The following contains spoilers for Andor Season 1, Episode 4, "Aldhani," now streaming on Disney+.
Any Star Wars fan who has listened to George Lucas or Dave Filoni talking about George Lucas knows the purpose of the franchise is to tell hopeful stories for kids. However, the Disney+ series Andor is very clearly Star Wars for adults. It's arrived at the perfect time, because grown-ups need these stories, too.
In Disney Gallery: The Mandalorian, Dave Filoni explained what Star Wars meant to him and what Lucas directed him to do in telling future stories. "Star Wars is an adventure that makes you feel good," he said, adding later, "There is a lot of hope out there. We fundamentally want to be good people. We can all be driven to do terrible things, but we can preserve for selfless action." Filoni went on to say that Lucas consistently reminded him that "kids need" hopeful stories. While this is true, adults could use some hopeful stories, too. Yet the adults that need these stories often dismiss them as mere "kids' stuff." As a Star Wars show for adults, Andor is perfect because it can sneak that hopeful message in through a Star Wars narrative adults are open to.
Star Wars Is for Kids, but Not Just for Them
Film fans know that Lucas made Star Wars both in homage to the Saturday movie serials he grew up loving and in response to the gritty, anti-hero-laden cinema of the late 1970s. The groundbreaking Industrial Light & Magic effects played a role in the fan reaction, but it was the simple morality of the story that also made the original trilogy memorable. However, the politics of today share eerie parallels with the galaxy far, far away, both in the prequels and Andor. Perhaps if adult fans had paid less attention to Jar Jar Binks and more attention to the story of how fear could turn decent people into fascists, the past decade may have played out differently in the galaxy right, right here.
Part of why Star Wars works for kids is that they don't have the life experience to look at characters like Princess Leia or even Darth Vader skeptically. Adults know that no one is ever completely good or evil, which is why a character like Cassian Andor or the strange Rebel organizer Luthen Rael appeals to them. They are "good" in terms of Rebellion versus Empire, but Cassian is the character Star Wars' adult fans wanted since Han Solo shot Greedo unprovoked. Andor will convince adult Star Wars fans to love a gritty, violent story about selflessness and giving up everything just for hope.
Star Wars for Adults Doesn't Need to Be Explicit
Compared to how kid-focused the rest of the franchise is, Andor is fortunate in that it can be the "adult Star Wars" simply because two characters had sex. But it won't be skin or blood that makes this series adult; it's the story and the themes. If fans want hyper-violence, all anti-heroes and possibly space nudity, Andor is not the place to find it. Zack Snyder's Rebel Moon is more promising for all that. And the story is still Star Wars, even if the Empire was nowhere to be seen for the first few episodes. The episodes may be dark and violent, but what makes them resonate with adults is that they can better relate to the morally dubious characters than the almost pure good of Luke or Rey Skywalker.
What makes Andor finally Star Wars for grown-ups is the trust the storytellers have in the audience by including these more mature ideas and scenes. The best way for viewers to get a message in a show is to allow them to figure out its meaning on their own. Andor is very much a Star Wars series, but it's a series that appeals to both kids and the kids who grew up with Lucas's vision.
Andor streams Wednesdays on Disney+.