Andor season 2 has profoundly affected how we view Star Wars, and its influence extends to the franchise’s most controversial films, including Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker. Andor is unlike any Star Wars production we’ve ever seen. While the show’s core concept of the Rebellions vs. the Empire has been part of Star Wars’ storytelling since the very first Star Wars movie, Andor takes a closer, more grounded look at the sacrifices and staggering efforts that allowed the Rebel Alliance to become a force strong enough to defeat Palpatine’s dictatorial organization.

Though Andor’s story is innately connected to the Skywalker saga, especially the first Star Wars movie (later reтιтled A New Hope), it’s a far cry from the mystical, legendary legacy of the Skywalker family and their unique connection to the Force. So much of the Empire’s defeat in previous Star Wars stories is about the miraculous nature of the Force and the ancient war between the Jedi and the Sith. But the Skywalkers didn’t defeat the Empire alone, and Andor makes that clearer than ever.

Andor Season 2 Sets Up The Entire Galaxy Turning Against The Empire

The crumbling of the Empire didn’t start when Luke Skywalker landed that one-in-a-million sH๏τ to destroy the Death Star. It started years before that, as the leaders of what would come to be known as the Rebel Alliance sowed the seeds of rebellion throughout the galaxy. They knew it wouldn’t be enough to destroy the Empire’s flagship weapon and take out its leadership. They knew the entire galaxy needed to understand the truth of what allowed the Empire to function – unimaginable cruelty.

Though Rebel leaders like Luthen Rael and Mon Mothma had distinctly different approaches, they each realized that dismantling the Empire would need to start from within and slowly work its way across the galaxy. It would never be an overnight success. It’s why Mon Mothma waited to make her move against the Imperial Senate until there was incontrovertible proof of the Empire’s genocidal tendencies. It’s why Luthen spent so much time recruiting his best people and sending them on covert, undeniable missions across the galaxy.

As Luthen beautifully explains, when he and Imperial Security Bureau agent Dedra Meero finally have their showdown, “You’re too late. The Rebellion isn’t here anymore. It’s flown away. It’s everywhere now. There’s a whole galaxy out there waiting to disgust you.” He knew that even the galaxy’s most ordinary citizens would one day rise against the Empire, and though he was proven right, to an extent, in the original Star Wars trilogy and Star Wars Rebels, Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker takes his promise to Dedra to a whole new level.

Luthen’s Prophecy Is Finally Fulfilled In The Rise Of Skywalker

Though the original Star Wars trilogy and Star Wars Rebels proved that the Rebel Alliance needed ordinary people to stand up and fight against the Empire, those stories’ biggest heroes were still Jedi. The original trilogy is a family affair, with Luke Skywalker and Leia Organa, linked inextricably to the Force and Palpatine’s loyal Sith lapdog, leading the charge against the Empire. Leia was adopted by royalty, and though Luke started as an everyman hero, he essentially became a “Chosen One,” the one person who could defeat Darth Vader and Darth Sidious.

The idea of everyday, ordinary people being a driving force in the war against tyranny may have been most thoroughly explored in Andor, but it was merely following Rogue One: A Star Wars Story’s example. The members of Rogue One were people without higher callings and mystical powers who turned their backs on the Empire for the greater good. They sacrificed their futures for the Rebellion, and in doing so, set an example for everyone else.

It initially seemed that the example set by Luthen, Rogue One, and other Rebel civilians had been forgotten by the galaxy during the Star Wars sequel trilogy, as Leia’s call for help as they were relentlessly pursued by the First Order in Star Wars: The Last Jedi went unanswered. In that moment, their only hope was two Jedi, Luke and Rey. Did the galaxy finally tire of fighting? Was everyone going to let themselves be ruled by a tyrannical force once more unless the Jedi became involved?

Of course not. Luthen never got to see the fruits of his labor, and he never got to witness the galaxy come together as one to fight the Empire, but it did, and never more clearly than in The Rise of Skywalker. As the Resistance used the last of its resources to try and prevent the Empire’s rise on Exegol, they were joined and aided by thousands of civilians and Resistance starships, all forming what would become the Galactic Fleet. “It’s just… people.” People who would have disgusted Dedra Meero and other Empire loyalists.

This Needs To Be The Future Of Star Wars

With the Skywalker saga complete, Star Wars finally has a chance to move on from dynasties and legacies. The Force is in every living thing – it binds the galaxy together. Ordinary people are just as brave as those with a higher calling. The Jedi may yet rise again under Rey’s leadership, but those new Jedi could, and arguably should, have a clean slate. Where are the others like that little boy who uses the Force to pick up a broom in The Last Jedi’s final scene? Who are their families? Where do they come from?

Could Star Wars: Starfighter be the start of a new cinematic era in Star Wars? One that gives ordinary beings their time in the spotlight without being connected to the legacy of the Skywalker saga? Some have theorized that Ryan Gosling’s character could be a Force-sensitive pilot. That doesn’t mean he has to become a Jedi, however. He could be anyone. Anything. That’s what made Andor so compelling, and it makes Star Wars’ future so enticing, too – sometimes, the ordinary is extraordinary.