This content analyzes the historical and thematic underpinnings of revolution, using the Star Wars series "Andor" as a primary case study to explore the complexities, motivations, and consequences of rebellion against oppressive regimes. It argues that true revolution stems from the collective will of ordinary people pushed to their limits, drawing parallels between fictional narratives and real-world historical events.
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My blindness and naive and ignorance
about what I was getting into was stunning.
[music]
It's a story about revolution and it's a
story about people, normal people being
thrust into the revolution. We don't
have any, you know, we don't have any
Jedi. We don't have any lightsabers. We
don't have any of that stuff.
>> We want you to do a a piece about
revolution and insurrection and
authoritarian power. It's this epic rise
of fascism and authoritarianism and
takeover and it's
a whole bunch of people oppressed backed
into a corner having to react.
It's it's literally history coming and
kicking down the door of all the people
It was about revolution and rebellion
and what happened to ordinary people.
>> I've been in this fight since I was 6
>> what is
What compels a people to rise up against
a vastly superior foe? To denounce a
life of thievery for something much
greater than themselves? to defy laws,
fines, threats of violence and fear
altogether and to break out into song at
until [music]
>> for if you asked Victor Hugo the author
of the massive five volume novel the
worldrenowned lay miser musical is based
on revolution is revolt and revolt is composed
composed
>> of nothing and of everything of an
electricity disengaged little by little
of a flame suddenly darting forth of a
wandering force of a passing breath this
breath encounters heads which [music]
speak, brains which dream, souls which
suffer, passions which burn,
wretchedness which howls and bears them away.
away.
As dramatic as he sounds, Hugo did know
a thing or two about revolt. He
witnessed one in the streets of Paris on
June 5th, 1832. Hugo was caught between
barricades and a tense exchange between
National Guard and the French mob. one
that grew from a funeral procession for
General Jean Maxmillian Lamar, a beloved
public figure and outspoken critic of
King Louie Philippe I who had
unceremoniously come to power just 2
years prior during the July Revolution.
In that time, Philipe had restored the
monarchy and led the country into an
economic crisis and a collar epidemic
which claimed Lamar's life. Now the
people who had long felt betrayed would
be silent no longer. As thousands upon
thousands of Parisians gathered in the
streets to join Lamar's coffin as it
strolled by on carriage, vigorous
speeches soon turned to the throwing of
In the end, the revolt never spread
beyond Paris, and what became known as
the June Rebellion barely lasted 24
hours. If it was a revolution, it was a
failed one. The thief turned mayor, Jean
Valjon, police inspector Ja, and the
entire cast of characters from Lays were
not real people, nor did Lay represent
what happened that day with stunning
accuracy. But if it weren't for Victor
Hugo's novel and the 1980 musical, the
people who died at the barricades in
1832, virtually for nothing, might never
be remembered as they are. The June
Rebellion, nothing more than a flash in
the pan of France's long revolutionary history.
Indeed, revolution is not singing at the
barricades, but a major, sudden, and
hence typically violent alteration in
government. It is smashing the old and
replacing it with something new.
Revolutions have occurred over and over
throughout human history. Not just the
last 400 years of modern political
revolutions, but arguably all the way
back to the earliest empires of Sumer
and CAD. For as long as someone
somewhere is being oppressed, there will
always be heads which speak, brains
which dream, souls which suffer,
passions which burn, and wretchedness
which howls. A sentiment that has
resonated with generations of activists,
artists, [music] revolutionaries, and
>> Tony Gilroy had never thought of himself
in such [music] terms, but maybe it was
time to reconsider that. For the writer,
director, and script doctor, history had
long been one of his favorite pastimes,
particularly the topic of revolution.
Though he never explored it in any of
his films, he came close a couple of
times, especially in his post-production
work on the Star Wars spin-off Rogue
One, which he described as a Battle of
Britain movie. But by the time Lucasfilm
president Kathleen Kennedy offered him
the chance to work on another Star Wars
spin-off in 2017, Gilroy had already
moved on. He was not a Star Wars fan,
and Rogue One, for what it was worth,
was nothing more than a job. and it
still wasn't even after another
Lucasfilm script crossed his desk in
early 2019. A pilot for a TV series
prequel to Rogue One about the
characters of Cassie Nandandor and K2SO
written by Jared Bush and produced by
showrunner Steven Schiff. Ever the
script doctor that he was on Rogue One,
Gilroy was now being called upon once
again to give his honest thoughts. And
his thoughts were not positive. And I
read it and it was very cool and slick,
but it was never going to work because
they kept trying to make a show with the
two of them storming the citadel. You
know, that was the pilot.
>> They tried to make it a, you know, Butch
and Sundance, Cassian and the robot go
save the Tesserak or whatever, but and
they were smart. I don't know what the
hell you're going to do after episode 5.
I mean, what are you going to do? Just
storm the Citadel every week?
>> You can't do that every week. Or you
could. I don't know who's going to watch
that. It was smart [ __ ] but it was
like, wow, what do you do on like
[music] run out of story nutrients very quickly?
Despite his reaction, the solution to
Kennedy's problem seemed obvious. And so
he wrote her a letter.
What Kennedy received back was not just
the honest feedback she was looking for.
It was a manifesto and a bit of a dare.
If you really wanted to tell the story
of Cassie Nandor, it should start like this.
>> You need to double down on what Rogue
One built. A version of the Star Wars
universe defined not by Jedi,
lightsabers, or the force, but by
ordinary people in complicated
circumstances. This is something
amusing. The new thing,
>> what's happening?
>> You need to tick back the clock to a
time when Cassian was not a fully formed
rebel captain, but someone far less
capable and kind of pathetic.
>> It's not your girlfriend or something,
is it?
>> I don't have a girlfriend.
But most of all, you need to ground the
story in the same real world cloth that
Rogue One was cut from, that Lucas's
Star Wars was cut from, where Death
Stars symbolized nuclear bombs and
blasters were kit bashed World War II
weapons. Except this would not be a
galaxy at war. Not yet, anyway.
>> Stop right there.
You're in free world zone. You know
that, right? This would be a galaxy in
the darkness, oppressed by an empire
representative of monarchs, tyrants, and
fascists from as far back as the empires
of Sumer and Aad. Where laws, fines,
threats of violence, and fear are used
not to instill order, but to maintain control.
control.
Where the gun at one's head keeps people
like Cassian from ever climbing up or
reaching out. I'm looking for my sister.
>> It would be a galaxy not unlike our own,
but packed into a star-shaped powder
cake because when it explodes, if it explodes,
explodes,
>> it might just unleash
a revolution. [groaning]
>> Tell me now. Tell me what to do.
Let's hear it.
I also was testing Disney, testing
testing everybody to say, "Okay, I'm
going to send my opening scene. I'm
going to send him to a brothel to look
for a missing sister, and on the way
out, he's going to get routed by some
really uh some really dirty cops, and
he's going to have no choice, but he's
going to kill them.
>> Tony Gilroy never wanted the job, but
because of his letter, it would be his.
Like the generations of Victor Hugos
before him, Gilroy was on his way to
crafting something truly radical. Unlike
his predecessors, it would be part of
one of the most critically and
commercially successful franchises in
film history. But all in due time, first
someone needed to light that powder cake.
Following his letter, Kennedy formally
invited Gilroy to write and direct their
show by October 2019. Gilroy finally
accepted and would become the showrunner
by April 2020. At the first writer room,
he brought with him a staggering 80page
show bible titled The Education of
Cassian Andor. It would eventually be
shortened to Andor.
For the next six days, Gilroy, his
brother Dan Gilroy, House of Cards
creator Bo Willleman, Chernobyl producer
Sana Wallenburgg, and Chernobyl
production designer Luke Cole broke the
entire story of the show line by line,
detail by detail, and there were a lot
My primary writing partner, if I had to
say, is Luke Hall, who's the production
designer. [music]
Everything starts with Luke and I
talking about what you know, okay, we
have to build this planet or build this.
To be honest with you, it's really
serious fun. You get to play God.
Inspired by revolution, Andor would be a
vehicle to dive deep into all the
uprisings, rebellions, and resistance
movements Gilroy had spent his whole
life reading about. The English
Revolution, the American Revolution, the
Haitian Revolution, the Mexican
Revolution, the Chinese Revolution, and
the Iranian Revolution were all huge
points of reference for Gilroy and among
a vast list of historical [music]
movements and figures that are at times
directly recreated in Andor. But no bit
of history would be more influential on
the show than the three great movements
that arguably rocked the globe more than
all other revolutions. The 1789 French
Revolution where the people of France
abolished the Ansean regime and declared
the first French Republic. The Russian
Revolution, which began at first in 1905
as a worker and peasant-led revolt
against Zar Nicholas and the Russian
monarchy, but evolved into the violent
expulsion of the Zar's government by the
Bolevik party in 1917. And last, but far
from least, the many rebellions and
uprisings against European colonial rule
over the 20th century, especially after
World War II and primarily against the
British Empire. I don't have to pull a
comp from the headlines. I have 4,000
years worth of history to pull from. I
can cherrypick all through every
revolution that I know about and and
they're all different and they're all
the same, but this happened here and
this is the French resistance and this
is the Haitian Revolution and oh my god,
this is Thomas Payne and this is the
Russian Revolution and this is what
happened in the show trials and this has
happened. You know, revolutions are
messy and nowhere near as glamorous as
they're often portrayed in pop culture.
The line between good and evil is not
always so clearly defined, nor do all
revolutions have noble outcomes. As
versed in the topic as he was, even
Gilroy would fail to reflect every
nuance of revolution in his pitch. But
he also wasn't trying to. As a
storyteller, Gilroy wanted to explore
what happens when history comes knocking
at one's door. When moments ripped right
from the history books repeat in the
form of current-day headlines, or at
least the hollow neck gossip of the Star
Wars galaxy.
>> Got anything from Aldani?
>> Excuse me. Big rebel attack last night.
It's all the news.
>> It advanced the conversation Rogue One
had with its audience when seemingly
ordinary people living under a military
dictatorship were called upon to stop a
weapon of mass destruction. In Andor,
ordinary people are confronted with
something far more mundane by
comparison, [music]
but no less oppressive. The everyday
realities of fascism. [music] From
small, seemingly harmless ordinances to
large-scale colonialist and imperialist
projects. The overarching goal of these
projects, as it is with fascism itself,
is not just conquest, but coercion to
concentrate power under one violently
uncompromising national identity. An
extreme form of something called nationalism.
nationalism.
Fascism is a mass political movement
that emphasizes extreme nationalism,
militarism, and the supremacy of the
nation over the individual. In contrast
to liberal democracies that support
individual rights, competitive
elections, and political disscent. In
many ways, fascist regimes are
revolutionary in nature. They advocate
for the overthrow of existing systems of
government and the persecution of
political enemies. However, such regimes
are also highly conservative in their
championing of traditional values. And
although fascist leaders typically claim
to support the everyman, in reality,
their regimes often align with powerful
business interests.
In the quest to capture the realities of
fascism, capturing the true nature of
its disciples became equally important.
Contrary to the Sith Lords or military
generals of the original Star Wars
trilogy, the Empire shown in Andor is
much more in line with Orson Krennic
from Rogue One. an empire of middle
managers, boardroom executives, and
9to-5 desk jockeyies far more
preoccupied with their careers,
longevity or paychecks than any of the
moral or ethical consequences of what
they are facilitating. The kind of
people that German philosopher and
political theorist Hannah Errent
observed in the trial of Nazi war
criminal Adolf Ikeman and later wrote
about in her 1963 book Ikeman in
Jerusalem, a report on the benality of evil.
evil.
Some years ago, reporting the trial of
Ikeman in Jerusalem, I spoke of the
benality of evil and meant with this no
theory or doctrine, but something quite
factual. The phenomenon of evil deeds
committed on a gigantic scale which
could not be traced to any particularity
of wickedness, pathology, or ideological
conviction in the doer, whose only
personal distinction was perhaps an
extraordinary shallowess. However
monstrous the deeds were, the doer was
neither monstrous nor demonic. And the
only specific characteristic one could
detect in his past, [music] as well as
his behavior during the trial and the
preceding police examination, was
something entirely negative. It was not
stupidity, but a curious, quite
authentic inability to think.
>> I'm really interested in what people
wake up in the morning, I guess, and
what is really driving them. I think
just as many Nazis were driven by who
had the best parking place and who had
the best corner office and and who got
the best piping as anything else.
>> It's so so much. Yes. So much. Yes.
>> But the benality of evil.
>> Andor revels in this benality in an
empire even more entrenched in
departments, trigger laws, and
bureaucrats than Rogue One's empire.
kept in line by the fear that there is
always someone up the chain to make
one's life a living hell. A fear fully
underlined by the Preox Morana corporate
security. Find it. [music] You'd have to
filter the entire night.
>> Well, if it's too much for you, let me
know. [music] I'm sure somebody wants
the chair. To history and to Tony
Gilroy, these corpos might represent the
ralees, the mounted police force
President Pfiio Diaz would deploy
against unrest in the countryside during
the Mexican Revolution, or the Royal
Olter Constabularary, [music]
the RUC for short, in Northern Ireland
during the Troubles, a conflict that saw
frequent police raids and killings
against civilians and Irish Republican
Army fighters resisting [music] United
Kingdom rule. The corpos even bear
similar colors to the orange order, a
Protestant group that opposed an
independent Ireland and was directly
affiliated with the RU during the
troubles. The role of the corpos, as it
has always been of most police forces
during fascist regimes, is not so much
to protect the community as it is to
protect the state's interests, the
empire's interests. Corporate tactical
forces are the Empire's first line of
defense, and the best way to keep the
blade sharp is to use it. And for deputy
inspector Sirill Ka, played by Kyle
Solar, and based on lay Rob's very own
Ja, the corpo's obligations don't end
there. This is the murder of two primor employees.
employees.
>> They have a duty to pursue justice at
any cost and under every circumstance,
no matter how complex they might be. For
Cirill, like many who've grown
accustomed to the Empire, the nuances of
reality have never been anything more
than chaos to be controlled.
>> There comes a time when the the risk of
doing nothing becomes the greatest risk
of all.
>> Fair, the world where such chaos has
allegedly played out, embodies the sort
of place you see in many revolutions. A
colony state beyond the seat of the
empire where rebellious activity
unfolds. Belfast during the troubles or
the Morelos commune during the Mexican
Revolution which was the home of
revolutionary Ameiliano Zapata and
Mexico sugar crop industry. And much
like Ferris to the greater galaxy,
Morelos was a microcosm of events that
unfolded throughout Mexico over the 10
or so years of the revolution. But when
Ferex is first introduced, it is far
from overthrowing the yoke of
oppression. The people of Ferris are
salvage workers, sellers of aftermarket
ship parts and equipment, like a Star
Wars take on Motor City Detroit. By no
means is Ferex an essential part of the
Empire, but it's no less vulnerable to
[music] the effects of Imperial taxation
and police surveillance. I'm old enough.
I first came here, you could drive in
across the wasteland. They had a ground
carry, drive right through.
Now it's this.
>> Check the shelves.
>> Between its corporate supervision,
endless toil, [music]
drab appearance, and inescapable cold,
Ferris could very well come off as a
cliche dystopia. Its people condemned to
work the same dirt they've known their
entire lives for meager profits. What
keeps it from feeling that way? And what
Gilroy wanted to put at the forefront of
Ferex is its community. The cast of
characters we meet on Ferx, those
sprawling, all know each other closely
and have so for a long time. The banging
of metal pans, parts, and lids to alert
others to police activity, echoes a form
of protest against police raids during
the Troubles, or a similar tactic called
Caser Lazo in South America, which in
itself dates back to the 1830 July
revolution. And though industry and
commerce occupy so much of the Ferxian's
existence, they've effectively made a
culture of enduring it. From the
communal wall of gloves the salvage
workers wear to the time grapplers very
serious ritual of sounding the beginning
A job that could be done by a clock.
What makes far special is that it's done
Yet for Diego Luna's Cassian Andor,
community means as little to him as the
dirt beneath his feet. Cassian is a
loner, isolated even by the camera that
follows him on Rick's road. As a thief,
he's lay Miserab Jean Valjon incarnate.
The kind of man who might have been
considered honorable among the overtaxed
peasantry of revolutionary France. But
to his friends, family, and creditors,
Cassian is a lowife, a bum, a leech.
>> I want my deput. I'm not lending you any money.
money.
>> No more favors, no more deals. Finish
up. Get out.
Don't come back.
>> It hasn't always been like this. As a
child on Canari, young Casa lived in
relative harmony among his peers in a
lord of the flies-like tribe of other
orphan children until he gleaned what
likely killed all their parents and was
on its way to destroy what remained of
The fate of Canari evokes endless
parallels to indigenous tribes displaced
by mining operations over the last
hundreds of years and even up to today.
But the Canari [music] language, a blend
of Spanish, Portuguese, and Maguar,
alludes specifically to the fall of the
Aztec Empire when Spanish concistadors
ravaged Aztec lands for gold and silver
deposits, forcing the Aztecs to work and
die in their mines as slaves. Kasa is
saved from enduring a similar fate by
Marva and Clamandor, played by Fiona
Shaw and Gary Beetle, respectively, but
at the cost of losing his true home and
[music] community. Though he lives
today, he is not well nor sure of his
place on Ferris. A feeling that in the
mind of Diego Luna, who executive
produced the show with Gilroy, resonates
with the experience of many Latin
Americans who immigrated from Mexico and
frankly the experience of countless
refugees throughout history and
throughout the world who've all dealt
with some measure of rejection,
loneliness and discrimination,
especially under fascist regimes,
hostile to any minority outside the
established national identity and keen
to blame the nation's ills on those
minorities. What do you swam over?
Swim over scrrono.
>> It's the story of a migrant. That
feeling of having to move is behind this
story very profoundly and very strong
that shapes you as a person. It defines
you in many ways and what you are
willing to do.
As such, Cassian is opposed to not just
the Empire, but any kind of collective
at all. Not if it doesn't resemble the
one he was forced to let go of. The one
he is desperate to reclaim even a small
part of. And if he walked among us, he'd
be just as opposed to any and all
historical comparisons we'd make of him.
Because if any of it were true, it would
mean his circumstances weren't as unique
as they so often feel.
>> Mix has nothing to do with it.
>> But then who told these primo bastards
>> That would be me.
Until then, his every interaction, even
with the people who do care about him,
like Adriar Hona's Bixcolene or Joplain
Sipain's Braso, will be transactional, a
means to an end. That's the hand he was
dealt, and it's all he has to give.
>> Are we alone?
>> I am. But Cassian's latest client,
played by Stellin Scarsgard, won't walk
away without a bargain because he's not
a dealer of rare parts and equipment.
Not even close.
>> The arrogance is remarkable, isn't it? I
don't even think about us, boss. I don't
know you.
>> In the mid- 18th century, his name might
have been Maxmillian Robuspierre, a
progressive and radical leader of the
French Revolution. In the early 19th
century, Simone Bolivar, a freedom
fighter and revolutionary leader in the
war for SpanishAmerican independence.
>> These days will end, Cassianander. The
way they laugh, the way they push
through a crowd.
>> In the mid-9th century, he might have
been Gasepi Mazini, a political activist
for Italian liberation from the Hapsburg
monarchy. The
>> sound of that voice telling you to stop,
to go, to move, telling you to die
brings in the air, doesn't it?
And he could have been one of many men
in pre-revolutionary Russia that
conspired against Zar Nicholas II and
secret revolutionary societies. Pavle
Axelrod, Julius Mtov, or Georgie
Pleenov, the father of Russian Marxism.
>> They'll think about us soon enough. We
should get moving.
>> Soon enough, we'll have something else
to listen to.
>> But one figure from history stands more
clearly before Cassian than all the
rest. Vladimir Lenin, the fearless
leader of the Bolevik party and
spearhead of the Russian Revolution. A
man who was as unsavory in character as
he was devoted to revolution, eager to
make a revolutionary out of just about
anyone who had awoken to the evils of
Thesar and gained class consciousness.
An awareness of one's place among the
working class opposed to the ruling
class. Who are you? In Andor, his name
is Luan Rail, and every revolution seems
to have a man just like him. More common
though, and true of what Luan sees in
Cassian, is the revolutionary soldier.
The fodder, the gravel from which the
road to freedom will be built. The sort
of face that is sometimes lost in the
endless, evershifting sea of history,
but fuels the engine of revolution nonetheless.
nonetheless.
That revolution and the man upon whom
the scope of history already weighs
greatly have finally come knocking on
Cassian's door. Don't you want to fight
>> But of all people for history to call
upon, why him? Why today? And just what
is he supposed to do against the forces
of a totalitarian galactic empire? It's
less than pointless. It's suicide. Given
those odds, he'd sooner bet on his own survival.
survival.
>> What Cassian fails to accept is that the
call of history isn't a choice. Not if
it's been knocking this [music] loud and
for this long.
>> Gets to you, doesn't it?
>> Instead, it's an ultimatum. Join the
revolution. That's what a reckoning
sounds like.
>> Or step aside. Your wants, dreams, or
moral comfort are no longer in the
conversation. Only whether you're in or
out. How Cassian responds will have
drastic consequences for not only him,
A community who would risk their survival
survival
The corpos like any monarch tyrant or
fascist could never understand that nor
what the nobbodyies on ferics are
capable of.
But soon enough they'll know the feeling
of the gun pointed at their head. Soon
enough, they'll all be exposed for the
cowards they are when those nobodies
To Luin's credit, Cassian has much more
to offer than he realizes. So much more.
At the center of those memories from his
childhood on Canari, memories that are
reignited by his displacement from yet
another community, is a willingness to
act. More than his loneliness or his
desperation to return home, there's a
[music] remarkable courage in Cassian.
Someone who took it upon himself to take
on whatever killed his friend and
destroyed their community. Who defied
the troopers who hung his father in
Rick's Road Square and who refused to
take part in [music] the Empire's war on
Mimbe. today. He may be far more
interested in his continued survival
than serving [music] any kind of cause.
But in the flight from Ferris, as he
takes his first steps into a larger
world, Gilroy gives Cassian and the
audience a small glimpse into his
revolutionary future. A small glimpse at
everyone's [music] future. History has
called upon and everyone will answer
that call differently. Even Sirill Karn
has a role to play, though after today,
he may fear to acknowledge what that
role entails.
It's not destiny. There's no such thing
in the life of Cassie [music] Andor, nor
in the lives of the ordinary people from
whose perspective Andor is so rooted.
But it might start to feel like
everything that ever went wrong for the
galaxy and especially for you happened
for a reason. that whatever feeling you
couldn't let go of from back then might
finally be something other than painful now.
now.
It might finally be useful.
When my parents embarked to the United
States, my mother was pregnant with me.
They were able to do this through a
coyote or someone that helps people
cross the border unlawfully. A truck
picked them up from Mexico City to Beer
Sonora. They then walked 34 hours
through the desert without food or
anywhere to stop. A car picked them up,
then took them to Tucson. They anxiously
waited a week in an empty house for
someone to take them up north to
Minnesota and then finally to Chicago.
During their excruciatingly long trip,
my mother sat inside a hot vehicle,
exhausted, nauseated, sore, and swarmed
by other people who were in pursuit of
>> After a lengthy pre-production period,
director Toby Haynes met with cast and
crew to shoot Andor's first block of
episodes at London's Pinewood Studios in
November 2020. Their sets, arguably the
most ambitious of its kind in recent
Lucasfilm history, was roughly five city
blocks in length. Every building,
interior, and street of Ferex brought to
life exactly as Gilroy and Luke Hull had
envisioned it back in the writer room.
Beyond Fair, Hull was to design the look
of Corissant, Aldani, Narina 5, Nyamos,
[music] and Segreo. Most would be shot
on location, but everything within those
locations had to be designed. Unlike
John Favron and Dave Filona's
Mandalorian production in Los Angeles,
Gilroy was not interested in pushing
technical boundaries with innovations
like stagecraft andor would be shot the
old-fashioned way with practical
locations and effects. A commitment that
for a show set in a galaxy far far away
was far easier said than done.
Everything has to be designed and
chosen. It's not just the casting. It's
not just the color of the hair. It's not
just the sash on his on his on his robe.
It's not just a weapon. It's not just
the scene. It's not It's all of it.
>> By now, Andor was even more ambitious
than Gilroyy's original pitch. What
began as an 80page outline had exploded
into 700 pages of screenplay split
across 12 episodes with almost 200
speaking roles, thousands of props and
costumes, and countless visual effects.
The CO 19 pandemic had loomed over the
show since Gilroy joined in early 2020.
Even as filming began, Gilroy was
overseeing the entirety of Andor's
UK-based production from his home in New
York. Andor very well could have died
before it began if it wasn't for the
But all was not lost for Gilroy.
Planning ahead for his onset absence,
Gilroy and his writers turned in scripts
that were heavy on details. Countless
conversations with Hull and costume
designer Michael Wilkinson ensured
everything the cast and crew could ever
need would be there on day one.
>> I remember in Marva's u house and I said
like I think I should open that shelf.
We should see if we can put something in
the shelf that I can use to [music] and
then I go and I open the shelf and it's
all cooking stuff.
>> I mean I don't even have to talk to
props. This is already happening. This
is a house
>> and there's a there's a logic behind
this house that specificity. The the
shelf could have never been opened,
>> you know, and and [music] the stuff was
going to be there anyway.
>> As such, what needed to be filmed
episode to episode was specific. How it
needed to be filmed was left entirely up
to the crew's discretion on the days of
shooting. An approach that, ironically,
gave directors even more ownership over
their episodes. I'm not sure I was
entirely in charge of what I think has
emerged. I mean, we talked about that
last time about how much of the show
making and how much of the process is a
surprise to me in the end in a weird
way. You know, that that that the larger
things reveal themselves, you know, we
just just just kept hammering all the
way and in the end you end up with this
other thing.
Though Pinewood would be a mainstay for
much of the production, director Susanna
White and her crew would be splitting
most of their time between the Scottish
Highlands and London for the second
three episode arc of Andor. [music]
Even in location scouting, Gilroy found
inspiration in the real world history
behind certain locations and fused that
history with the worlds of Andor. The
Empire's forced relocation of the Aldani
Highlanders into the lowlands [music]
closely parallels the infamous Highland
clearances over the 18th and 19th
centuries [music] where greedy Scottish
landlords forcibly evicted tenants and
farmers from their homes to work in
overcrowded communities.
>> 40,000 Aldanis all across the Highlands.
They were here for centuries, but it
only took the Empire a decade to clear
them out.
>> But kill them.
>> No, drove them south. There's an
enterprise [music] zone in the lands.
Factories, new towns, imperial housing.
Alani has the unfortunate quality of
being close to nothing and not very far
away from everything.
>> In Arab history, the takeover of Alani
might resemble the 1948 Nagba when over
700,000 native Palestinians were
violently expelled from their lands to
create the state of Israel. And in North
America, the Donny's mass exodus echoes
the Trail of Tears, a death march where
60,000 Native Americans were forcibly
relocated across the country. Both go
down in history as clear examples of
ethnic cleansing and genocide, though
some still refused to acknowledge them
for what they were. Denial of the Nakba
in particular was and continues to be a
contentious matter in the Israeli
government who at the time of this
video's release are actively committing
a genocide against the Palestinian [music]
[music]
people in the Gaza Strip. Free Palestine.
Palestine.
>> The Danis are simple people. They breed
a sad combination of traits that make
them particularly vulnerable to
manipulation. Their deeper problem is
pride. The Donnies would rather lose.
They'd rather suffer than accept,
>> which is wildly ironic as they basically
choked down everything we've thrown at
them these last 12 years.
>> The history of these tragedies echo
loudly in the vast emptiness of Aldani,
especially after the onset of co saved
Susanna White from finding the thousands
of extras they originally wrote to
appear in the valley. On Aldani, history
truly does repeat itself.
>> [music]
>> orbiting Coruscant.
>> Coruscant in more degrees than it has
ever been portrayed. Mirs Alani with an
emptiness of its own. Assembled from
apartment buildings, subway stations,
and outdoor theaters throughout London.
[music] Coruscant embodies the former
seat of the most powerful empire in the
history of the modern era to surreal
effect. The clash of retrofuturistic
design against Soviet style brutalism
depicts the slow invasion of
totalitarianism into all areas of
society, even its architecture. While
the outside of the Imperial Security
Bureau headquarters is likely based on
the Titan Nakaird, a monument to the
Armenian genocide perpetrated by the
Ottoman Empire during World War I, what
goes on inside the building is that much
more ironic. The ISB are the Empire
Secret Police. their MI6, the FBI, the
Okrana and pre-revolutionary Tsarist
Russia, the NKVD in Soviet Russia, the
Gestapo and Third Reich Germany, Savvak
and Revolutionary Iran, or to the
Armenians of World War I, the Committee
of Union and Progress. In every
revolution, they're the
counterrevolution. And to every
revolutionary, there are few forces of
tyranny that create more obstacles.
>> We are health care providers. We treat
sickness. [music] We identify symptoms.
We locate germs. Whether they arise from
within or have come from the outside.
The longer we wait to identify a
disorder, the harder it is to treat the
disease. Through the ISB, Gilray and
White take Hannah Erin's benality of
evil full throttle. Not only are its
members fully indoctrinated into
imperial thinking, but they've
practically made careers of outdoing
each other's evils. Even as a viewer,
watching Denise Goff's Dedra navigate
the thorny bureaucracy of the ISB
registers as a career-driven woman
trying to make a name for herself in a
maledominated playing field. Next to her
peers, she feels not like a perpetrator,
but a victim, always working 10 times
harder just to be acknowledged.
>> Is it worth creating this much intra
office friction in the pursuit of what
seems like a straightup case of a
robbery gone arai? While there is some
truth in that, the greater shock is that
Dedra is sympathetic. A notion that in
itself highlights a deeper truth about
what Errent observed in Ikeman's trial.
You don't even have to work for the
Empire to become part of the problem.
>> Evil is perpetuated when immoral
principles become normalized over time
by people who do not think about things
from the standpoint of others. Evil
becomes commonplace. It becomes
everyday. Ordinary people going about
their everyday lives become complicit
actors in systems that perpetuate evil.
By focusing on Dedra's underdog struggle
and not what she plans to do once she
wins that struggle over time, Gilroy and
White make the audience complicit
supporters in Dedra's ambitions. We
become complicit in our own oppression.
The trap of fascism is believing that
one can be insulated from its effects so
long as they don't directly support it.
But fascist systems don't need popular
support to erase your rights, politicize
trustworthy institutions, and commit
greater and greater evils. Not after
they've been elected, anyway. They just
need an excuse. It took the combined
ingredients of idiocy, ineptitude, and
total disengagement for this fast to
have reached the full apex of
incredulous disaster. Seriously,
Seriously,
all democracies have certain functions
to operate with some independence from
partisan political actors. Central
banking, law enforcement and courts,
official statistics, financial
accounting and regulation, election
administration, intelligence and
national security, all only work
properly when appropriately protected
from politics. These institutions are
ripe targets for capture by autocratic
factions in whose hands they become
weapons toward adversaries, shields
against accountability, or worst of all,
levers of large-scale manipulation and corruption.
From the corpos all the way down to
everyday devices, everyone and
everything is slowly being nationalized
by the Empire. A long shadow stretching
over every world they touch. They
haven't nationalized everything yet, but
it won't be long before everyone walks
right into the trap. A trap that most
people on Coruscant have either ignored
or grown far too comfortable with. Those
of status and privilege practically live
in the sky, safe from all immediate
effects of imperial oppression.
>> Free your mind, Senator. This is a place
where time stands still. It's hard being
surrounded with this much history and
not be humbled by the insignificance of
our daily anxiety.
>> The less privileged middle-class
contingent of Coruscant live further
down and further from the safety of
ignorance. Though in the case of Siriel
K, he and his mother Edy, played by
Katherine Hunter, are not far down
enough to understand why the light
shines so rarely upon them, if at all.
>> Everything says something, Sirill. [music]
[music]
>> What is it that you hear my caller say?
>> Look at me.
I don't believe in myself. I am
desperate for approval.
Everyone else who does see the empire
for what it is either chooses to do
nothing about it or is too tired to do
anything about it. [music] In this andor
demonstrates not just the dominance of
the empire at every rung of society, but
their ability to overwhelm all potential
resistance through widespread shows of
power, echoing a 1996 US military
doctrine that defined such a tactic as a
means to induce shock and awe.
>> I mean, it's so confusing, isn't it? So
much going wrong, so much to say, and
all of it happening so quickly. The pace
of oppression outstrips our ability to
understand it. That [music] is the real
trick of the imperial thought machine.
It's easier to hide behind 40 atrocities
than a single incident.
This very emphasis on the rungs of
society, literally transposed onto the
verticality of Coruscant, matters for
the same reason those rungs matter in
every revolution. Whether it's the
aristocracy at the top, the bourgeoisi
in the middle, or the peasantry at the
bottom, all have had corresponding roles
to play. Late 19th century Russian
revolutionaries believed in going to the
people, living among the peasantry to
radicalize them into foot soldiers
against the Russian Empire until
realizing they were too oblivious to the
evils of Thesar to be swayed. Reflecting
on past revolutions in Europe,
revolutions in 1848 looked to bourgeoa
lawyers and business owners to lead the
revolutions in their respective
countries until they betrayed the
revolution to side with the crown. The
aristocracy, often linked with the
monarchies that many revolutions try to
overthrow, have rarely been counted on
nor so willing to put their fortunes on
the line, except for the ones who did.
the liberal nobles in the French
Revolution who battled tyranny through
secret clubs like the Republic of
Letters or the Society of 30 where
socialites like Senator Adrien Dupour
held house parties with other members to
plan revolutionary activity in secret or
statesman Oliver Cromwell in the English
Revolution, a descendant of rich
landowners who advocated for the
execution of Charles I, temporarily
abolishing the English monarchy to
become Lord Protectorate of the
Commonwealth of England. And of course,
Shandrulan senator, socialite, and
future rebel leader, Manothma,
played by Genevie O'Reilly.
>> If you can't deliver, [music] I need to know.
know.
>> Do you think I'm not trying?
>> I never think that, but I need to start
planning if you're no longer coming
through for us.
>> The money's there. It's just getting
very dangerous to move it around.
>> Revolutions were sort of steeped in this
mythology that revolutions are from the
ground up, but it really isn't that way
without the elites. I was also really
fascinated with the you know the early
Christians that that started you know
bringing down the Roman Empire who began
to be elites who began to believe in
Christianity and became undermining the
power structure. I thought the batter
minehoff group was always really
interesting. I thought red brigade and
and I I the idea of also money. I really
wanted to get very initially revolutions
really need money.
Though the fear of losing all her
fortunes has not pacified Manothma into
an action near constant imperial
surveillance has condemned her to
secrecy. Like Lutheran, she too lives a
double life, [music] working to finance
the rebellion from the shadows while she
suffers the apathy of her senatorial
peers and debaucherous husband Pin,
[music] played by Alistair McKenzie.
>> Must everything be boring and sad.
>> Her senatorial garb is not just
superflous costume design. Sometimes
it's armor, every layer protecting her
from [music] the scrutinizing gaze of
her Imperial sympathizing peers. Other
times it's a metaphorical distraction
like her speeches, [music]
charities, and petitions from her real intentions.
intentions.
>> Because as long as everyone thinks I'm
an irritation, [music] there's a good
chance they'll miss what I'm really doing.
doing.
>> What are you really doing?
>> If you want a revolution, you're going
to have to pay for [music] it. As Mon
Mothma confronts the audience with the
obstacles a public-f facing figure must
overcome to support a rebellion, Aldani
introduces a very different kind of
[music] fundraising, bank robbing. These
boots on the ground freedom fighters,
and their unique correspondence with Luin,
Luin,
>> look at me,
>> could be attributed to a variety of
underground resistance movements, but
one in [music] particular gave Gilray
all the inspiration he needed. the
Tiffas bank heist of 1907 where a gang
of criminals and prostitutes called the
outfit commissioned by Vladimir Lenon
made away with 241,000 rubles roughly 4
million US in today's currency from
Tifflas Gilroy and White devised a heist
of proportional ambition to the galaxy
of Andor
everyone's dead while you were sleeping
they came in slit everybody's throat
>> led by Fey Marlesa
another Secret clash traitor to
Shandraan royalty and comprised of
assassins extort troopers and former
prisoners handpicked from Luin shadow
network. The Aldani rebels are every bit
as mly as the Bolshevik outfit before
them. Caris Nemik in particular played
by Alex Law is a writer [music] and
ideologue. The kind of man that's next
to rogues like Eban Moss backs Arbal
scheme feel out of place. But as always,
history begs to differ. From Thomas
Payne, Voltater, Nikolai Trinsky, or
arguably Carl Marx. The sort of
philosopher poet that Nek embodies can
be found over and over in every
revolution. Fighting tyranny not so much
with violence [music] as they do with
words and ideas.
>> Apparently, the only thing keeping us
from liberty is a few more ideas.
>> Few more ideas. Now among the Star Wars
outfits, Cassine evokes in character and
even in looks the most infamous member
of the Tiffas [music] bank robbers, a
young Isa Jashili, better known to
history as Joseph Stalin, a sharpwitted
ruffian and street fighter from a poor
family [music] in Gory, Georgia,
Jashvilli became one of Lenin's most
trusted men by the 1907 [music] heist,
willing to do the dirty work that his
peers were not. Like Cassian, Jug
Gashilli adopted a practice employed by
his fellow Bolsheviks using different
names to throw off the Russian Okana.
>> Clen Keith Gargo
>> Varian Sky Ronni Ga.
>> Nobody here gives their real name.
>> And just as Juashill's mother KK Galadz
lived at once in an old broken home on
Soonai Street and Gori Marva inhabits a
perpetually cold home on Rick's road
where she has lived virtually her whole life.
life.
>> I know what I'm against. Everything else
will have to wait. You're my idol reader.
reader.
>> Though Cassine is not the sociopath and
Soviet dictator in the making that young
Stalin was, he's not sympathetic to the
rebellion either. For him, Aldani is a
job, not an excuse to wax ideology. The
background and motivations of the rebels
that for the audience may be an
afterthought are a major source of
distrust for Cassian. Their blatant
oversightes about the heist aren't
helping [music] things either. What were
you going to do if I wasn't here?
>> Might have been ugly, but we'd [music]
have figured it out.
>> What are you doing?
>> And deep down, no matter how much
potential Luan or Nek see in him,
Cassine will never see the potential in
the rebellion for himself. Not if it
can't take him home.
>> I'm here to win and walk away.
>> Wouldn't that be lovely?
>> It's really only the money to take a
risk like [music] this. Come on. While
there is a place for mercenaries like
Cassine in many revolutionary wars, the
rebels have as little reason to trust
him as he does them. Not if he's against
the one thing they've all agreed to.
Sacrifice. If you don't believe in the
cause, a thing that's in itself puts the
welfare of the galaxy above your own,
can you even be counted on to put your
life in harm's way? Are you even willing
to sacrifice personal comfort [music] in
the first place? I mean, you have
nothing. You sleep like a stone.
>> Once again, Cassian reflected Gilroyy's
own feelings about the herculean effort
needed to build Andor. An entry into a
franchise he did not care that much
about and was only getting more
complicated thanks to co.
>> So, you think it's hopeless, do you?
Freedom, independence, justice.
At the same time, it's hard to imagine
surviving a production of Andor scale
without gaining some kind of conviction.
And likewise for Cassian, it's hard to
imagine carrying out a mission this
dangerous, no matter the payout, without
some belief in a greater purpose,
something greater than you.
>> They'll soon see. Surprise from above is
[music] never as shocking as one from below.
Months of planning for the Rebels and
months of planning for Gilroy and
White's Ireland production finally
culminates in the eye. One of the most
staggering achievements in all of
Andor's first season. As White walks the
rebels through every step of their plan,
escalating tension and thrill with every
camera movement and turn, editor John
Gilroy intercuts the action with the
rituals of the Aldani people, a far less
extraordinary and seemingly unimportant
diversion from what is unfolding in the
dam. On the contrary, the Donnies remind
us what the rebels are fighting for in
the first place. Freedom from the rigid
law and order of the Empire. A hope felt
in the handheld cinematography of the
ceremony, free from a rigid style of
shooting, similar to the scenes that
were shot on Canari. Whatever goes down
this evening, Aldani will be remembered
in the viewer's mind not as the place
where colonizers forced the people into
exile, but where a community of people
persisted despite their fatigue. A hope
unto all peoples displaced by tyrannical
force. and a hope unto Cassie Nandandor,
who could never save his community on
Canari, but might glean a sliver of the
good he can do for the galaxy when those
>> But a sliver of good can only go so far.
It's not enough to employ terror, take
hostages, or exploit imperial ignorance.
It will never be enough. Because fascism
is so much harder to dismantle than
tonight has made it seem. When every
inch of society has been subsumed by the
Empire, a true rebel cannot be complicit
or complacent in the systems that
oppress them. Not if their success
depends on every one of those systems
working in their favor. Not for this
long. We've grown reliant on Imperial
tech and we've made ourselves vulnerable.
vulnerable.
>> What is that?
>> It's a battle radio.
>> Looks Imperial.
>> Not anymore.
>> Get ready. Valenzi should be calling in
soon. Where are we going? We're heading
down to the Visi.
Move. Let's go.
>> Despite the time, planning, and grueling
effort they've sacrificed to ensure
their success, all it takes is one
misstep to spring the trap. >> [music]
>> As hell breaks loose, the Docky War film
shooting style that grounded the battles
of Rogue One returns with a vengeance in
the Alenzy Dam, grounding the chaos of a
heist gone horribly [music] wrong.
Characters we've only begun to learn about
about
are killed with little fanfare. Their
sacrifices met with no apparent reward.
As if there was never a hope they were
Like all notions of freedom and
rebellion alike, hope just won't save
you here.
[music] Nor will the eye, however rare,
beautiful, and restorative it might be
to the Donnies. To Cassian, this
colorful distraction, much like the
rebellion, is nothing more than a death
sentence. And yet, it falls on him to
save it.
>> I need
Why him? Why today? And just what is he
>> Look at the window.
>> It is suicide, but it's not pointless.
Not if you believe in something greater
[music] that no matter what you tell me
or tell yourself, you'll ultimately die
Would you rather give it all at once?
What' you tell me? You want to win and
Why fight the empire? Why believe in a
cause, in a collective? You're not here
to save anybody [music] but yourself.
Why put everything on the line? [music]
Cassian knows it in his bones. [music]
And in a way, Sche never did. Because as
much as both have grown dependent on
themselves, Cassine has something Ski
probably never received. The love of a
community. In this rebellion, there is a
cause worth fighting for. And the
knowledge of that, fully and finally
accessible to him, couldn't be more terrifying.
terrifying.
>> I did everything I could.
>> It's not you, Doc.
>> And it's not [music] what you think either.
either.
>> Despite Luin's hopes that Aldani would
make a rebel of Cassian, all it has made
him is afraid. Afraid not of the Empire,
but of the implications.
If ideology is worth killing for, does
that mean it's worth [music] dying for?
Dying when there's still so much for him
so much to hold on to, even harder than before.
before.
>> Everything you've been through,
everything that was taken away from you
before you even started. Take all the
money you found and go and find some peace.
peace.
>> We were doing a deal. You [music] scam,
you borrow, you lie, you disappear. I
won't have peace. I'll be worried about
you all the time.
>> That's just love. [music]
Nothing you can do about that. You need
to get as far away from [music] here as
>> Instead of facing those fears, Cassian
[music] bets his hand once more on his
own survival
>> [music]
>> Being Mexican American sometimes means
that there is a disconnect to our
parents. My dad didn't get why I was
crying so hard when I was getting
bullied in school. He said, "Just stand
[music] up for yourself." That is
because in their childhood, they had
different problems. Our pain looked very
different. It created a distance [music]
between my parents and I. I carried this
guilt feeling like the reason why they
could not live fulfilling [music] lives.
An immense pressure in order to repay my
debt. Nyaki nyaya. Not from here nor
from there. That is how my entire life
has felt. [music]
But there is no walking away from Aldani.
Aldani.
History came knocking on Cassian's door,
and now that it's open, it will not be
shut. History is already in motion, and
its next chapter is the nightmare of
revolutionaries everywhere all
throughout history.
If you want a revolution,
>> the Declaratory Act of 1766,
the Carl'sbad Degrees of 1819, the September Laws of 1835, and the Punitive
September Laws of 1835, and the Punitive Campaigns of 1906.
Campaigns of 1906. These were all massive pieces of
These were all massive pieces of legislation for their times and all had
legislation for their times and all had one goal in common, killing revolutions
one goal in common, killing revolutions while they were still in the crib. in
while they were still in the crib. in andor Tony Gilroy and Steven Schiff, who
andor Tony Gilroy and Steven Schiff, who wrote the standalone episode
wrote the standalone episode Announcement, channeled fragments of all
Announcement, channeled fragments of all these decrees into what would become the
these decrees into what would become the public order re-sentencing directive, a
public order re-sentencing directive, a violent escalation of imperial
violent escalation of imperial surveillance, policing, and punishment.
surveillance, policing, and punishment. All in the supposed interest of
All in the supposed interest of security.
security. >> The emperor will be convening an
>> The emperor will be convening an emergency session of the Senate, propose
emergency session of the Senate, propose a legislation package of bills and
a legislation package of bills and amendments that will free our hands. Any
amendments that will free our hands. Any criminal act
criminal act with even indirect effect on the Empire
with even indirect effect on the Empire will henceforth be branded a class one
will henceforth be branded a class one offense.
offense. >> However far the rebellion pushed the
>> However far the rebellion pushed the needle forward on Aldani, the Empire was
needle forward on Aldani, the Empire was more than prepared to push it all the
more than prepared to push it all the way back, quite possibly for good. And
way back, quite possibly for good. And what few areas of society that were free
what few areas of society that were free of imperial control are now even fewer.
of imperial control are now even fewer. >> How much trouble am I in? There's no
>> How much trouble am I in? There's no trouble at all unless they scan the
trouble at all unless they scan the [music] accounts.
[music] accounts. >> But that's coming.
>> But that's coming. >> Time is not unlimited.
>> Time is not unlimited. >> Not all revolutions [music] succeed.
>> Not all revolutions [music] succeed. Frankly, it can be argued that most of
Frankly, it can be argued that most of them do not. the peasants revolt of 1381
them do not. the peasants revolt of 1381 in England, the 1781 conspiracy of the
in England, the 1781 conspiracy of the three Antonios in colonial South
three Antonios in colonial South America, the 1820 revolutions in Italy
America, the 1820 revolutions in Italy and Spain, the 1848 revolutions in
and Spain, the 1848 revolutions in Germany and Hungary, and of course, the
Germany and Hungary, and of course, the June rebellion of 1832.
June rebellion of 1832. In nearly all of these examples, unarmed
In nearly all of these examples, unarmed or illequipped liberals were suppressed
or illequipped liberals were suppressed by military forces or a faux alliance
by military forces or a faux alliance with the regime, who promised to appease
with the regime, who promised to appease the people's demands until they were
the people's demands until they were pacified out of revolt. Unfortunately
pacified out of revolt. Unfortunately for the post Aldani galaxy, how Emperor
for the post Aldani galaxy, how Emperor Palpatine will suppress the growing tide
Palpatine will suppress the growing tide of rebellion will characterize him in
of rebellion will characterize him in the same way many tyrannical leaders on
the same way many tyrannical leaders on the receiving end of revolution have
the receiving end of revolution have been described throughout history.
been described throughout history. Uncooperative and reactionary yet still
Uncooperative and reactionary yet still abded by a cult [music] of personality.
abded by a cult [music] of personality. >> Palpatines are frustrating. Yes, we
>> Palpatines are frustrating. Yes, we agree. Too easily provoked. Yes.
agree. Too easily provoked. Yes. Overreactive.
Overreactive. Perhaps understatement. Says what he
Perhaps understatement. Says what he means.
means. >> Sometimes revolution is not a powder
>> Sometimes revolution is not a powder keg. Without something to burn, it's a
keg. Without something to burn, it's a dying fire. Unless your tinder becomes
dying fire. Unless your tinder becomes the people.
the people. >> Palpatine won't hesitate now.
>> Palpatine won't hesitate now. >> Exactly.
>> Exactly. We need it.
We need it. We need the fear. We need them to
We need the fear. We need them to overreact.
overreact. >> You can't be serious.
>> You can't be serious. >> The Empire has been choking us so
>> The Empire has been choking us so slowly, we're starting not to notice.
slowly, we're starting not to notice. The time has come to force their hand.
The time has come to force their hand. >> People will suffer.
>> People will suffer. >> That's the plan. In Luan's mind, this
>> That's the plan. In Luan's mind, this new wave of fascist terror is a
new wave of fascist terror is a necessary step in radicalizing the
necessary step in radicalizing the emperor's loyal subjects. Through their
emperor's loyal subjects. Through their heightened oppression, the people will
heightened oppression, the people will be organically led into revolt. Contrary
be organically led into revolt. Contrary to the influence of Vladimir Lenin on
to the influence of Vladimir Lenin on Luin, it is a line of thinking that has
Luin, it is a line of thinking that has more in common with how Lenin's
more in common with how Lenin's revolutionary predecessors thought than
revolutionary predecessors thought than Lenin's actual theory for overthrowing
Lenin's actual theory for overthrowing Zar Nicholas, where a tight-knit party
Zar Nicholas, where a tight-knit party of professional revolutionaries, what
of professional revolutionaries, what became the Bolsheviks will seize power
became the Bolsheviks will seize power on their own without the people of
on their own without the people of Russia, a concept coined today as
Russia, a concept coined today as vanguardism. Until now, Luan's network
vanguardism. Until now, Luan's network of rebels in Aldani might have made up a
of rebels in Aldani might have made up a small part of a vanguard party. But what
small part of a vanguard party. But what Lenin's predecessors believed, the early
Lenin's predecessors believed, the early Russian revolutionaries led by Georgie
Russian revolutionaries led by Georgie Pleenov, was going to the people,
Pleenov, was going to the people, instilling class consciousness in the
instilling class consciousness in the peasantry, as we referenced earlier. Due
peasantry, as we referenced earlier. Due to the overwhelming dominance of
to the overwhelming dominance of capitalism in Russia and crackdowns on
capitalism in Russia and crackdowns on political activity, it [snorts] never
political activity, it [snorts] never worked. But one of the biggest reasons
worked. But one of the biggest reasons it failed became the basis for why it
it failed became the basis for why it will seem unlikely in the Empire's
will seem unlikely in the Empire's galaxy as well. A terrifying reality
galaxy as well. A terrifying reality that Cassin Andor will become far too
that Cassin Andor will become far too acquainted with.
[music] The people are too tired to revolt.
On Arcina 5, Gilroy, writer Bo Willleman, and director Toby Haynes
Willleman, and director Toby Haynes crushed the audience's hopes for the
crushed the audience's hopes for the rebellion in Shift 52D. Part prison,
rebellion in Shift 52D. Part prison, part Imperial labor camp, Narina 5 is
part Imperial labor camp, Narina 5 is arguably the one place in Andor with the
arguably the one place in Andor with the most ties to the thousands of years of
most ties to the thousands of years of history that Gilray referenced.
history that Gilray referenced. Countless human empires were built by
Countless human empires were built by slave labor. The Galactic Empire is no
slave labor. The Galactic Empire is no different. What they're building and why
different. What they're building and why droids can't build it instead are
droids can't build it instead are irrelevant concerns here. There's no
irrelevant concerns here. There's no time for such questions. Not if you want
time for such questions. Not if you want to avoid getting fried.
Who these people were before Narcina and what they did to end up here are just as
what they did to end up here are just as irrelevant. In the bleach white
irrelevant. In the bleach white non-escript jumpsuits all must wear,
non-escript jumpsuits all must wear, everyone is virtually the same. Erased
everyone is virtually the same. Erased of all agency, identity, and humanity,
of all agency, identity, and humanity, herded like cattle [music] to the
herded like cattle [music] to the slaughter. Even composer Nicholas
slaughter. Even composer Nicholas Bertell's score, which has evoked
Bertell's score, which has evoked signature aspects of every planet in the
signature aspects of every planet in the instrumentation of his music, rips away
instrumentation of his music, rips away its musicality for a bleaker sounding
its musicality for a bleaker sounding synthe. [music]
However far you look for some semblance of hope in the Empire's panopticon,
of hope in the Empire's panopticon, you'll only find that same hopelessness
you'll only find that same hopelessness reflected back at you.
reflected back at you. thousands of times [music] over.
>> Narcina 5 is the most intensely dehumanizing environment in all of the
dehumanizing environment in all of the Empire. And somehow it's not a deal
Empire. And somehow it's not a deal breakaker for everyone.
breakaker for everyone. >> My name is Kino [music] Loy. I'm the 52D
>> My name is Kino [music] Loy. I'm the 52D unit manager. The 49 men in this room
unit manager. The 49 men in this room answer to me.
answer to me. Andy Circus' Kino Loy is the living
Andy Circus' Kino Loy is the living counterargument to Luan's theory of
counterargument to Luan's theory of revolution
revolution >> of program.
>> of program. >> Explaining the mechanics of the prison
>> Explaining the mechanics of the prison in terms of managers, shifts, and
in terms of managers, shifts, and productivity. Kino is the kind of man
productivity. Kino is the kind of man Pleenov's revolutionaries could not
Pleenov's revolutionaries could not radicalize. The 12-hour factory worker
radicalize. The 12-hour factory worker who had no time to study Karl Marx's
who had no time to study Karl Marx's writings about class consciousness and
writings about class consciousness and thus believed their work had civic
thus believed their work had civic purpose to the Zar's empire. Kino might
purpose to the Zar's empire. Kino might even believe that the troubled men who
even believe that the troubled men who enter through that door will find
enter through that door will find valuable discipline in such rigorous
valuable discipline in such rigorous work. But Narina 5 is not designed to
work. But Narina 5 is not designed to reform troubled individuals. It's
reform troubled individuals. It's designed to create loyal workers to
designed to create loyal workers to build the most ideal subject in what is
build the most ideal subject in what is evidently not just a fascist empire,
evidently not just a fascist empire, [music]
[music] but a capitalist one too. A connection
but a capitalist one too. A connection that was more than apparent in the
that was more than apparent in the factories of Alfred Crup, a German
factories of Alfred Crup, a German industrialist who helped bail out the
industrialist who helped bail out the Nazi party in 1933 and went on to become
Nazi party in 1933 and went on to become the leading weapons manufacturer in
the leading weapons manufacturer in Germany during World War II.
Approximately 23,000 prisoners of war worked as slave laborers in crop plants
worked as slave laborers in crop plants between 1940 and 1945. Crop used
between 1940 and 1945. Crop used prisoners of war from various countries,
prisoners of war from various countries, often for armament production. In 1941,
often for armament production. In 1941, for example, the firm used French,
for example, the firm used French, Dutch, and Belgium prisoners of war to
Dutch, and Belgium prisoners of war to build submarines and other warships.
build submarines and other warships. >> The economy needed to steady her growing
>> The economy needed to steady her growing development. Because of the rivalries
development. Because of the rivalries between many political parties in
between many political parties in Germany and the general disorder, there
Germany and the general disorder, there was never an opportunity for prosperity.
was never an opportunity for prosperity. We thought that Hitler would give us
We thought that Hitler would give us such a healthy environment. Indeed, he
such a healthy environment. Indeed, he did do that. We crops never cared much
did do that. We crops never cared much about political ideas. We only wanted a
about political ideas. We only wanted a system that worked well and allowed us
system that worked well and allowed us to work unhindered. Politics is not our
to work unhindered. Politics is not our business.
>> But Cassian wasn't some disloyal worker that went on strike. He's not even here
that went on strike. He's not even here because of Aldani. Not directly, anyway.
because of Aldani. Not directly, anyway. >> Keith Gergo is only here because he
>> Keith Gergo is only here because he looked like the kind of [music] person
looked like the kind of [music] person who would cause trouble. Another thinly
who would cause trouble. Another thinly veiled nod to the bigoted scapegoating
veiled nod to the bigoted scapegoating of fascist governments.
of fascist governments. >> You keep looking around. I'm
>> You keep looking around. I'm >> just trying to figure out what's going
>> just trying to figure out what's going on.
on. >> You a part of it?
>> You a part of it? >> Part of what?
>> Part of what? >> Narina 5 isn't just a labor camp, but a
>> Narina 5 isn't just a labor camp, but a dumping ground for the undesirabs, who
dumping ground for the undesirabs, who now more than ever can be deposited here
now more than ever can be deposited here for any reason under any pretense. He
for any reason under any pretense. He could try explaining that to Kino and
could try explaining that to Kino and any other inmate who holds as false an
any other inmate who holds as false an idea about the empire as his. But what
idea about the empire as his. But what choice would he then have in being
choice would he then have in being right? How do you persuade someone who
right? How do you persuade someone who will sooner see threats in his fellow
will sooner see threats in his fellow inmates than the real enemy at the top?
>> In reality, there is one choice and one choice only. Compliance.
choice only. Compliance. It's hard enough not to be complicit in
It's hard enough not to be complicit in Imperial systems of control. It's even
Imperial systems of control. It's even harder now after PD.
harder now after PD. >> Don't ever look at the number. Double,
>> Don't ever look at the number. Double, triple, it doesn't matter.
triple, it doesn't matter. >> Hey,
>> Hey, >> you're into they don't want you anymore.
>> you're into they don't want you anymore. >> Get straight with that.
>> Get straight with that. >> Why bother trying to resist it? Why not
>> Why bother trying to resist it? Why not play along?
play along? >> Play.
>> The Empire's new regulations made without Senate consultation, I might
without Senate consultation, I might add, are as cumbersome as they are
add, are as cumbersome as they are avoidable. They've made [music] a game
avoidable. They've made [music] a game of it, and we play.
of it, and we play. In these disingenuous terms, those
In these disingenuous terms, those who've embraced their role as a cog in
who've embraced their role as a cog in the Empire's machine don't have to think
the Empire's machine don't have to think about freedom, dreams, or even fresh
about freedom, dreams, or even fresh air. They don't have to, and likely
air. They don't have to, and likely won't consider how trapped they truly
won't consider how trapped they truly are. how a home embassy, [music] let
are. how a home embassy, [music] let alone a bureau of standards cubicle,
alone a bureau of standards cubicle, could be another kind of prison in the
could be another kind of prison in the empire, conveyed in both Ho's polygonal
empire, conveyed in both Ho's polygonal production design and cinematographer
production design and cinematographer Adriano Goldman's recurrent framing of
Adriano Goldman's recurrent framing of that design. The fight to have a career
that design. The fight to have a career you like, [music] to be present in your
you like, [music] to be present in your daughter's life, or to walk down the
daughter's life, or to walk down the street without feeling afraid are so
street without feeling afraid are so unwininnable, they're not even worth
unwininnable, they're not even worth fighting. Maybe you could go down
fighting. Maybe you could go down swinging and die by your principles as a
swinging and die by your principles as a martyr, but could you really stomach
martyr, but could you really stomach [music] the misery of that existence?
[music] the misery of that existence? Would anyone even notice you?
>> Who is it now? >> He railed it. Beos
>> He railed it. Beos table three. The tall one.
Maybe you don't fight. Maybe instead you scream for help.
scream for help. You choose to believe in the goodness of
You choose to believe in the goodness of people that they will come running when
people that they will come running when you need them most. [music]
you need them most. [music] >> We need to pull together, Saul. Whatever
>> We need to pull together, Saul. Whatever our final version of success looks like,
our final version of success looks like, there's no chance any of us can make it
there's no chance any of us can make it real on our own. But in a galaxy so
real on our own. But in a galaxy so riddled with borders, plagued by the
riddled with borders, plagued by the Empire's tactics of division, it's not
Empire's tactics of division, it's not always fear that will stop others from
always fear that will stop others from helping you. Sometimes it's ego that
helping you. Sometimes it's ego that you've been so conditioned to distrust
you've been so conditioned to distrust everything and everyone. You'll sooner
everything and everyone. You'll sooner turn your back on your allies than raise
turn your back on your allies than raise a fist against the Empire. Of all
a fist against the Empire. Of all sentiments about revolution in Andor,
sentiments about revolution in Andor, this one might be the most [music]
this one might be the most [music] genuine. In the bid to elect the right
genuine. In the bid to elect the right leadership and agree on the right
leadership and agree on the right strategy for taking on the regime, most
strategy for taking on the regime, most revolutions inevitably crumble under
revolutions inevitably crumble under factionalism and infighting and in doing
factionalism and infighting and in doing [music] so never make it to the finish
[music] so never make it to the finish line. This was the case for the French
line. This was the case for the French Revolution's national convention, the
Revolution's national convention, the revolutionary government in 1792 after
revolutionary government in 1792 after suffering the clash of ideologies and
suffering the clash of ideologies and sub ideidologies for years until the
sub ideidologies for years until the rise of Napoleon Bonapart in 1799. And
rise of Napoleon Bonapart in 1799. And it was also the case for the Russian
it was also the case for the Russian revolution's numerous leftist factions,
revolution's numerous leftist factions, many of whom emerged only from minute
many of whom emerged only from minute differences such as the Bolevik
differences such as the Bolevik Menchevik split in 1903 or the SR Combat
Menchevik split in 1903 or the SR Combat Organization, the Russian revolutionary
Organization, the Russian revolutionary faction that most resembles Saw
faction that most resembles Saw Guerrera's partisans who believed their
Guerrera's partisans who believed their goals could only be achieved through
goals could only be achieved through political assassination and
political assassination and bombthrowing. Criger's a separatist. Why
bombthrowing. Criger's a separatist. Why pay a nepublican?
pay a nepublican? The Gorman Front, the Protestant
The Gorman Front, the Protestant Alliance, sectorists, human cultists,
Alliance, sectorists, human cultists, galaxy petitionists, they're lost. All
galaxy petitionists, they're lost. All of them lost.
of them lost. Lost.
Lost. So maybe you keep your mouth shut
So maybe you keep your mouth shut because nobody's listening to begin
because nobody's listening to begin with. You don't play along necessarily,
with. You don't play along necessarily, but you do commit to a silent
but you do commit to a silent resistance. You build a fortress in the
resistance. You build a fortress in the one place the Empire can't reach you.
one place the Empire can't reach you. >> Well, we'll find a place they haven't
>> Well, we'll find a place they haven't ruined yet.
ruined yet. >> I'm already there.
>> I'm already there. That place is in my head. They can build
That place is in my head. They can build as many barracks as they like. They'll
as many barracks as they like. They'll never find me.
never find me. >> But in doing so, you become isolated.
>> But in doing so, you become isolated. You succumb to something that excels at
You succumb to something that excels at generating bitterness and disappointment
generating bitterness and disappointment towards everyone around you. Whether
towards everyone around you. Whether they're an imperial tool or as secretly
they're an imperial tool or as secretly opposed to every unjust decree as you,
opposed to every unjust decree as you, you never expel those feelings either.
you never expel those feelings either. Not when your rebellion hinges on
Not when your rebellion hinges on holding firm to them. And so the same
holding firm to them. And so the same walls erected to [music] keep fascist
walls erected to [music] keep fascist thinking at bay may also suppress your
thinking at bay may also suppress your humanity.
humanity. >> I told you up front, struggle will
>> I told you up front, struggle will always come first. We take what's left.
always come first. We take what's left. >> What are you, Griffith?
>> What are you, Griffith? Maybe you don't want to know where that
Maybe you don't want to know where that thinking leads
because the one person who is listening and might have the means to topple an
and might have the means to topple an empire is one of the last people you
empire is one of the last people you should bet your life on. Lutheran Rail
should bet your life on. Lutheran Rail has always been a mysterious and
has always been a mysterious and complicated figure. But the degree to
complicated figure. But the degree to which he has clung to his silence
which he has clung to his silence devastated his peace of mind and erased
devastated his peace of mind and erased his humanity has forged him into
his humanity has forged him into something else entirely. Wielding his
something else entirely. Wielding his shadow network to achieve a terrifying
shadow network to achieve a terrifying omnipotence. Luan is an unholy god among
omnipotence. Luan is an unholy god among men. He's turned the galaxy into a
men. He's turned the galaxy into a chessboard where each and every person
chessboard where each and every person has been objectified and is played as a
has been objectified and is played as a chess piece. And like any good chess
chess piece. And like any good chess player, Luan's goal is not to protect
player, Luan's goal is not to protect the pawns. It's to stop the king.
the pawns. It's to stop the king. >> You're willing to burn him. His study
>> You're willing to burn him. His study men.
men. >> So you know his doom, which means either
>> So you know his doom, which means either your ISB
your ISB or you have someone inside that you are
or you have someone inside that you are protecting
protecting >> or I'm just a very good listener. As
>> or I'm just a very good listener. As many great revolutionary leaders as
many great revolutionary leaders as Lutheran has embodied, he now
Lutheran has embodied, he now foreshadows what tragically became of
foreshadows what tragically became of many of those leaders. A slide into
many of those leaders. A slide into autocratic thinking. Revolutionaries
autocratic thinking. Revolutionaries whose charisma and ability to inspire
whose charisma and ability to inspire were outmatched only by their ego and
were outmatched only by their ego and eagerness to take power. And so once
eagerness to take power. And so once they did, they became dictators. at
they did, they became dictators. at first to beat back loyalists of the old
first to beat back loyalists of the old regime. But when those loyalists
regime. But when those loyalists surrendered, the former revolutionaries
surrendered, the former revolutionaries would, in a fit of unchecked paranoia,
would, in a fit of unchecked paranoia, turn their forces on the people. The
turn their forces on the people. The examples of this, especially over the
examples of this, especially over the 20th century, are endless. I yearn to be
20th century, are endless. I yearn to be a savior against injustice without
a savior against injustice without contemplating the cost. And by the time
contemplating the cost. And by the time I look down, there's no longer any
I look down, there's no longer any ground beneath my feet. What is my what
ground beneath my feet. What is my what is my sacrifice?
is my sacrifice? I'm condemned to use the tools of my
I'm condemned to use the tools of my enemy to defeat them. I burn my decency
enemy to defeat them. I burn my decency for someone else's future. I burn my
for someone else's future. I burn my life to make a sunrise that I know I'll
life to make a sunrise that I know I'll never see. It may seem heroic to
never see. It may seem heroic to thanklessly devote as much to the
thanklessly devote as much to the rebellion as Luan has. But make no
rebellion as Luan has. But make no mistake, if this man were ever to find
mistake, if this man were ever to find his mere audience or light of gratitude,
his mere audience or light of gratitude, the galaxy might wish he hadn't. for the
the galaxy might wish he hadn't. for the grain of humanity that still regards
grain of humanity that still regards Lonnie Young with some level of sympathy
Lonnie Young with some level of sympathy would be buried forever. What do I
would be buried forever. What do I sacrifice?
Not all revolutions succeed. Whether they never fully materialize,
Whether they never fully materialize, transform a radical into a dictator, or
transform a radical into a dictator, or are suppressed by tyrannical force, it
are suppressed by tyrannical force, it could be argued that most revolutions
could be argued that most revolutions fail. Workers are exhausted into
fail. Workers are exhausted into subservience. Communities are divided by
subservience. Communities are divided by fear and violence, and lawmakers with
fear and violence, and lawmakers with some bone of justice in their bodies are
some bone of justice in their bodies are made complicit in atrocity after
made complicit in atrocity after atrocity. All the while, new fascists
atrocity. All the while, new fascists are bred right at home. At first, as
are bred right at home. At first, as deeply insecure adults, never granted
deeply insecure adults, never granted personal autonomy in their upbringing.
personal autonomy in their upbringing. >> Imagine I cracked under the weight of
>> Imagine I cracked under the weight of your neglect. [music] Imagine I'd
your neglect. [music] Imagine I'd cracked and wasn't here now to pick up
cracked and wasn't here now to pick up the pieces.
the pieces. >> And then as unknowing defenders of the
>> And then as unknowing defenders of the regime who perpetuate authoritarian
regime who perpetuate authoritarian thinking in their careers and
thinking in their careers and relationships, science and innovation
relationships, science and innovation are bent not in the interest of
are bent not in the interest of humanity, but in sad the empire's ever
humanity, but in sad the empire's ever disturbing need to control everything.
disturbing need to control everything. Technologies created not to perform
Technologies created not to perform miracles but to paralyze the scent.
>> And anyone actually capable of doing something is gunned down [clears throat]
something is gunned down [clears throat] before they get the chance.
before they get the chance. >> This is what revolution looks like. Bel,
>> you can definitely [music] see how nothing is inevitable. And there's there
nothing is inevitable. And there's there are times in history [music] where it
are times in history [music] where it just feels like every single thing is
just feels like every single thing is locking into place to make a revolution
locking into place to make a revolution happen and the revolution is going to
happen and the revolution is going to explode and then just like nothing
explode and then just like nothing happens. It fizzles out. Nothing is ever
happens. It fizzles out. Nothing is ever inevitable. Like nothing is written. And
inevitable. Like nothing is written. And [music] you might think it is but it is
[music] you might think it is but it is not. And then things will things will
not. And then things will things will happen that will surprise you and things
happen that will surprise you and things that you absolutely are dead certain
that you absolutely are dead certain will happen uh just do not happen at
will happen uh just do not happen at all.
As hopeful as the idea of revolution is, history has hardly yielded a consistent
history has hardly yielded a consistent version of it, nor the assurance that it
version of it, nor the assurance that it is inevitable. Revolutions are not
is inevitable. Revolutions are not inevitable. And history, on the
inevitable. And history, on the contrary, does not repeat itself. At
contrary, does not repeat itself. At best, it only echoes, governed each time
best, it only echoes, governed each time by new and unpredictable variables in
by new and unpredictable variables in the present.
the present. Cassie never asked to be born in this
Cassie never asked to be born in this galaxy, in this century, in this time of
galaxy, in this century, in this time of tyranny. No one did. But in the end,
tyranny. No one did. But in the end, compliance truly is the only choice.
compliance truly is the only choice. It is far easier and maybe even natural
It is far easier and maybe even natural to do as the Empire says. It's not much
to do as the Empire says. It's not much of a life, but it beats every other
of a life, but it beats every other option.
option. Simply put, it is what it is.
>> But even compliance isn't an option. >> Inmates home program.
>> Inmates home program. >> Not only can you be thrown in jail for
>> Not only can you be thrown in jail for any reason, but you could be thrown back
any reason, but you could be thrown back in jail even after serving your
in jail even after serving your sentence.
sentence. >> They made a mistake. A man who was just
>> They made a mistake. A man who was just released on four ended up back on two
released on four ended up back on two the next day. Well, got out on the floor
the next day. Well, got out on the floor and then they killed them all.
and then they killed them all. >> If he was released, you and me. No one's
>> If he was released, you and me. No one's getting out, are they? Not now.
getting out, are they? Not now. >> In the Empire, the notion that you even
>> In the Empire, the notion that you even have an option is a lie. A complete
have an option is a lie. A complete illusion. One that will soon shatter for
illusion. One that will soon shatter for Kino Loy. How many guards on each level?
Kino Loy. How many guards on each level? >> Never more than 12.
>> Whatever the inmates of Narina 5 are building, it couldn't possibly justify
building, it couldn't possibly justify their torture. There is nothing fair
their torture. There is nothing fair about the Imperial system for Narina 5
about the Imperial system for Narina 5 or anywhere for that matter. Only the
or anywhere for that matter. Only the madeup laws that call it fair. There is
madeup laws that call it fair. There is no reason to suffer the exhaustion and
no reason to suffer the exhaustion and nothing worth surviving for.
nothing worth surviving for. >> No one is getting out.
>> No one is getting out. >> Unless the
>> Unless the >> plan works around the new man coming
>> plan works around the new man coming down.
down. >> They destroy the system.
>> They destroy the system. >> We are done with counting shifts. There
>> We are done with counting shifts. There is only then and now.
is only then and now. There is only one way out. Play it how
There is only one way out. Play it how you want,
you want, but I'm going to assume I'm already dead
but I'm going to assume I'm already dead and take it from there.
and take it from there. >> What Kenoloy and the prisoners of Narina
>> What Kenoloy and the prisoners of Narina 5 do have is that which the Empire has
5 do have is that which the Empire has grown far too comfortable taking for
grown far too comfortable taking for granted for far too long. The very
granted for far too long. The very resource they've depended on to build
resource they've depended on to build their technological terrors, but could
their technological terrors, but could never expect
never expect to become the terror
to become the terror themselves.
the people. [screaming]
>> We have a situation on 52D. Repeat, we have a situation.
have a situation. As an Arcina 5 goes dark, Toby Hannes
As an Arcina 5 goes dark, Toby Hannes lights a powder K. What erupts over the
lights a powder K. What erupts over the next several minutes, level by level,
next several minutes, level by level, from person to person, is a smallcale
from person to person, is a smallcale revolution. A flood of violent upheaval,
revolution. A flood of violent upheaval, chaos, and music as every Len instrument
chaos, and music as every Len instrument that was once [music] ripped from
that was once [music] ripped from Bertell's score is returned with every
Bertell's score is returned with every prisoner freed. And all of it is
prisoner freed. And all of it is unleashed by Cassian and Kino [music]
unleashed by Cassian and Kino [music] who now take their place among a long
who now take their place among a long list of revolutionaries who are
list of revolutionaries who are radicalized in prison, educated other
radicalized in prison, educated other inmates, and escaped to continue their
inmates, and escaped to continue their freedom fighting cause. Kino in
freedom fighting cause. Kino in particular now steps into the same role
particular now steps into the same role as Tucson Luvaturure, a former slave,
as Tucson Luvaturure, a former slave, plantation owner, and formative leader
plantation owner, and formative leader in the Haitian Revolution who helped
in the Haitian Revolution who helped transform the fledgling slave rebellion
transform the fledgling slave rebellion into the first and only successful slave
into the first and only successful slave revolt in world history. Although the
revolt in world history. Although the Narcina uprising resembles the Haitian
Narcina uprising resembles the Haitian Revolution's bloody beginnings far more
Revolution's bloody beginnings far more than its professional stages, one
than its professional stages, one reassuring truth amid the Haitian
reassuring truth amid the Haitian Revolution will reassure once again on
Revolution will reassure once again on Narina [music]
Narina [music] 5. The administrators are vastly
5. The administrators are vastly outnumbered by their own slaves
on program now. All yours.
>> As Kino steps into that very position so many revolutionaries before him have
many revolutionaries before him have stood, but were too vain to resist its
stood, but were too vain to resist its autocratic pole, he is met with the same
autocratic pole, he is met with the same choice to seize power that they had.
choice to seize power that they had. >> We are at this moment in control of the
>> We are at this moment in control of the facility.
facility. >> What keeps him from acting on it?
>> What keeps him from acting on it? >> Is that the best you got? is Cassian
>> Is that the best you got? is Cassian Andor.
Andor. A man with no delusions of grandeur nor
A man with no delusions of grandeur nor ambition for power. Only a newfound
ambition for power. Only a newfound mission to return to the people who love
mission to return to the people who love him. Nothing more special than that.
him. Nothing more special than that. Imagine who's waiting for everyone here.
Imagine who's waiting for everyone here. It's about time they all come home.
It's about time they all come home. >> There is one way out right now.
>> There is one way out right now. The building is ours.
The building is ours. You need to run, climb, kill.
You need to run, climb, kill. You need to help each other.
You need to help each other. You see someone who's confused, someone
You see someone who's confused, someone [music] who is lost.
[music] who is lost. You get them moving and you keep them
You get them moving and you keep them moving until we put this place behind
moving until we put this place behind us.
us. >> There is one way out and there has only
>> There is one way out and there has only ever been one way out of the Imperial
ever been one way out of the Imperial system. It's not a comfortable journey,
system. It's not a comfortable journey, nor can it be done quietly. It can't be
nor can it be done quietly. It can't be taken alone and not always with people
taken alone and not always with people you agree with. But it is your best shot
you agree with. But it is your best shot at getting home. Knowing that, why wait
at getting home. Knowing that, why wait another day to break free?
[music] >> Heat.
>> Can't swim. >> What do you think? Can't swim.
>> What do you think? Can't swim. [music]
>> On Arcina 5, Cassian became the rebel recruiter that Luan was to him back on
recruiter that Luan was to him back on Ferris. He proved him right, albeit for
Ferris. He proved him right, albeit for a day, and proved his theory of
a day, and proved his theory of revolution, too. Though the sea of
revolution, too. Though the sea of history is at his feet, Cassian now
history is at his feet, Cassian now knows his true place is on Far. There he
knows his true place is on Far. There he can finally make amends with Marva. He
can finally make amends with Marva. He can finally go home.
>> Cass, >> but there is no home.
>> but there is no home. >> Your mother's dead.
>> Your mother's dead. >> Cassian can never go home
>> Cassian can never go home ever again.
>> It's just us. What if we're the only ones?
What if we're the only ones? People have to know about [music] this.
[music] >> Once people arrive on US soil, the
>> Once people arrive on US soil, the disillusionment settles and an
disillusionment settles and an unfamiliar reality trickles in. The
unfamiliar reality trickles in. The American dream evolves. For many
American dream evolves. For many undocumented people, this [music] means
undocumented people, this [music] means working your life away. Working to your
working your life away. Working to your back aches, feet swell, and hands hurt.
back aches, feet swell, and hands hurt. When my dad was living in the United
When my dad was living in the United States, working 70our weeks, he often
States, working 70our weeks, he often talked about how much he missed his
talked about how much he missed his family back home. He was heartbroken
family back home. He was heartbroken about not being able to even visit.
about not being able to even visit. Often times, [music] my family members
Often times, [music] my family members had to grieve their family members back
had to grieve their family members back home from a distance.
>> Andor had been a grueling [music] work. Gilroyy's creative and budgetary demands
Gilroyy's creative and budgetary demands did not kill it. The pandemic did not
did not kill it. The pandemic did not kill it. And miraculously, the crew had
kill it. And miraculously, the crew had emerged on the other end of a 9-month
emerged on the other end of a 9-month shoot, relatively unscathed. But Gilroy
shoot, relatively unscathed. But Gilroy was exhausted. So much of his existence
was exhausted. So much of his existence since coming onto the show in 2019 had
since coming onto the show in 2019 had been occupied by script writing, set
been occupied by script writing, set design, dailies, remote Zoom [music]
design, dailies, remote Zoom [music] calls, sitting in the editing room with
calls, sitting in the editing room with his brother, dropping in on Battel's
his brother, dropping in on Battel's music writing sessions in Manhattan, and
music writing sessions in Manhattan, and having [music] countless conversations
having [music] countless conversations with cast, crew, ILM, and Lucasfilm
with cast, crew, ILM, and Lucasfilm personnel. Day after day [music] after
personnel. Day after day [music] after day, he and his team had effectively
day, he and his team had effectively made four movies back to back. Whatever
made four movies back to back. Whatever naive notion Gilroy once held that this
naive notion Gilroy once held that this was a job and nothing more had faded
was a job and nothing more had faded ages ago. Andor began as Gilroy's chance
ages ago. Andor began as Gilroy's chance to look back at a lifelong pastime. But
to look back at a lifelong pastime. But it had become so much more than that in
it had become so much more than that in the end, hadn't it?
By the season 1 finale, Rick's Road directed by Ben Karen andor was seeing
directed by Ben Karen andor was seeing the cast of nobody characters on Ferex
the cast of nobody characters on Ferex that Gilroy once begged the audience to
that Gilroy once begged the audience to care about one by one get slowly choked
care about one by one get slowly choked by Imperial occupation. The once
by Imperial occupation. The once bustling streets are now empty by
bustling streets are now empty by sundown and stormtroopers, more
sundown and stormtroopers, more monolithic and inhuman than they've ever
monolithic and inhuman than they've ever been portrayed, stand watch day and
been portrayed, stand watch day and night. The Rebellion, a mere skeleton of
night. The Rebellion, a mere skeleton of the heroic alliance they will eventually
the heroic alliance they will eventually become, has just willingly handed the
become, has just willingly handed the ISB 30 dead rebel fighters, plus
ISB 30 dead rebel fighters, plus Anttoger.
Anttoger. >> We get nothing from [music] a dead body.
>> We get nothing from [music] a dead body. Someone needs to be in the room saying
Someone needs to be in the room saying that.
that. >> You're missing the point.
>> You're missing the point. >> Today was about wiping the taste of
>> Today was about wiping the taste of Eldani from the emperor's mouths.
Eldani from the emperor's mouths. >> Now, that same rebellion is here to gun
>> Now, that same rebellion is here to gun down yet one more of their own,
down yet one more of their own, renouncing his revolutionary potential.
renouncing his revolutionary potential. Luan's shadow network is practically
Luan's shadow network is practically drowning in its own darkness, eating its
drowning in its own darkness, eating its own tail, in disccernible from the
own tail, in disccernible from the darkness of the empire surrounding them.
darkness of the empire surrounding them. If they just took a long look in the
If they just took a long look in the mirror, they would finally see the
mirror, they would finally see the problem at the heart of their cause. It
problem at the heart of their cause. It has no heart.
has no heart. >> Come away from the window.
>> When history calls, morality may not be in the conversation. History may not
in the conversation. History may not repeat itself and lend to a far more
repeat itself and lend to a far more uncertain present than we realize. But
uncertain present than we realize. But for both of these reasons, by the
for both of these reasons, by the arrival of Rick's road, Gilroy was no
arrival of Rick's road, Gilroy was no longer looking back at history purely
longer looking back at history purely for the sake of looking back. His
for the sake of looking back. His revolutionary study had become a
revolutionary study had become a revolutionary plea.
revolutionary plea. Give a [ __ ]
Give a [ __ ] or speaks.
Worry for the oppressed stranger you've never met. For the family struggling to
never met. For the family struggling to put food on the table, the refugee just
put food on the table, the refugee just looking for a place to sleep, and the
looking for a place to sleep, and the citizen under threat for simply existing
citizen under threat for simply existing as much as you worry for the friend that
as much as you worry for the friend that lives down the street in a world you
lives down the street in a world you know like the back of your hand. It's
know like the back of your hand. It's not enough to hate the Empire from afar,
not enough to hate the Empire from afar, plated by some understanding that
plated by some understanding that everything will come to pass because it
everything will come to pass because it has always come to pass. History is past
has always come to pass. History is past and present. Though it is told with or
and present. Though it is told with or without our intervention, we are the
without our intervention, we are the motor force that drives it. That because
motor force that drives it. That because what is happening today has never
what is happening today has never happened before exactly as it has
happened before exactly as it has happened before. We get to decide its
happened before. We get to decide its trajectory. We are the revolution.
trajectory. We are the revolution. But only [music]
But only [music] if we act.
if we act. >> There will be times when the struggle
>> There will be times when the struggle seems impossible.
seems impossible. >> I know [music] this already. alone,
>> I know [music] this already. alone, unsure, dwarfed by the scale of the
unsure, dwarfed by the scale of the enemy.
enemy. >> Neck's manifesto, initially dismissed by
>> Neck's manifesto, initially dismissed by Cassian, now becomes the thing that
Cassian, now becomes the thing that fueled so many people throughout history
fueled so many people throughout history to act. Thomas Payne's Common [music]
to act. Thomas Payne's Common [music] Sense in the American Revolution,
Sense in the American Revolution, Emanuel CZ's What is the Third Estate in
Emanuel CZ's What is the Third Estate in the French Revolution, Lenin's What is
the French Revolution, Lenin's What is To Done in the Russian Revolution,
To Done in the Russian Revolution, Simone Bolivar's Cartage Manifesto in
Simone Bolivar's Cartage Manifesto in the War for SpanishAmerican
the War for SpanishAmerican Independence, and countless other
Independence, and countless other writings that spread awareness, educated
writings that spread awareness, educated the common folk, and declared descent.
the common folk, and declared descent. Now embracing it, Nek's manifesto will
Now embracing it, Nek's manifesto will instill in Cassian an all new mission.
instill in Cassian an all new mission. He has been beaten, fried, and made to
He has been beaten, fried, and made to feel like nothing. He has been forced
feel like nothing. He has been forced time and time again to let go of almost
time and time again to let go of almost everyone [music] and every place that
everyone [music] and every place that has brought his life meaning. In the
has brought his life meaning. In the face of the empire, he stands to lose
face of the empire, he stands to lose even more. But Cassine will not let go
even more. But Cassine will not let go of Marva. He will not let go of his
of Marva. He will not let go of his sister. And he will not let go of all
sister. And he will not let go of all the unfairness he's ever been dealt, as
the unfairness he's ever been dealt, as if none of it ever happened. nor the
if none of it ever happened. nor the people of Far as if their existence
people of Far as if their existence never mattered. So long as he holds on
never mattered. So long as he holds on to all of it, they will never be less
to all of it, they will never be less than what he makes of them. You take
than what he makes of them. You take care of yourself.
care of yourself. >> It's too late for that.
>> It's too late for that. >> For [music] Cassie Andor, this life is
>> For [music] Cassie Andor, this life is no longer worth living unless it is
no longer worth living unless it is devoted heart and soul to saving
devoted heart and soul to saving everyone who has ever felt the gun
everyone who has ever felt the gun pointed at their head. everyone he has
pointed at their head. everyone he has ever loved and has [music] yet to love.
ever loved and has [music] yet to love. Of course, he can't do it alone. But
Of course, he can't do it alone. But he's not alone.
he's not alone. >> Random acts of insurrection are
>> Random acts of insurrection are occurring constantly throughout the
occurring constantly throughout the galaxy. There are whole armies,
galaxy. There are whole armies, battalions that have no idea that
battalions that have no idea that they've already enlisted in the cause.
they've already enlisted in the cause. >> A thousand faces flank Cassian Andor.
>> A thousand faces flank Cassian Andor. Revolutionaries across time and space,
Revolutionaries across time and space, all just as willing to defy the
all just as willing to defy the darkness. Likely there are a thousand
darkness. Likely there are a thousand more soon on the way and together they
more soon on the way and together they will burn the empire to the [ __ ]
will burn the empire to the [ __ ] ground. Remember this.
ground. Remember this. >> Try
>> Try what's going on.
what's going on. >> I'm not sure.
>> I'm not sure. [music]
Where Nemesifesto enshrined the necessity of writers in any rebellion,
necessity of writers in any rebellion, [music] the Fericerary March for Marva
[music] the Fericerary March for Marva Andor does the same for musicians and in
Andor does the same for musicians and in turn emphasizes the value of all [music]
turn emphasizes the value of all [music] forms of resistance. All the painters,
forms of resistance. All the painters, poets, and filmmakers across history who
poets, and filmmakers across history who expressed grief, radicalized minds, and
expressed grief, radicalized minds, and envisioned a better world. Revolution
envisioned a better world. Revolution has never been solely composed of wars,
has never been solely composed of wars, rioting, or violence. For the people of
rioting, or violence. For the people of Ferris, the memory of one of its
Ferris, the memory of one of its daughters and the music to commemorate
daughters and the music to commemorate her [music] was all that was ever needed
her [music] was all that was ever needed to unite. Assembled in defiance of the
to unite. Assembled in defiance of the empire's tactics of division, the
empire's tactics of division, the marchers are flanked by historic marches
marchers are flanked by historic marches of their own. the provisional Irish
of their own. the provisional Irish Republican Army Funeral March during the
Republican Army Funeral March during the Troubles, the Women's March on
Troubles, the Women's March on Versailles in 1789, the Rio Blanco
Versailles in 1789, the Rio Blanco strike in 1907, the Tony Pandy Minor
strike in 1907, the Tony Pandy Minor [music] riots in South Wales in 1910,
[music] riots in South Wales in 1910, and of course, the funeral procession
and of course, the funeral procession for French General Jean Maxmillian Lamar
for French General Jean Maxmillian Lamar in 1832.
This was the first song Battel wrote for Andor and in many ways became a fitting
Andor and in many ways became a fitting preview for what the rest of his score
preview for what the rest of his score would become. Layered and melancholic,
would become. Layered and melancholic, but capable of evoking something deeply
but capable of evoking something deeply hopeful beneath its sadness. That is if
hopeful beneath its sadness. That is if you take the time to listen. [music]
The Empire in all its inhuman, uncultured swinery will not listen. But
uncultured swinery will not listen. But that's exactly why they'll be caught off
that's exactly why they'll be caught off guard when that music
guard when that music explodes.
[music] >> The Empire can shout orders, rally
>> The Empire can shout orders, rally soldiers, and build all the barriers
soldiers, and build all the barriers they want. But nothing they do [music]
they want. But nothing they do [music] will seem so effortless as a united
will seem so effortless as a united people marching forward. That which will
people marching forward. That which will flood the banks of their authority for
flood the banks of their authority for good. They will have their agency,
good. They will have their agency, identity, and humanity erased by the
identity, and humanity erased by the Empire no longer. And who better to make
Empire no longer. And who better to make that point clear [music] than someone
that point clear [music] than someone already erased?
Marva Andor about to become history herself,
herself, but not in any way the Empire imagines.
but not in any way the Empire imagines. >> I was six, [music] I think, first time I
>> I was six, [music] I think, first time I touched aerary stone.
touched aerary stone. heard our music,
heard our music, felt our history.
felt our history. >> Where Nek's manifesto put into words the
>> Where Nek's manifesto put into words the conviction Cassing had come to develop,
conviction Cassing had come to develop, Marva's speech puts into words what
Marva's speech puts into words what Gilroy had by the end of Andor been
Gilroy had by the end of Andor been convicted of himself. Of course, on its
convicted of himself. Of course, on its own, Marva's speech evokes many
own, Marva's speech evokes many different ps made throughout history.
different ps made throughout history. Father Hadalgo's cry of Dolores
Father Hadalgo's cry of Dolores inspiring Mexican citizens to rise up
inspiring Mexican citizens to rise up against the Spanish colonial government
against the Spanish colonial government in 1811 or the speech Camille de Mula
in 1811 or the speech Camille de Mula made to inspire a French mob to storm
made to inspire a French mob to storm the best deal in 1789. But Marva's
the best deal in 1789. But Marva's speech evokes considerably more than
speech evokes considerably more than that. It is in itself Andor's most
that. It is in itself Andor's most reflexive moment. Why all the history
reflexive moment. Why all the history bursting out of this show is not just
bursting out of this show is not just what inspired it, but what makes it
what inspired it, but what makes it inspiring.
inspiring. We need history.
We need history. >> I always wanted [music] to be lifted. I
>> I always wanted [music] to be lifted. I was always eager, always waiting to be
was always eager, always waiting to be inspired.
inspired. I remember every time it happened, every
I remember every time it happened, every time the dead lifted me
time the dead lifted me with their truth.
with their truth. And now I'm dead.
And now I'm dead. And I earn to lift you.
And I earn to lift you. >> For all the reasons the French
>> For all the reasons the French Revolution was studied for decades after
Revolution was studied for decades after by new generations of revolutionaries
by new generations of revolutionaries across the globe. History serves a
across the globe. History serves a potent purpose to every version of our
potent purpose to every version of our present. Its truth is not retold only in
present. Its truth is not retold only in recreation or for academics only, but to
recreation or for academics only, but to instruct all of us to learn from the
instruct all of us to learn from the trials and tribulations of those who
trials and tribulations of those who stood in very similar shoes at another
stood in very similar shoes at another place in time.
place in time. >> It's because I want you to go on. I want
>> It's because I want you to go on. I want Felix to continue.
Felix to continue. >> It is important not as a onetoone guide,
>> It is important not as a onetoone guide, but to envision what could be done
but to envision what could be done differently to avoid the same mistakes.
differently to avoid the same mistakes. The empire is a disease that thrives
The empire is a disease that thrives [music] in darkness. It is never more
[music] in darkness. It is never more alive than when we sleep.
alive than when we sleep. >> For we may have the desire to do good
>> For we may have the desire to do good and the community willing to carry out
and the community willing to carry out that good alongside us. But it may not
that good alongside us. But it may not be until you realize how many [music]
be until you realize how many [music] times an empire has tried violently to
times an empire has tried violently to erase a people that you know in your
erase a people that you know in your bones [music] exactly what needs to be
bones [music] exactly what needs to be done. and that it might be possible.
done. and that it might be possible. >> If I could do it again,
>> If I could do it again, I'd wake up early and be fighting
I'd wake up early and be fighting these bastards
from the start. >> Fight the empire.
What erupts on Ferris is the five days in Milan, the storming of the Bastile,
in Milan, the storming of the Bastile, Russia's bloody Sunday, the brrig herd
Russia's bloody Sunday, the brrig herd round the world,
round the world, and the bombing of the British occupied
and the bombing of the British occupied King David Hotel by the Urggon fighters.
It is all of the past exploding into the present, for better and for worse. For
present, for better and for worse. For as much as the Frixians are willing to
as much as the Frixians are willing to lay on the line to drive off the Empire,
lay on the line to drive off the Empire, they've now handed the reigns to their
they've now handed the reigns to their future to the chaos of what a revolution
future to the chaos of what a revolution can become. There's no one out there.
can become. There's no one out there. Come on.
Come on. Don't get angry.
>> It is tear gas, scorched bodies, broken spirits, and the gravel of the
spirits, and the gravel of the revolution finally meeting the road.
revolution finally meeting the road. It is exactly what Luan has long worked
It is exactly what Luan has long worked from the shadows to build, but can never
from the shadows to build, but can never openly [music] claim responsibility for,
openly [music] claim responsibility for, nor publicly take the lead of. Not with
nor publicly take the lead of. Not with hands as dirty or an ego as dangerous as
hands as dirty or an ego as dangerous as his. Instead, he must watch from afar.
This right here could be the moment the rebellion takes off. But it's missing
rebellion takes off. But it's missing one thing. the real leader of the Fair
one thing. the real leader of the Fair uprising.
Someone who values life and the lives of others just a bit more than the cause.
others just a bit more than the cause. They'll stomach the dirty work, but only
They'll stomach the dirty work, but only because it'll keep their loved ones
because it'll keep their loved ones safe. For the Rebellion has enough
safe. For the Rebellion has enough scoundrels, [music] mercenaries, low
scoundrels, [music] mercenaries, low lives, and thieves. It's about time it
lives, and thieves. It's about time it had compassion. About time. Kill me. It
had compassion. About time. Kill me. It had a hero or take me in.
From the beginning, Andor was not conceived of the mythological framework
conceived of the mythological framework of Star Wars. Magical powers, heroic
of Star Wars. Magical powers, heroic knights, and clearly defined good and
knights, and clearly defined good and evil were never part of the equation.
evil were never part of the equation. But one value of the mythology did make
But one value of the mythology did make its way into Andor. A real genuine
its way into Andor. A real genuine transformation of character. Gassin
transformation of character. Gassin Andor is not the same man we met on
Andor is not the same man we met on Morana 1. He's not yet the man we'll
Morana 1. He's not yet the man we'll know by Rogue One either, but he is on
know by Rogue One either, but he is on his way and quite possibly. So was Tony
his way and quite possibly. So was Tony Gilroy.
Gilroy. [music]
[music] [singing]
[singing] >> Dassian. These greater notions of
>> Dassian. These greater notions of destiny are not important and might as
destiny are not important and might as well be imaginary. After all, all he has
well be imaginary. After all, all he has ever wanted was to go home. The Empire
ever wanted was to go home. The Empire over and over and especially today has
over and over and especially today has deemed otherwise. That much hasn't
deemed otherwise. That much hasn't changed. But in one final look at all
changed. But in one final look at all the people he saved on Far, Jazzy, B2,
the people he saved on Far, Jazzy, B2, Will, Braso, and Bix, Cassine realizes
Will, Braso, and Bix, Cassine realizes the one thing that has. You'll find
the one thing that has. You'll find [music] the prophet descends
[music] of mothers and the sisters and the brothers.
the brothers. I'll find a way home.
I'll find a way home. I'll find you. Stand [music] up in this
I'll find you. Stand [music] up in this world.
Keep [music] flying your kit around. Heat. Heat.
[music] Flame burn. Never give up the fight. Keep singing
Never give up the fight. Keep singing your song.
your song. [music]
You could be just like shining light. >> [music]
>> [music] >> It's the darkest star. It is the darkest
>> It's the darkest star. It is the darkest night.
night. And you [music] could be an answer to
And you [music] could be an answer to our prayer like [music]
our prayer like [music] you call like an answer.
[music] Keep flying your
Keep flying your [music]
[music] flame right. Never give up the [music]
flame right. Never give up the [music] fight.
fight. Keeping your
Keeping your [music]
Shout [music] out. Let your voice be heard.
You're a flame. Hello everyone. Uh, welcome to the end of the video.
welcome to the end of the video. Congratulations on getting here because
Congratulations on getting here because of course this was a long video. So, um,
of course this was a long video. So, um, I don't take it lightly that you clicked
I don't take it lightly that you clicked on it and then took the time to watch
on it and then took the time to watch the whole thing. Whether you, uh, liked
the whole thing. Whether you, uh, liked what I did, whether or not it resonated
what I did, whether or not it resonated with you, whether you agreed with some
with you, whether you agreed with some of my points and assertions, um, it
of my points and assertions, um, it really does mean a lot that you gave me
really does mean a lot that you gave me your time, uh, to do that. Um, so, thank
your time, uh, to do that. Um, so, thank you so, so much. This video took a long
you so, so much. This video took a long time to make. Indeed, I've been working
time to make. Indeed, I've been working on it since the Rogue One video that you
on it since the Rogue One video that you saw uh back in the spring of last year.
saw uh back in the spring of last year. There have been, you know, obstacles and
There have been, you know, obstacles and various twists and turns along the way
various twists and turns along the way that, you know, kind of got in the way
that, you know, kind of got in the way and pushed this thing further and
and pushed this thing further and further out. You know, as you can sort
further out. You know, as you can sort of see from watching it, or at least a
of see from watching it, or at least a surmise. A lot of that time was spent
surmise. A lot of that time was spent researching this thing. Uh just
researching this thing. Uh just double-checking everything to make sure
double-checking everything to make sure I got everything right. Um, a huge shout
I got everything right. Um, a huge shout out to Mike Duncan who is a historian
out to Mike Duncan who is a historian and history podcaster. Um, his
and history podcaster. Um, his Revolutions podcast was a big
Revolutions podcast was a big inspiration for the topic of this video
inspiration for the topic of this video and really gave me like a really good
and really gave me like a really good starting point for a lot of the stuff I
starting point for a lot of the stuff I talked about in this project. Otherwise,
talked about in this project. Otherwise, a lot of the other sources that I cited
a lot of the other sources that I cited for this video um are all in a Google
for this video um are all in a Google doc that is in the description below.
doc that is in the description below. But if any during the watching of this
But if any during the watching of this that you know if if while you're
that you know if if while you're watching this you picked up on anything
watching this you picked up on anything that you thought I [music] was maybe off
that you thought I [music] was maybe off on or or was citing incorrectly or
on or or was citing incorrectly or whatever the case something that I got
whatever the case something that I got wrong um let me know in the comments
wrong um let me know in the comments below genuinely. I want to know that.
below genuinely. I want to know that. And if it's something that's a glaring
And if it's something that's a glaring enough mistake that I do want to leave a
enough mistake that I do want to leave a correction for other viewers then I'll
correction for other viewers then I'll uh note this in like a pinned comment at
uh note this in like a pinned comment at the top of the comment section or
the top of the comment section or something. A big shout out as well to a
something. A big shout out as well to a lot of my uh my friends who jumped in
lot of my uh my friends who jumped in and helped me with the uh the narration
and helped me with the uh the narration that you heard at various points
that you heard at various points throughout this video. Uh Mike Ahsoka
throughout this video. Uh Mike Ahsoka Extano, um Arkin, who's a a fellow
Extano, um Arkin, who's a a fellow YouTuber who does Star Wars video
YouTuber who does Star Wars video essays, or at least he did one last year
essays, or at least he did one last year that you should check out. And then as
that you should check out. And then as well, uh a big shout out to my friends
well, uh a big shout out to my friends Keegan and Naf, who are both like
Keegan and Naf, who are both like filmmakers, uh working on some cool
filmmakers, uh working on some cool projects very soon. I put their socials
projects very soon. I put their socials I put all their socials below. Um, but
I put all their socials below. Um, but you should definitely follow what
you should definitely follow what they're doing in particular because
they're doing in particular because they're trying to crowdfund some some
they're trying to crowdfund some some projects soon. I don't know how much I
projects soon. I don't know how much I can say from what they've told me, but
can say from what they've told me, but um, it's really cool. So, please go
um, it's really cool. So, please go support them. And then a very big shout
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storytelling, Matt Hansen, 82J, Davy Cartesky, Sketchy with several Y's, Rob
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J, Georgia Perez, the big E himself, Jack Clock E, Sam Deca, T Leoo, and
Jack Clock E, Sam Deca, T Leoo, and Tours. Y'all rock. And you too can
Tours. Y'all rock. And you too can support me and all my endeavors with
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Um, for the next month from when this video drops, actually the next 30 days,
video drops, actually the next 30 days, um, all of my content on Patreon will be
um, all of my content on Patreon will be free. So that includes all of my weekly
free. So that includes all of my weekly vlogs, my monthly podcast, um, the
vlogs, my monthly podcast, um, the monthly newsletter. Basically, just to
monthly newsletter. Basically, just to give you a taste of what it's like to be
give you a taste of what it's like to be on Patreon. And if indeed after it's all
on Patreon. And if indeed after it's all done, you want to stick around and throw
done, you want to stick around and throw some monies to become a member, some
some monies to become a member, some monies. I've never said that before in
monies. I've never said that before in my life, some dollars to become a
my life, some dollars to become a member, I would really appreciate that a
member, I would really appreciate that a lot. If not, appreciate you joining for
lot. If not, appreciate you joining for free and checking it out. Either way,
free and checking it out. Either way, you should join for free because after
you should join for free because after these 30 days, a piece of content that I
these 30 days, a piece of content that I do that will remain free is our tour
do that will remain free is our tour monthly. That's something I'm I'm going
monthly. That's something I'm I'm going to be doing going forward free for
to be doing going forward free for everyone. And it's basically just a
everyone. And it's basically just a monthly update of everything I'm working
monthly update of everything I'm working on. So, if you're tired of these year
on. So, if you're tired of these year the [ __ ] almost year-long droughts
the [ __ ] almost year-long droughts where it's like, "Hey, is Parks Alive?
where it's like, "Hey, is Parks Alive? Is he even working on anything, um, you
Is he even working on anything, um, you can follow me on Patreon and see that I
can follow me on Patreon and see that I am indeed working on stuff and exactly
am indeed working on stuff and exactly what stuff am I working on every month?"
what stuff am I working on every month?" So, go do that. I want to pay it forward
So, go do that. I want to pay it forward to a couple more creators as well for no
to a couple more creators as well for no other reason other than just supporting
other reason other than just supporting the community. Uh, these are some cool
the community. Uh, these are some cool videos you should check out, including
videos you should check out, including Women in Star Wars and the Ethics of
Women in Star Wars and the Ethics of Visual Representation by Piper Gryle.
Visual Representation by Piper Gryle. Uh, the overlooked visual design of The
Uh, the overlooked visual design of The Phantom Menace by Midnight SP. Star Wars
Phantom Menace by Midnight SP. Star Wars as a documentary by Empire Records. A
as a documentary by Empire Records. A lot of this channel's content, I gotta
lot of this channel's content, I gotta say, really, really good. This guy is
say, really, really good. This guy is awesome. One of my favorite recent video
awesome. One of my favorite recent video essays that I've come across. Um, the
essays that I've come across. Um, the aesthetics of fascism, Ben Horman. This
aesthetics of fascism, Ben Horman. This channel also hidden gem. You should go
channel also hidden gem. You should go support this guy's stuff. And then
support this guy's stuff. And then finally, Thus Always to Tyrants: The
finally, Thus Always to Tyrants: The Politics of Star Wars by my good friend
Politics of Star Wars by my good friend Ark and the American, which I shouted
Ark and the American, which I shouted out earlier. Please go check out all
out earlier. Please go check out all those creators. And then finally, some
those creators. And then finally, some some really good charities I want to
some really good charities I want to shout out. I promise this is the last of
shout out. I promise this is the last of the shoutouts that for this uh end of
the shoutouts that for this uh end of the video. The Palestine Children's
the video. The Palestine Children's Relief Fund. Uh the Dan Noon Mutual Aid.
Relief Fund. Uh the Dan Noon Mutual Aid. I'm probably screwing up the uh
I'm probably screwing up the uh pronunciation there, but uh this is a
pronunciation there, but uh this is a Palestinian owned and run [music] um
Palestinian owned and run [music] um charity supporting uh relief in
charity supporting uh relief in Palestine. Uh the cartoon aid Kitchen.
Palestine. Uh the cartoon aid Kitchen. again pronunciation it's on the screen
again pronunciation it's on the screen right now but um basically they're an
right now but um basically they're an aid kitchen working in Sudan uh during
aid kitchen working in Sudan uh during the Sudan uh refugees uh refugee crisis
the Sudan uh refugees uh refugee crisis which if you've heard anything about is
which if you've heard anything about is a very bad and very awful humanitarian
a very bad and very awful humanitarian crisis happening right now um so please
crisis happening right now um so please go support that uh as well as the hope
go support that uh as well as the hope and haven for refugees which again is
and haven for refugees which again is helping uh Sudan refugees amid the same
helping uh Sudan refugees amid the same crisis and then finally the American
crisis and then finally the American Civil Liberties Union here in America.
Civil Liberties Union here in America. Next up on the channel, next things I'm
Next up on the channel, next things I'm working on, um, I'm just going to spill
working on, um, I'm just going to spill all the beans right now. The next couple
all the beans right now. The next couple things I'm working on are Ghost of
things I'm working on are Ghost of Sushima, Daredevil, um, and a video on
Sushima, Daredevil, um, and a video on Clare Obscure Expedition 33, the goat
Clare Obscure Expedition 33, the goat game of 2025 in my opinion. Um, and then
game of 2025 in my opinion. Um, and then as for a video on Andor season 2, uh,
as for a video on Andor season 2, uh, I'm going to be working on this video in
I'm going to be working on this video in the background for pretty much the next
the background for pretty much the next year just because of how demanding this
year just because of how demanding this video was, and I imagine the work will
video was, and I imagine the work will be similar for the next Andor video. So,
be similar for the next Andor video. So, I'll check back in with y'all in a year.
I'll check back in with y'all in a year. If you're only here for andor with that
If you're only here for andor with that video, go follow me on Instagram at
video, go follow me on Instagram at Parksharman. Uh, Blue Sky Parksharman
Parksharman. Uh, Blue Sky Parksharman and now twitch.tv/parksharman,
and now twitch.tv/parksharman, which is a new uh URL there. And also,
which is a new uh URL there. And also, I'm back to streaming. Um, I was not
I'm back to streaming. Um, I was not streaming for about 2 years, but now I'm
streaming for about 2 years, but now I'm back. Um, so I'm streaming every week on
back. Um, so I'm streaming every week on Thursdays, and currently we're playing
Thursdays, and currently we're playing Indiana Jones in the Great Circle.
Indiana Jones in the Great Circle. Enjoying it quite a bit. And, uh, that's
Enjoying it quite a bit. And, uh, that's pretty much it. Thank you all for
pretty much it. Thank you all for watching one last time. I appreciate it
watching one last time. I appreciate it so so much. Um, remember, think local,
so so much. Um, remember, think local, act local. May the force be with you and
act local. May the force be with you and never forget you have friends
never forget you have friends everywhere. Thank you again one last
everywhere. Thank you again one last time and I'll see you all on the next
time and I'll see you all on the next video. Bye everyone. Happy New Year.
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