As more details are revealed about Andor on Disney+, there is the question of whether or not the show will touch upon Cassian Andor’s time using the code name “Fulcrum.” The name has appeared multiple times in Star Wars canon, and it can even be traced back to Anakin Skywalker.
Fulcrum and its agents became part of a rebel spy network under the umbrella of the Rebel Alliance Intelligence Service. The network was created by Bail Organa and Ahsoka Tano during the dawn of the Galactic Empire.
Ahsoka Tano
The origin of this spy network was revealed in the 2016 novel by E.K. Johnston, Ahsoka. The novel features Ahsoka’s struggles in the aftermath of Order 66 and the fall of the Republic, detailing her shift from hiding from the Empire to actively joining the fight against it. Part of this fight involved Ahsoka taking over the Rebellion’s intelligence network after noting that a few of her mishaps during the course of the novel with Bail Organa’s rebel agents could have been easily avoided if Bail had “better channels of communication.” Since the Rebellion was in its infancy at this point, it is understandable that Bail admitted to the fact that the rebels did not have anyone running their intelligence networks.
Ahsoka’s plan was to develop a network of communication and to be the person “who listens to what people need, who finds out what people can do and then helps them do it.” When asked by Bail Organa what he should call her if he could not refer to her by name, Ahsoka chose the name Fulcrum. The rebel spies who served a role in this network became known as Fulcrum agents. As explained in the Ahsoka novel, the name came to Ahsoka when she observed the planet of Alderaan and considered it to be “the center [of a galactic uprising], where the thread of all their hopes connected.” However, another source for the code name was revealed in the seventh season of Star Wars: The Clone Wars, released four years later.
In the episode “Old Friends Not Forgotten,” Anakin was informed that the Republic fleet received a transmission from someone using his own subspace frequency, “Fulcrum.” Anakin’s first and immediate assumption was that Saw Gerrera, an ally of the Republic from Onderon that eventually became a fearsome rebel insurrectionist, was the one using the Fulcrum frequency. It was only revealed to be Ahsoka after Anakin and Obi-Wan returned to their ship to find a hologram of Anakin’s old Padawan, who went on to use the name Fulcrum to engage in rebel activities about a year later.
Agent Kallus
Ahsoka was known as Fulcrum throughout the first season of Star Wars Rebels, and was the person who contacted Hera Syndulla directly about their missions for the Rebellion. Once Ahsoka was put out of commission in the Rebels Season 2 finale, “Twilight of the Apprentice,” a new Fulcrum appeared in the show’s third season. This Fulcrum was the Imperial defector, and previous antagonist of the first two Rebels seasons, Aleksandr Kallus.
Kallus used the Fulcrum symbol, a holographic depiction of the diamond shaped markings on Ahsoka’s face, to contact the rebels throughout Season 3. His contributions to the Rebel Alliance helped undermine the Empire until he was caught by Grand Admiral Thrawn at the end of the season. Once he was no longer able to spy for the Rebellion within the Empire, he was no longer referred to as Fulcrum. Kallus’s role as a Fulcrum agent introduced the idea that Fulcrum was not simply Ahsoka’s codename in the Rebellion, but a network of spies using the identity to communicate information to a wider network.
Cassian Andor
What is known about Cassian’s time as a Fulcrum agent is, admittedly, sparse. Most of the information comes from Star Wars: Rogue One: The Ultimate Visual Guide, which describes Cassian as an “Intelligence Operative.” It also lists Cassian’s previous aliases and what roles those aliases played for the Rebellion. These included Willix, a government agent, Aach, a senatorial contact, Joreth Sward, an assistant to an Imperial admiral, and Fulcrum, a recruitment agent.
The fact that Cassian was known to be a recruitment agent suggests that he was actively seeking out potential spies for the rebellion. Not much is known about the process of becoming a Fulcrum agent, as Kallus, the best-known example of one outside Ahsoka, did his soul-searching and defection from the Empire off-screen. What can be taken from this visual guide, however, is that Cassian used Fulcrum as an alias, and also actively sought out others to become Fulcrum agents.
The details of Andor, which is set to premiere on Disney+ in 2022, are currently vague, as the show is still in development. Thus, it is hard to say whether or not Cassian’s past involvement as a Fulcrum will be acknowledged. Even so, there is no denying that he has an interesting tie to characters such as Kallus and Ahsoka, even without ever, to our knowledge, having met them.