Giancarlo Esposito as Moff Gideon in season 2 of The Mandalorian
The Mandalorian is a good show, but another two-season sci-fi show produced by Disney showed how it's really done. Disney+'s collection of sci-fi shows is wide-reaching, from Star Wars shows like The Mandalorian to those set in the MCU and beyond.
In fact, some of the best TV shows on Disney+ belong to the genre, proving just how good a lot of them are. Admittedly, some of the TV shows from Star Wars have not quite reached this level. Several of the Star Wars animated shows are enjoyable, and some live-action productions, like Skeleton Crew, are harmless, easy-to-like stories. That said, many of them are not considered among the best sci-fi shows ever made, including the well-received The Mandalorian. One Star Wars project that can be, though, is Andor, which proved to be a sci-fi show that showed The Mandalorian how it is done. Andor's 2 Seasons Were More Cohesive Than The Mandalorian On the whole, Andor is a much more cohesive whole than The Mandalorian is. The Mandalorian is much more of a"flavor-of-the-week" sci-fi show, with its overarching narrative often being confined to three or four episodes per season. The other four or five episodes tend to be side quests for the titular bounty hunter and his adopted son, Grogu. This makes The Mandalorian a lot of fun thanks to how it can play in different Star Wars sandboxes, but there is no denying that this causes a lack of cohesion. After all, 2026's The Mandalorian and Grogu is a theatrical movie based on the show, proving just how scatterbrained the sub-franchise can be, despite its many qualities. Andor, though, was a tight, cohesive whole. The two seasons produced by showrunner Tony Gilroy told the story of the titular character, Cassian Andor, focusing on the five years of his life before his appearance in 2016's Rogue One. This, as well as splitting the show's various episodes into self-contained arcs across those five years, made Andor flow exceptionally well. Andor Knew To Quit While It Was Ahead Aside from being more cohesive than The Mandalorian, Andor knew when it was time to call it a day. As alluded to, The Mandalorian is still ongoing. While the first two seasons of the show were acclaimed, the third season slipped somewhat. This caused excitement for The Mandalorian season 4, and now The Mandalorian and Grogu, to dwindle. Whether the movie can reignite the excitement surrounding the sub-franchise remains to be seen, but as of the time of writing, many could argue that the show is outstaying its welcome. With Andor, the opposite was the case. Initially, Andor was planned as a five-season show, with each one covering one of the aforementioned years of Cassian's life. Andor's five-season plan also would have been too expensive for Disney to produce, given that its two seasons totaled almost $700 million. However, Andor's showrunners decided this was simply too big, resulting in four seasons after the first being condensed into four, three-episode blocks. This created Andor season 2, which was critically lauded and helped the show solidify its status as one of the best sci-fi shows ever made. If Andor had lasted the five seasons its creators had initially planned, there was the potential for burnout. The stories planned may not have been as effective as they ended up being in Andor season 2, causing that show to emulate The Mandalorian's current problem. Thankfully, though, Andor ended on a massive high as one of the highest-rated shows not just in Star Wars, but in the entire genre. Andor Found A Better Balance Between Wider Star Wars Links & New Storytelling One of the final ways in which Andor showed The Mandalorian how it was done is the balance of Star Wars nods and original storytelling. The Mandalorian is often criticized for being too focused on the wider universe. Season 2, for instance, featured the return of characters like Boba Fett without a proper story being planned for his future, leading to the disappointing Book of Boba Fett. Moreover, the best episodes of The Mandalorian season 2 are the ones featuring characters like Ahsoka Tano and Luke Skywalker. While this clearly worked for the wider fans, it created some problems. Luke's inclusion raised questions about where he is during the rest of Star Wars' New Republic timeline, with him and Ahsoka both then shoehorned in to The Book of Boba Fett, as was Din Djarin himself. The focus on blending The Mandalorian with the wider Star Wars universe hindered the show's storytelling potential, leading to the disappointing season 3. With Andor, this was never the case. Yes, the show focuses on Andor's rise to become a Rebel leader, the foundation of the Rebel Alliance, and the learning of the Death Star plans, among other important Star Wars plots, but these aspects were never included at the cost of the show's thematic and narrative substance. The same can be said for its inclusion of known Star Wars characters. The likes of Mon Mothma, Saw Gerrera, Bail Organa, and Orson Krennic were part of Andor's two seasons, but all of them made sense for the story at hand. Be it the political machinations of Mon and Bail to start the Rebellion or the extremism of Saw and the fascistic ways of Krennic, Andor had a real, meaningful purpose for including these characters. This is not to say that The Mandalorian did not have a purpose for the likes of Luke, Ahsoka, and Boba Fett, but there is no denying these names are much bigger, more fan-service-esque inclusions than Andor's wider Star Wars characters were. Andor then offset these logical characters with new, original characters that were just as compelling. Andor's best characters were those introduced specifically for the show, such as Syril Karn, Dedra Meero, Kleya Marki, and, most of all, Luthen Rael. This proved just how excellent the show was at moving beyond established Star Wars elements, providing a strong balance between the familiar and original. This is not a hit piece on The Mandalorian, which is a show I, and many others, still enjoy. However, it is simply a fact that Andor showed the former how it was done. In fact, the latter was so good that it now transcends the Star Wars franchise, going down as one of the best sci-fi shows in the history of TV. 506 9.1/10 8/10 Andor 10 stars 9 stars 8 stars 7 stars 6 stars 5 stars 4 stars 3 stars 2 stars 1 star Like Follow Followed TV-14 Action & Adventure Drama Thriller Sci-Fi Release Date 2022 - 2025-00-00 Network Disney+ Showrunner Tony Gilroy Directors Susanna White Writers Dan Gilroy Cast See All Andor is a Star Wars prequel series set before the events of Rogue One, following Cassian Andor as he navigates a world of danger and deception. The series delves into his transformation into a pivotal figure in the struggle against the Galactic Empire.
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