced to move. When we’re just getting a snapshot of Cassian once a year, and when we almost always skip ahead immediately after something really impactful happens, we’re just not going to get the fluid, engrossing evolution of season 1. But more than that, season 2 ultimately doesn’t seem interested in finishing the journey that season 1 started. By the end, it puts Cassian in the place he needs to be for the story, but not really the headspace he needs to have for the character.
The biggest difference, of course, is the idea of Cassian as a serious, dedicated Rebel spy who follows the orders he’s given and is used to the moral compromises he’s been forced to make for the sake of the Rebellion. In Rogue One, he’s clearly shook when Draven reiterates that he’s supposed to assassinate Galen, but he still prepares himself to do it, and it’s a big deal when he can’t bring himself to follow through. “I had orders! Orders that I disobeyed!” he fiercely insists to Jyn during their argument after Eadu. It really means something to him that he went against his orders. It’s partly a reflection of Jyn’s influence on him, partly a recognition that he doesn’t want to blindly do with the Rebellion tells him when his gut says otherwise, and partly a look back at the kinder, more emotional young man he once was, who’d been hardened by his experiences but hadn’t let himself become hard.
It's a wonderful moment for his character, and it doesn’t hit as hard when we know that Cassian was going off on unsanctioned missions and arguing with command literally days before the events of Rogue One. And I don’t know—maybe running off to Coruscant to try and extract Luthen and Kleya is out of the ordinary for him. Maybe he’s ordinarily very disciplined, and he only breaks from that out of his old loyalty to Luthen. We wouldn’t know, because we only get two arcs of him as a Rebel on Yavin 4, and in both, we see him leaving the base without clearance to do something for Luthen.
Season 2, then, makes Rogue One Cassian feel less like a product of all he’s been through and more like a different incarnation of the character. They certainly still have a number of traits in common—his shrewd skills of observation, his competence and decisiveness in the field, his determination to go back for those he cares about—and those are all wonderful to see. But after seeing him take such a compelling journey in season 1, I really wish season 2 had taken us all the way to the finish line and shown us how the Cassian of “Kassa” becomes the Cassian of Rogue One.
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