The much anticipated Star Wars series Andor is set to debut on Disney+ August 31st, but will the show live up to fans expectations and follow the comic book's narrative? Following Episode III: Revenge of the Sith and prior to the canon film Rogue One: A Star War's Story,the series takes place on Coruscant, the Imperial Center and Andor's home planet Fest. The story will focus on Mon Mothma's political succession, Andor's brutal sacrifices made for the alliance, and an ensemble of rebels as they fight the Galactic Empire. Familiar faces such as Saw Gerrera and the lovable K-2SO are set to star in the show, and new characters such as Maarva and the rebel leader Luthen Rael will also be introduced. However, the jury is still out on whether the show will follow Rogue One: Cassian and K-2SO's comic book narrative or if the political drama will instead create a different path for its characters to follow.
The Rogue One: Cassian and K-2SO comic book is a prequel to the film Rogue One: A Star War's Story. Released in 2017 after the film, the Marvel comic describes how the unlikely pair of Rebel Captain Cassian Andor and Imperial Droid K-2SO meet in the colonies. On a mission to commandeer parts of a gutted-out ship and valuable intel, Andor comes across K-2SO in a fight against the Imperial troops. Being the crafty spy that he is, Andor flips K2's kill switch leaving him with very little memory of his initial programming and recruits him to help the rebels flee the base. With the help of two other rebel spies, Cassian and the Imperial droid successfully escape the base with enemy intel.
As the Rogue One comic concludes with the unlikely duo heading back to Yavin 4 for the first time together, the film Rogue One: A Star War's Story shows a rather comfortable and already established partnership between the two. Seeing as how Tony Gilroy's new Andor series is set to take place prior to these events, comic book fans can assume that the story behind their partnership will be included in the first season. This is important character backstory similar to that of Luke and R-2's introduction.
In the Rogue One: A Star War's Story Adaptation, Cassian Andor and K-2SO follow the same character arcs and plot lines as they do in the film. Written by Jody Houser and illustrated by Oscar Bazaldua and Emilio Laiso, this adaptation is an identical comic book version of the movie. The comic books are broken up into six issues all dissecting and individually covering the major events of the film. Rogue One Cassian & K-2SO falls between issues #5-6 of the adaptations and is a stand-alone story solely focused on how the two meet in the colonies.
While only so much of "Legends" can be adapted into comic books, films, and television, there's something to be said about maintaining continuity while creating new storylines or filling in the gaps of old ones. These characters are too iconic, classic, and lovable to drastically alter their backstories. Characters like Mon Mothma for example, already have arcs in previous films and shows such as Star WarsRebelsand Return of the Jedi. Although this series is set to explore her early political career, altering the defining moments of her past may subtract from the overall cohesion of the story.
Andor is expected to dig deeper into Mon's backstory adding more to her already existing character. According to Genevieve O' Reilly (the actress who portrays Mon in the series), this is a better chance to really understand the character. As Mon's political ambitions are further explored there are still some notable differences between this Mothma and her character in Rogue One. At the end of the day, die-hard fans may have to accept that things have changed drastically since Star Wars debuted in 1977.