Rebellions Are Built on Hope. But Don’t Hope For Andor Season 3.

The following story contains spoilers for both Andor and Rogue One: A Star Wars Story.

AS IT TURNS out, Cassian Andor is one of the most important people in the history of Star Wars. It’s because of his actions in Andor—starting with the killing of two imperial officers in the show’s very first episode while in pursuit of his lost sister from Kenari, and rippling for years from there—that the rebellion gained the traction and support that it did. It’s because of his actions in Rogue One that the way to destroy the Death Star was ever recovered. And now, at the end of Andor season 2, his story is over.

Everything we’ve seen in Andor has helped to reshape the other things that we know happened in this world. “If you watch Rogue One today, Andor will resignify the whole film,” Diego Luna, who plays Cassian Andor, told Men’s Health last month. “Suddenly you know what a character means when he says, “I’ve done terrible things for the Rebellion.” You have that image; you were next to him when he pulled that trigger.”

We see the entirety of Cassian’s story leading up to Rogue One in just the two seasons, and 24 episodes, of Andor. Those two seasons cover the five years of Cassian’s life leading up to the Battle of Yavin (when Luke and the rebels destroyed the Death Star); Initially, the show was planned to run for five seasons, with each season representing a year. But during the production of season 1, creator and showrunner Tony Gilroy realized that this wasn’t going to be possible. It was then that he figured out the structure for season 2, with each three-episode arc covering another year leading up to the momentous moment in Star Wars history.

“We were halfway through shooting season 1, coming through Covid, and the monumental size of the show, the effort, and everything else was just dawning on us,” Gilroy told SFX Magazine before season 2 of Andor aired. “We realized that I didn’t have enough calories to do it, and Diego’s face couldn’t take the timing, because it just takes too long to make it. We were saved by Disney saying, ‘Okay, if you guys can figure out a way to do it, we’re into it.'”

And despite the idea being born out of what Gilroy called “desperation,” they managed to pull it off. “It’s a fascinating experiment and I don’t know if anyone’s ever done it before,” he said.

Now, with season 2 concluded, so too is Cassian’s story, and the most sophisticated story—featuring mature themes, dense storytelling, and complex characters—has ended. Season 3 of Andor doesn’t seem likely or even like a possibility.

But we can hope that Star Wars, at large, will take some notes for the future on what worked so well with this one-of-a-kind television achievement.

Will there be an Andor season 3?

There will not be an Andor season 3. The goal of telling the story of Cassian and the rebellion leading directly into the events of Rogue One: A Star Wars Story (which itself leads right into the events of Star Wars: Episode IV – A New Hope) was explicitly achieved with the two seasons of Andor.

On top of that, Andor creator and showrunner Tony Gilroy—an Academy Award-nominated screenwriter and filmmaker who first entered the franchise at the end of production on Rogue One and was behind films such as Michael Clayton—seems to be done working in the world of Star Wars.

“I’ve been peripherally involved for 10 years and intensely involved for six years, so that’s a pretty big chunk of my life,” he said in an interview with Collider. “There are other things to do. I think when it’s done, I will have left a pretty big piece of Star Wars real estate behind.”

Despite Andor being done and Gilroy waving the franchise goodbye, there are still things Star Wars can learn from the experience moving forward. One is that focusing on seemingly smaller stories can yield great results; No one was particularly clamoring for Cassian’s backstory after seeing Rogue One, but obviously the results paid off brilliantly. Perhaps more importantly, though, is that the franchise can hire veteran, accomplished filmmakers and writers and just let them work. Get good talent, and trust them to make the thing you hired them to make! When these kinds of projects get too many cooks in the kitchen, too many voices talking over one another, is when they start to get messy and lose what makes them unique and great.

And look, hey. Maybe we could bring one of those great writers or filmmakers in for a film or television show for Adria Adjona’s Bix Caleen? She’s a fan favorite, an ascending star (she also appeared in Hit Man and Blink Twice last year), and certainly seems interested in coming back for more.

“I feel like a big spinoff could be later in my career,” she said last year in an interview with Variety. “I’m trying to give job security to myself in the future. I’m trying to elongate it. I got a tattoo for Bix. My makeup artist from the show did it in my trailer.”