Andor season 2 makes Cassian just one of the many — and that’s a great thing

In the latest batch of Andor episodes, we get to see Cassian (Diego Luna) do something he’s never done before: dress up. 

He’s been in disguise before, and certainly incognito as the (immaculately named) Keef Girgo. But Cassian’s spy work so rarely takes him to upscale establishments; even around the rarefied air of Coruscant, he’s still just sporting a nice jacket with an ample hood so he can hide. So getting to see him dress up as Varian Skye is a nice change of pace. And perhaps the funniest thing about him getting a chance to peacock a bit is that the time he’s showing off with his espionage work is actually when he blends into the background of the show the most — and that’s a great thing. 

[Ed. note: This post contains spoilers through episode 6 of Andor season 2.]

When Cassian initially arrives on Ghorman, he’s the focus of attention — too much, as he chides Enza, his contact on the planet. He’s not a fan of how obvious the Ghorman underground shadows are, especially since they’re drawing awareness to him. He’s not impressed with their plan or the way Enza just charged up to him ahead of their scheduled meeting. The Ghorman revolutionaries seem far too reckless, eager to plow forward instead of taking their time and weighing information. “It’s hard to be patient when your world is falling apart,” Enza tells him curtly. 

She’s not wrong. But the beauty of Andor, particularly in its second season, is how much it weighs both their arguments here. Enza is right that Ghorman has been marked for death by the Empire, and even if she doesn’t know the details, there’s a palpable panic among everyone on the planet. But Cassian is right too that she really doesn’t know anything about him — not his allegiances, and certainly not what he’s been through to learn that patience is an espionage virtue. 

Which is not to say the universe revolves around him — quite the opposite, by the end of episode 6, “What a Festive Evening.” Instead, the action of the final episode this week is centered totally independent from him, with Klaya and Luthen attempting a high-stakes listening device retrieval during a dinner party, and Cinta and Vel helping the Ghormans in Cassian’s stead. Each operation moves with clockwork precision and a whole lot of tension. In the latter, Ghormans chafe under Vel’s rules and bring Chekhov’s gun on what’s supposed to be a quiet weapons heist; in the former, everything is further complicated by the absolutely terrible luck of having Krennic there. 

It’s not an accident that these plans go off without Cassian. It’s just one more way Andor demonstrates how the revolution is bigger than any one person. These are bold moves, and deeply felt ones. The blood on Klaya’s hand as she strains to twist her key is enough to tie one’s stomach in knots. Cinta being collateral damage to Ghorman’s desperation is tragic. Nothing about these episodes really needs Cassian, specifically, to underline them, when the stakes are so keenly felt already. 

It all goes back to the strength of Cassian’s first scene with Enza: Her world is under threat, yes. It would be easy for Cassian to come off as sort of an interloper who doesn’t get it, if we didn’t already know how much of the war he’s seen. One could easily imagine an alternate version of Andor where we follow Ghorman at the ground level; in such a story, a spy who checks in on their operations and advises they slow down when we know the fuse is already lit could easily be cast as a good-for-nothing. But who can’t relate to that under the heel of the Empire? Andor season 1 saw Cassian’s whole town get occupied just because he used to live there. Aldhani is straight-up gone. The rebellion’s biggest problem is that it’s at once galaxy-wide and hyper local, and everyone feels like they are at the center of it.

Andor is deep enough to translate that. For every tidy side plot (congrats to Bix and Cassian for pulling off a successful bombing more or less off screen! We love to see a man support his girlfriend), the show gives us a rich sense that the Star Wars universe is vast and we’re just following one well-connected piece of it. And while the season 1 finale suggested the lead-up to Rogue One would be a series of things that breaks Cassian down, mostly what the show has done is build up his skills, even if he still can’t commit to any one philosophy of rebellion over another.

As he dresses Enza down, the camera closes in on the conflict and doubt washing over her face. At the same time, it renders Cassian in the mirror next to her, blurry and out of focus. And we can see him clearly in just that brief, simple shot: He has changed since we met him, and even since the last time Andor season 2 checked in with him. Not all of that has to be on screen to be felt, and he seems stronger and more clear on his lines for the rebellion. And that the shift is still happening. He doesn’t have time for amateurs or petty squabbles. His thoughts on the revolution are starting to grow bigger than just a single battle or a single life, but as Luthen says, not perfectly so: Cassian’s not willing to risk Bix, and he’d rather not push Ghorman just because it might be strategically advantageous. We know he’ll be integral in Rogue One, but he’s clearly not yet the guy who’s going to get there.  

Chapters like this, whether they prominently feature Cassian or not, all play into Andor’s grander sense of how the Rebel Alliance didn’t just spring out of Skywalker lineage but was carefully, painfully built. There are still two more in-universe years before A New Hope, and the rebellion has a ways to go. Cassian may look good here, between the flashy designer clothes and his risk analysis of Ghorman, but he’s got room to grow, too. He, the rebellion, and Star Wars are all better for that.