Full spoilers instantly comply with for Andor, as much as and together with season 2 episode 8.
If Andor‘s season 1 finale was the crowd-pleasing, hope-inspiring occasion that absolutely lit the fireplace of the nascent Rebel Alliance, this season’s eighth chapter is the one which feels prefer it might’ve extinguished it.
Episode 8 of Andor season 2 is arguably the sequence’ most troublesome chapter to observe – however not as a result of it is unhealthy. Quite the alternative, actually. A near-60-minute chapter that places viewers uncomfortably near its drama and motion, this season’s eighth entry will dwell lengthy within the reminiscence for its emotionally devastating affect.
Ahead of the present’s live-action tackle the Ghorman Massacre, aka one of the tragic occasions in Star Wars historical past, I sat down with a number of members of Andor‘s season 2 solid to debate the sequence’ most harrowing occasion. By all accounts, it appears they had been equally stunned by what occurred.
“What goes down in season two is actually full on,” says Ben Mendelsohn, who returned to play Star Wars villain Orson Krennic, aka the person answerable for overseeing the Death Star’s creation on this sequence and its sequel movie Rogue One. “This is the one time I’ve watched a Star Wars mission and thought ‘oh wow, the Empire actually… F– the Empire’, you recognize? I’ve watched the Death Star blow up planets earlier than, however that is one thing else.”
He’s not flawed. Prior to season 2’s improvement, the Ghorman Massacre was the identify given to 2 separate occasions: one which occurred 18 years earlier than the Battle of Yavin (18 BBY) and one other in 2 BBY.
Historically, although, these occasions have been shrouded in thriller. Save for the odd clue right here and there, numerous Star Wars literary works have danced round each incidents, so followers have been none the wiser about what actually transpired.
Thanks to Andor, aka the most effective Disney+ exhibits, each occasions are actually formally canon on the Star Wars timeline. As confirmed in season 2 act 2 (aka episodes 4 to six), the sooner incident in 18 BBY is now merely generally known as the Moff Tarkin Massacre. This occasion, which is brutal in its personal approach, noticed the Governor of Eriadu land his ship on a crowd of peaceable Ghorman protestors, killing a whole bunch of them within the course of.
The Ghorman Massacre, i.e. the soul-destroying occasion that happens in 2 BBY, is way worse, with episode 8 of Andor‘s second and remaining season capturing it in all of its harrowing element. Indeed, numerous folks – Ghorman rebels and Empire workers alike – lose their lives when a fierce plaza- and street-based battle erupts within the capital metropolis of Palmo.
Following their profitable raid – one which prices Rebel Alliance fighter Cinta her life – on an Empire arms cargo in season 2 episode 6, Ghorman’s band of freedom fighters are actually armed to the enamel. While their subsequent protest of the Empire’s presence on Ghorman can be peaceable, they’ve the means to defend themselves if the Empire makes use of deadly power to interrupt up the general public gathering.
For many current in and round Palmo’s plaza, that is precisely what the Empire does. When the galaxy’s autocratic rulers open fireplace on their very own forces – a transfer made to seem like the Ghor shot first – the Empire’s troopers fireplace again. Long story brief, a disastrous firefight breaks out, with either side struggling big casualties.
Such a battle can be distressing sufficient to observe, however what makes it much more impactful is the truth that characters we have watched (and are available to know) since Andor season 1 premiered in August 2022, together with Cassian Andor and Syril Karn, get caught up within the life-threatening motion. Not solely that, however director Janus Metz, cinematographer Mark Patten, and the digicam crew convey viewers so near the motion that it makes it really feel like we’re amongst the unfolding chaos.
“As a viewer, you do not know what you are getting concerned with,” Diego Luna, who performs the titular character, tells me. “You do not perceive till you are there within the plaza alongside these characters, and I feel that is very sensible writing on [showrunner] Tony Gilroy’s half, and the a part of our digicam operators.”
There are loads of big moments that play out as soon as the primary shot has been fired, too. The deaths of supporting characters, particularly these concerned within the Ghorman resistance, plus the panic and concern that take over people like Cassian, Syril, and Wilmon (Muhannad Bhaier) as they desperately attempt to survive, are felt most keenly.
Then there’s the addition of the Empire’s KX safety droids, who’re launched to crush the remaining Ghor separatists. That results in the lengthy overdue inclusion of Okay-2SO, Cassian’s android bestie in Rogue One. At this level on the timeline, although, he is not the wisecracking reprogrammed droid Cassian can depend on. Instead, he is the droid that hunts down Cassian and Wilmon, who’re solely saved by a member of the Ghorman resistance when he rams one among Empire’s troop-deploying speeders into the droid that’ll change into generally known as Okay-2SO.
Before that happens, one of many Disney+ sequence’ newest chapters offers us one thing that, I think about, many viewers did not anticipate: a deadly showdown between Cassian and Syril.
It’s a second 20 episodes within the making. Syril spent virtually the whole thing of final season searching Cassian, however in the end failed to seek out and arrest the person Syril thought-about public enemy primary. After preserving them aside for therefore lengthy, it is a serendipitous second that the pair aren’t solely current on Ghorman when the bloodbath begins, but in addition inadvertently cross paths amid the battle.
Unsurprisingly (to viewers, however not Cassian, who has no thought who Syril is), a one-on-one skirmish ensues. It’s a frantic duel, too, with each events utilizing any means essential to get the higher hand.
Eventually, Syril does so however, as he prepares to make use of Cassian’s personal blaster to kill him, Syril, arguably the present’s most advanced character, pauses. It proves to be a deadly error as, moments later, Ghorman resistance chief Carro Rylanz, who’s snuck up on the duo, shoots Syril within the head.
“Every character has a soul and a cause to do what they’re doing,” Luna muses. “So, you perceive Cassian and Syril, and see the place either side are coming from.
“But, throughout a revolution, while you see folks on opposing sides combating for what they imagine in, you notice that they are each bringing a life into the equation. It poses a really fascinating dilemma as a result of it isn’t as black and white as rooting for the man on the left or the best. You might need wished to see one kill the opposite beforehand, however within the second, I feel you need each of them to make it out alive.”
For Soller, Syril’s demise brings an finish to his time on Andor, so viewers will not see him within the remaining three episodes of one among 2025’s new Star Wars exhibits. Nonetheless, Soller thinks episode 8 is an absorbing albeit surprising approach for Syril to bow out for a lot of causes.
“Syril’s on the bottom [in Ghorman] for therefore lengthy by this level,” Soller says. “He’s been mixing in with these folks and getting to grasp them.
“I feel cracks had been beginning to kind in his armor after he infiltrates the Gorman entrance and witnesses first-hand what the Empire is doing,” Soller continues, “And chinks are additionally already forming between him and Dedra, as a result of he is been noticing that one thing is not fairly proper. He’s feeling like she’s by no means actually trusted him, so there’s at all times this suspicion that issues aren’t fairly what they appear.
“Having that final betrayal [where Dedra comes clean to Syril ahead of the Palmo riot about the Empire’s true motivations on Ghorman] earlier than he goes out and mixes into the melee, his complete world comes crashing down. So, when he spots Cassian, it is like having these back-to-back revelations occur.
For actual change to occur, a whole lot of ache is concerned
Diego Luna
“This man [Cassian] that Syril has blamed for his life going badly is correct there, so all the frustration and anger, from his mom to his job, is poured into Cassian. Their confrontation does not go effectively for Syril, nevertheless it’s like he is simply crying out for assist by attacking Cassian. He throws himself into the fireplace with none issues about what is going to occur to him, and it winds up costing him his life.”
“The unhappy factor is that, regardless of who wins, it is what revolutions are – they bring about loss,” Luna provides. “That’s the gorgeous factor about Tony’s writing. This episode exhibits you what a revolt is and what individuals are prepared to danger for it. For actual change to occur, a whole lot of ache is concerned, and episode eight proves it.”
