Andor showrunner Tony GIlroy has addressed discourse surrounding a fandom discussion that links to his past Star Wars work on Rogue One, raising the question of whether his ᴀssessment to “reorient their thinking” is correct. Andor season 2’s ending has caused many to revisit Rogue One now that the 2016 film has been completely recontextualized. Not only has Andor season 2’s cast of characters fleshed out some appearances in Rogue One, but the overall expansion of the Rebel Alliance’s timeline makes the original trilogy era of the franchise all the better.
As is natural with fan discourse, though, there are some looking between Andor and Rogue One who potentially find cracks in the story. Despite being separated by only days on the Star Wars timeline, Andor season 2 and Rogue One were filmed almost a decade apart, meaning some elements from the latter could be argued to contradict the former and vice versa. One specific instance of this has been raised a lot by Star Wars fans of late, with Tony Gilroy responding with the advice to “reorient their thinking,” causing many to question if he is right.
Tony Gilroy’s Perspective On Cᴀssian & Jyn Post-Andor Is Devoid Of Love
The Two Were Just A Result Of Circumstance
The discourse in question surrounds Cᴀssian Andor and his romantic relationships. Andor season 2 leaned heavily into Cᴀssian and Bix’s romantic relationship that was teased in season 1. By the time of Andor season 2, episodes 7-9, audiences were heavily invested in their relationship and heartbroken when Bix left Cᴀssian so that the latter could focus on the Rebel Alliance. Even a year later in Andor season 2, episodes 10-12, Cᴀssian still clearly throught about Bix, only days before meeting Jyn in Rogue One.
This has casued many to question the romantic undertones of Cᴀssian and Jyn’s relationship in the 2016 movie. When asked what he thought about this in an interview with Entertainment Weekly, Rogue One screenwriter and Andor showrunner Tony Gilroy indicates Jyn and Cᴀssian were not in love: “I mean, people who thought that was the love of his life are going to have to reorient their thinking.” Of course, this is not to say that no romantic feelings were present between Cᴀssian and Jyn, but the love the former felt for Bix was not the same as whatever he felt for Jyn.
The Cᴀssian & Bix Versus Cᴀssian & Jyn Discourse Is Pretty Pointless
Both Relationships Work Within The Context Of The Saga
With Gilroy telling people to change their thinking about Bix, Cᴀssian, and Jyn, the question is raised of whether he is right. For the most part, I think he is and the discourse surrounding these two relationships seems somewhat pointless. Based on how Andor presents the end of Bix and Cᴀssian’s relationship, I do not see any issue with Cᴀssian and Jyn having romantic feelings – albeit, not on the same level – by the time of Rogue One. After all, Bix left over a year before Cᴀssian met Jyn.
Cᴀssian can still have feelings for Bix and may even still be in love with her but, in his mind, she is gone and is not coming back until the war ends, which could be decades from now for all he knows. Cᴀssian is only human, meaning any other romantic engagements he had after Bix left are natural, including with Jyn. Although Rogue One never explicitly shows this, the hints are there. If audiences can, as Gilroy puts it, reorient their thinking, it can be true that Cᴀssian dies both having loved Bix and felt some romantic spark with Jyn.
Jyn & Bix’s Characters Both Deserve Better Than A Reduction To Ship Discourse
Their Characters Exist Beyond Cᴀssian’s Love
On a broader level too, the discourse is pointless as it somewhat devalues Jyn and Bix as individual characters. Of course, many people in modern fandoms care about relationships and often ship certain characters with others, and that is okay. That said, discourse like this gets to a point where it risks reducing good characters like Jyn and Bix to being nothing other than the object of Cᴀssian’s affections.
Both characters deserve more than to be reduced to female characters the lead male can fall in love with…
Andor proved that Bix is a deep character in her own right, making her own decisions and having her own character arc beyond whatever she had with Cᴀssian. Rogue One does the same for Jyn, with the majority of her character arc linking to her wish to find her father, Galen, and fight back against the Empire. The romantic undertones with Cᴀssian are an afterthought compared to this. At the end of the day, both characters deserve more than to be reduced to female characters the lead male can fall in love with, as Andor and Rogue One both prove in spades.
