Andor delivered one of Star Wars‘ greatest stories, but that fails to capture just how good Tony Gilroy’s prequel really was. The show also delivered one of the best seasons of television ever made. It’s hard for anyone or anything to live up to that standard, in both this galaxy and the galaxy far, far away. But that’s exactly what Andor will try and do with its second season. But when will we find out of it did, what can we expect from it, and who will we see in it? At this year’s Star Wars Celebration in London Gilroy, Star Diego Luna and the rest of the cast announced they’re halfway through filming. That has them on pace for Andor season two to have an August 2024 release. And recently, we learned a little bit more about what is in store.

Diego Luna as Cassian Andor, the titular hero of the Disney+ series Star Wars: Andor.
Lucasfilm

Andor Season Two’s Story and Characters

Season two of Andor will mark the end of both the show and the rebel’s story. But while we could and would watch a hundred more episodes, having a definitive end in mind will help it go out on the highest possible note. “If you know your ending, it really helps,” said Gilroy at Celebration. “We know exactly where we’re going. You know what you have to deliver emotionally and what the story has to do. It’s a decision borne of survival, but it’s good for us creatively.”

We already know that Andor‘s final season will offer us blocks of episodes that skip forward through time until we reach the events of Rogue One. Every few episodes, time will move forward a year. And recently, Gilroy shared with Empire that “the final block of three episodes will specifically cover ‘the last three days before Rogue One.'” We can’t imagine what the tension of those episodes will be like. Luna adds, “the risks this season will take are very different.”

And, although Andor leads us to Rogue One, it knows its boundaries. One character we won’t see appear is Jyn Erso. Felicity Jones recently revealed on BBC One’s The One Show, “I’m afraid to say I won’t be [in Andor], but I still have hope for Jyn Erso at some point to make a comeback. But no, sadly, I won’t be.”

Andor Season Two’s Release Date and Footage

Andor began filming its second season last November and is currently about halfway through. The cast and crew believe that will mean an August release next summer in 2024. That might seem like a long way off (cause it is), but that didn’t stop Lucasfilm from sharing some early footage with attendees.

Lucasfilm

They got a chance to see Mon Mothma rallying more people to her cause. They also witnessed Cyril delivering some kind of secret message and, of course, eating more cereal. And Cassian Andor himself was sporting a new haircut as well as some fancy Coruscant attire. Our own editor-in-chief Amy Ratcliffe described the footage as “intense.”

We’d expect nothing less. Just like we expect Andor‘s second season to live up to its own impossibly high standards. Season one was just that good.

Originally published on April 7, 2023.