“Andor” – a master class on good writing

New Star Wars series Andorprequel to the 2016 film Rogue One, is a dramatic exploration of the early days of the Rebel Alliance. Science fiction writer Matt London was impressed with the show’s complex characterization and dialogue.

“In dialogues Andorand in silence so much is communicated,” says London in episode 533 Geek’s Guide to the Galaxy podcast. “This is not passive viewing. I think it takes an active mind to get involved. This is not a children’s show.”

television writer Andrea Kyle agrees that Andor it’s a mature, complex story. “Every other Star Wars is black and white,” she says. “There is no crossover. Everything about this show is about moral ambiguity. We are talking about gray tones in each individual situation. And that’s why for me this show is for adults. There is nothing black and white in the world. Everyone makes choices, and some of those choices hurt other people. Such is life, such is war.

Andor largely eschews many Star Wars staples such as wacky creatures and funny droids, instead focusing on the realities of force and violence. Fantasy author Erin Lindsey, a longtime UN aid worker, found the show’s depiction of politics to be believable. “I think there are clearly people on the writing team who study spy novels, such as [those by] John le Carré and who studies politics and studies history, who really looks at how the revolution happened here on Earth and what it looks like,” she says.

Despite the high quality Andorratings lagged behind Star Wars shows how Obi-Wan Kenobi and The Mandalorian. Geek’s Guide to the Galaxy master David Barr Kirtley hopes that Andor will attract a large audience in the second season. “It’s so good,” he says. “He deserves better marks than he has received so far. And I definitely want to see more shows like this. This is the show, especially the Star Wars show, that I’ve been pining for all these years. So please, let’s all support him as much as we can.”

Listen to the full interview with Matt London, Andrea Cale and Erin Lindsey in episode 533 of the series. Geek’s Guide to the Galaxy (above). And check out some highlights from the discussion below.

Andrea Kyle on Obi-Wan Kenobi:

I hate cheeky little girl characters. case about Lei She’s a smart woman, and the kid they portrayed is a spoiled little girl who runs away because she doesn’t want to do what she’s supposed to, and in the process, a whole bunch of people die because of her. And it’s never considered. She is just a sweet little girl and everyone should love her. I’m sorry. She’s a spoiled child who killed a bunch of people because she didn’t want to go to any lengths with her parents. … When you have so much money and a great cast, and then you have a spoiled child as your main character, it drives me crazy.

David Barr Kirtley on characterization:

I once heard a description of a deep character, which was that this is a character who can do something that will completely surprise you, but it is completely consistent with everything you know about him. And [Andor] filled with deep characters. In many sci-fi and Star Wars series, the characters are one-dimensional in the sense that they have the same personality in every scene and you never see them in any other moment than that. But you see these characters in these private, vulnerable moments, when you see their different but completely consistent sides.

Erin Lindsey on Cyril Karn and Dedra Miro:

What makes any government work are technocrats, apparatchiks and bureaucrats, and they have many different motives. And one of the things they have [in Andor] These are two characters that make it very clear to what extent personal ambition is sort of the main and ultimate motivation for these characters. I hope that in the future we will see at least a couple of characters who do the wrong things for the right reasons. Because imperialism was overwhelmingly a project developed by a group of people who legitimately thought they were doing the right thing.

Matt London on Andor season finale:

I guess I was expecting more bang for the buck in the final episode. A lot of people will be like, “What? There are so many incredible things going on in the last episode.” It’s true, there is. But I think there is a message in the show that in order to defeat the empire you have to become a terrorist, and in order to defeat the empire people will have to die – there will be casualties. And so I felt that in a sense, perhaps in the spirit of realism, the number of bodies should have been more. … We already know how this story will end, right? Everyone dies in a fireball. So why are we holding on to some of these characters? Could we give them more definite conclusions?

More Great WIRED Stories

To come back to the beginning. Jump to: Beginning of the article.