‘Andor’ season 2 promises revolutionary politics, despite what creator Tony Gilroy says

Lucasfilm has officially debuted the first trailer for season 2 of its Rogue One spinoff, Andor — and with it, perhaps the most overtly political Star Wars project since the George Lucas era.

After a long and bumpy road to production, season 2 of Andor is making its way to Disney+ on April 22, 2025. The spy-thriller show, which takes place in the years leading up to 2016’s Rogue One: A Star Wars Story, was a critical slam-dunk for Lucasfilm upon its premiere in August 2022. It even went on to earn a prestigious Peabody Award for its contributions to the entertainment industry.

As the title suggests, Andor follows Diego Luna’s Cassian Andor, a jaded smuggler who finds himself mixed up with the Rebel Alliance after a job goes south. The first season follows Cassian’s journey to political action through his relationship with his quasi-mentor, Luthen Rael (Stellan Skarsgård), and his mother figure, Maarva Andor (Fiona Shaw). We also get a peek at the inner workings of the Empire via Genevieve O’Reilly’s Mon Mothma, Denise Gough’s Dedra Meero, and Kyle Soller’s Syril Karn.

And yet, the show’s own creator has gone on record claiming that Andor‘s political angle was inevitable, not intentional.

Andor season 2 doubles down on its political overtones

From the looks of it, Andor season 2 will lean even further into the political themes introduced in season 1. From Karis Nemik’s (Alex Lawther) chilling manifesto — “Remember that the frontier of the Rebellion is everywhere. And even the smallest act of insurrection pushes our lines forward” — to Maarva’s posthumous “Fight the Empire!” speech, the show has never been quiet about its politics, so I’m excited to see what awaits us in season 2. Because let’s be real: Andor‘s release is eerily timely.

Right off the bat, the Andor season 2 trailer tells us it’s going to be doing things a bit differently with its song choice, “The Revolution Starts Now” by Steve Earle (a.k.a. a real-world protest song). Viewers also see glimpses of what appears to be Rebels fighting Imperials donning riot gear, which is all too reminiscent of the recent ICE protests we’ve witnessed here in the States. Hell, at one point, Cassian even tells a crowd of rebels, “You wanna fight, or you wanna win?”

Andor has always had real-world implications, and season 2 should absolutely follow suit

With Donald Trump back in the White House, saying that the state of U.S. politics is tumultuous would be the understatement of the century. Andor‘s season 2 release date, as inadvertent as it may be, happens to coincide with the widespread rise of authoritarianism. So while I’m not expecting Disney to come out and say that Andor is anti-Trump, per se, I do find it surprising that writer/former producer Tony Gilroy has insisted that the show isn’t inherently political.

For context, Gilroy told IndieWire back in 2022 that he had never intended for Andor to be political, merely that it “just happens instinctively.” The showrunner explained that any piece of media that tackles themes of fascism and oppression runs the risk of mirroring current events, which couldn’t be more true for the impending second season of Andor.

It’s very pleasing, on the other hand, to watch people argue and find things in there that are applicable, but my primary responsibility is to the characters and to make an adventure story. This is a ripping yarn and it is an adventure story, and there’s a lot more energy that goes into the plotting and the adventure story aspect of it — no one sits around thinking about what we should do politically. It just happens instinctively.

“Whatever contemporary resonance it has is usually in the eye of the beholder,” he added. “Oppression is oppression. You can drop the needle at any point on this planet in the last 6,000 years, and you can find it. All these things are the same. I’m not ducking the question — but it is not in my mind as I’m doing it.”

Whether Gilroy is just pretending to be blasé about the fact that his Star Wars show is, in its very nature, political, or is simply watching his words thanks to the all-seeing eye of the Mouse House, remains unknown. But ultimately, I guess I understand what he’s trying to say here. As a writer, I know how easy it is to not know the direction something is going in until you actually put pen to paper. But considering that Andor season 1 absolutely went there, what’s the shame in admitting it, especially now?