Andor is an unusual Star Wars TV show, one with an overtly political message that marries up perfectly with everything George Lucas had to say. Set during the Dark Times of the Empire’s reign, Andor is an unusual Star Wars TV show. There’s a sense in which it’s the anтιтhesis of everything Lucas attempted to do, because it’s so much more grounded and mature; it even features the first mention of the word “rape,” a fact that shocked some parts of the fanbase.
And yet, for all that’s the case in stylistic terms, Andor captures Lucas’ heart perfectly. It’s a timeless meditation on the need to resist fascism, which fits well with the political messaging at the heart of Star Wars; Lucas was inspired by the Vietnam War, after all (and yes, the U.S. is the Empire). One of the show’s core messages, about how we resist evil, marries up perfectly with the original trilogy.
Star Wars Reveals How We Really Defeat Evil
The first Star Wars movie – later reтιтled A New Hope – had a pretty simple “black and white” morality. Villains were openly inspired by the Nazis, and committed genocide just to make a point. Heroes were clear-cut, with even the scoundrel Han Solo clearly sporting a heart of gold. George Lucas’ Special Editions doubled down on this, with Lucas controversially editing the movie to show Greedo shooting first; he didn’t like the idea of Han taking the first sH๏τ.
“I am a Jedi, like my father before me,” become an appeal to the goodness he believes still lies dormant within Darth Vader.
Everything changed after The Empire Strikes Back, though, because the shocking “I am your father” revelation turned Luke Skywalker’s story upside-down; he’d always wanted to be like his father, but what did that look like now? Fast-forward to Return of the Jedi, and Luke has inverted his very idenтιтy; he now believes his father can be like him. “I am a Jedi, like my father before me,” becomes an appeal to the goodness he believes still lies dormant within Darth Vader.
Star Wars began as a simple morality play in which light battled darkness. The original trilogy transformed it, though, revealing that it is the light of compᴀssion and empathy that casts out the darkness. Luke refused to believe his father was lost, insisting there was good to him; in doing so, he called out that goodness. Empathy and compᴀssion result in redemption, and the Emperor’s ultimate defeat. It is love – redemptive, empathic love – that drives out the darkness.
Star Wars: The Last Jedi may have been controversial, but it captured this perfectly with one tremendous line: “That’s how we’re gonna win. Not fighting what we hate, saving what we love.”
Andor Doubles Down On The Importance Of Compᴀssion & Empathy
In a guest article for ScreenRant, Jordan Maison declared that empathy is the key to Andor season 2. As Jordan notes, Andor doubles down on the approach Lucas took in Return of the Jedi; it took the time to make us empathize with the villains as well as the heroes. I was quite shaken to find myself actually relating to the banter between ISB operatives at a Coruscant event, even though I knew one of them had tortured Bix.
It is empathy that separates the heroes from the villains in Andor. Dedra Meero – likely orphaned during the Clone Wars – was indoctrinated from an early age, and empathy is completely foreign to her. In contrast, even the hard-edged Luthen is driven by empathy, as flashbacks to his first meeting with Kleya revealed. “Even if you play a hard guy like Luthen,” Stellan Skarsgård observed, “he doesn’t have to be hard all the time. And if he doesn’t have empathy, then he has got nothing to do in the revolution, because the reason for revolution is empathy.“
The edge of Luthen’s empathy has been lost over the years, though; that’s why he can consider the unthinkable, encouraging an Imperial mᴀssacre on Ghorman. It is telling that almost all Luthen’s generation of leadership has to die before the Rebellion can succeed; the torch has to be pᴀssed on, from those whose empathy has been dulled to those who can still show compᴀssion even to their enemies. Only Mon Mothma is really left, a senator who still cares. She still has the potential for empathy, and so she remains.
Why Does Empathy Matter So Much?
This recurring theme of empathy is no coincidence. Both A New Hope and Andor riff heavily on the idea the Empire is based on Nazis, and I find myself reminded of a chilling quote about the Nazis from the Netflix documentary The House I Live In. This contains an interview with Captain G. M. Gilbert, an Army psychologist who watched the Nuremberg Trials, and his words on empathy are so very striking:
“In my work with the defendants, I was searching for the nature of evil and I now think I have come close to defining it. A lack of empathy. It’s the one characteristic that connects all the defendants, a genuine incapacity to feel with their fellow men. Evil, I think, is the absence of empathy.“
Evil prospers when we are able to dehumanize others, stripping them of their dignity as human beings. ScreenRant‘s Liz Declan pointed to a single line of dialogue revealing how little empathy Dedra Meero has when contemplating Luthen’s death; she considered Luthen “evidence” rather than a person, wanting him kept alive only because she had a use for him. This is what it looks like to have no empathy towards a person; they cease to matter, and anything can be done to them. Fascist regimes in particular thrive by dehumanizing others so they become the enemy.
The importance of empathy has become a politically contentious message in the present day.
Andor showrunner Tony Gilroy has insisted he didn’t want his show to be a commentary on the present day. “No one was working on the show with a newspaper at any point in time,” he told Collider. “We write so far in advance.” Still, it is chilling that the importance of empathy has become a contentious message in the present day.
You can see this in politics, with the works of Dr. Gad Saad – who claims the West is destroying itself by “suicidal empathy” – championed by the likes of Elon Musk. You can see it in evangelical Christianity, so strongly tied to Republican politics, where theologian Joe Rigney has even tried to reinterpret empathy as a sin. Captain Gilbert’s warning that evil is the absence of empathy suddenly feels rather chilling, because the very idea of empathy is under heavy attack.
That makes Andor‘s message both timeless and disturbingly timely. Like Star Wars itself, Andor reminds us of the importance of empathy, and it’s a call to arms against those who push against it. After all, as Skarsgård so rightly says, “the reason for revolution is empathy” – which explains why those in power don’t always like to see it.
