One vital element of the opening crawl in The Empire Strikes Back feels more strange than ever after Andor season 2. As far as highly-ranked Star Wars movies go, perhaps none eclipse The Empire Strikes Back. Although everyone has their own favorite, the majority tend to agree that the second movie in Star Wars‘ release order is the strongest in the franchise to this day.

Whether any upcoming Star Wars movies surpᴀss The Empire Strikes Back remains to be seen, though it is fair to say that this would be an incredible feat. Even 45 years after its release, The Empire Strikes Back holds up as not only a sequel to A New Hope but as one fantastic part of an entire saga. Concerning the rest of that saga, The Empire Strikes Back stands relatively on its own, yet some connections can be found. One, for instance, comes in the opening crawl of the movie that immediately feels stranger now after witnessing Andor season 2’s ending.

Andor Season 2 Shows How Important Yavin 4 Was To The Rebellion

Yavin Was The Headquarters Of The Rebel Alliance

In Andor‘s two seasons, the formation of Star Wars’ Rebel Alliance was shown, beginning around five years before A New Hope. In the second season specifically, the show’s timeline took audiences right up to the events of Rogue One: A Star Wars Story, which takes place mere days before A New Hope. Therefore, the Rebel Alliance’s true origins were shown more intently in this season, as was the base of the organization’s operations, Yavin 4.

Andor season 2 placed a great deal of importance on Yavin. The opening act showcased how the тιтular character found the moon, with subsequent arcs showing the growing band of rebels across the galaxy making their way to Yavin. Characters like Mon Mothma, Bail Organa, Luthen Rael, and Cᴀssian Andor himself place so much importance on Yavin throughout Andor season 2, with the show doing so to set up A New Hope. This certainly makes a lot of sense, as Yavin 4 is a big deal to the Rebellion’s early fight against the Empire.

The Opening Crawl Of The Empire Strikes Back Removes Yavin’s Importance

Yavin Is No More

This leads me to my point about The Empire Strikes Back and its opening crawl. The first few lines of the iconic text indicate the Empire routed the Rebel Alliance from their hidden base after the destruction of the Death Star. While this has always been something I have naturally known about Star Wars, I only truly took in what this meant: Yavin 4 is of no importance after A New Hope​​​​​​. The planet is not seen in any of the subsequent movies of the original trilogy and is not even referred to by name in The Empire Strikes Back‘s opening crawl.

Despite the Battle of Yavin being the focal point of the entire Star Wars timeline and the focus placed on it by supporting stories like Andor, Rogue One, and Star Wars Rebels, Yavin fades into obscurity from The Empire Strikes Back onwards. I am not saying this does not make sense, as the Empire discovered the planet was a base for the Rebels in A New Hope. Nonetheless, the sheer importance placed on the planet by Star Wars material since 1980 makes The Empire Strikes Back‘s disregard of the planet feel unceremonious and strange.

The Rebels Planned H๏τh To Be The Yavin Replacement – But It Didn’t Work Out

Thanks To The Empire

Of course, the Rebel Alliance planned to move their full-time base to H๏τh after Yavin 4, but this proved difficult to achieve. As explored in The Empire Strikes Back‘s opening, the H๏τh base was not fully operational before it was found by the Empire. Vader’s probe droids found H๏τh and led to an ᴀssault against the Rebel Alliance once more, causing the group to flee the planet. This all makes perfect sense within the Star Wars timeline, but I cannot deny how shocked I was to remember that a core Rebellion planet was reduced to an offhanded mention in The Empire Strikes Back‘s opening crawl.