The last scene of Bix Caleen (Adria Arjona) in Andor Season 2 was as poignant as it was powerful. Her standing in the middle of a field holding a baby, whose father is quite obviously Cassian Andor (Diego Luna), gave more footing to her decision to leave Yavin IV.
Cassian was already prepared to leave the Rebellion for a domestic life with Bix. Had he known she was pregnant with their child, he would have been even more steadfast in that decision. Bix knew the Rebellion needed Cassian and would have suffered in his absence. Given what happens in Rogue One, we see that she was right.
Moreover, Cassian and Bix themselves would not have managed to live in peace doing nothing, knowing fully well that their friends and fellow rebels were putting their lives on the line to fight the Empire. Cassian possibly would have felt he let Clem, Maarva, Luthen, and even his long-lost sister down.
Arjona, who brilliantly portrayed the character in both seasons, explained to Collider how Bix's decision to leave Cassian was incredibly selfless, made with the greater good in mind.
"She sees Cassian going the other route. She’s like, ‘I can't be the reason that he doesn't get to do what he's destined to do.’ Especially if she tells him that she's pregnant, Cassian will quit it all. Cassian is willing to give up everything for Bix, and Bix knows that," Arjona said. "It's a big sacrifice that she makes, a big love sacrifice not only for what's best for Cassian, but also for what's best for the rebellion."
Bix's ending stirred controversy among some Star Wars fans, who claimed that it sidelined her as a member of the Rebellion and reduced her to motherhood. But Arjona or showrunner Tony Gilroy clearly do not think so.
For Gilroy, Bix's fate was that of hope. He told ScreenRant that it was the ending he had in mind for her all along.
"There's a shadow over the show, and I just knew, not dramatically but personally, there had to be a legitimate hope at the end of this thing, or it was really... not abusive, but just wrong," Gilroy said. "There has to be a candle in the window, or what's the point of getting up in the morning?"
The other discourse surrounding Bix's decision is how it seemingly takes a jab at the love story of Anakin Skywalker (Hayden Christensen) and Padme Amidala (Natalie Portman).
Bix and Padme's motherhood: The parallels and differences
Much has been said about the nature of Padme's death in Revenge of the Sith. Most are unwilling to accept that a character like hers, who fought many battles with her words at the Senate and some with her blaster on the field, would simply succumb to "sadness." Some feel like her demise was poorly written as a plot device to complete Anakin's turn to the dark side.
What Andor did with Bix has further fueled the conversation. Some say that Bix's grand sacrifice showed that Padme could have done the same and saved the galaxy a lot of trouble. Indeed, Anakin and Padme did not take any real steps to ensure that the pregnancy would not hinder their respective responsibilities as a Jedi and a Senator. Even then, the matter is much more complex and nuanced.
First of all, Padme does not die of sadness. At nearly nine months pregnant, she finds out that everything she stands for and believes firmly in is irreparably in shambles overnight. The two people responsible are her husband, a revered veteran and a Jedi knight, and the respected Chancellor from her home planet, whom she had highly trusted. Moreover, her representative, Jar Jar Binks, was key to handing over emergency powers to Palpatine, and Anakin had killed younglings in her name, intending to save her life.
When she tries to reason with Anakin, he shows up as a person who has zero remorse about executing children and fellow Jedi—a complete stranger to Padme. Then, still very much pregnant, she is choked unconscious by her once-loving husband, sending her into premature labor.
If a woman passed away in childbirth after such an ordeal in real life, no one would be surprised at the turn of events. But because the story was told from Anakin's perspective and not Padme's, we often fail to see the utter trauma and agony that she goes through in the hours leading up to her death.
We could argue all day that she should have been more hopeful and should have held on to her will to live. But perhaps it took every last ounce of that to give birth to Luke and Leia after all that happened, and she had none left for herself. She used her dying breath to bring to the world the two people who would go on to topple the Empire.
Anakin would have turned, whether Padme was there or not. He already had. If Padme had left, like Bix did, Anakin would have sought her out and would have ensured she could not do it again. If Padme had survived childbirth, Anakin would have used her as an excuse for more atrocities, which he canonically committed anyway. He would have held Luke and Leia under his control and indoctrinated them in his ideals, and we would have never had the heroes who saved the galaxy.
To say Padme was not selfless is to miss the point by a large margin.
Padme and Anakin's lives were public for the entire duration of their relationship. Their marriage itself was strained by secrecy and the ongoing Clone Wars.
Moreover, Padme could not just leave Coruscant like Bix did. She was still the Senator. She had a responsibility toward her people. Along with Bail Organa and Mon Mothma, she fought against extending the war at every opportunity, and she also tried to oppose Palpatine's gaining the ultimate power.
There are theories that Anakin unwittingly drew from Padme's life force or that Darth Sidious used it to save Anakin (as Vader). However, in my opinion, those take away from Padme's agency more than the death itself. We do not need to attribute her demise to an external cause.
Padme chose not to leave and trusted her husband to be a true Jedi. He was not, and that is not on her. Her choices did not lead to her downfall or the galaxy's; Anakin's did. It is high time we acknowledge the resilience and humanity of Padme's final moments. Not all the complexities of her death are spelled out in the scene, because after all, George Lucas made Star Wars for children. But as adults, we should be capable of reading into the series of events better.
Bix's ending does not undermine Padme's. It simply tells the story of her choices, which were different than Padme's, because they led different lives at different points in time. Both their sacrifices amounted to something priceless for the Rebellion, and that is the beauty of Star Wars.