It's been a fun few weeks for Star Wars, beginning with Star Wars Celebration last month, and continuing with Andor Season 2.
Now that the show has wrapped up, and there's no live-action project due until The Mandalorian and Grogu arrives in theaters next year, there's been a rise in social media posts praising Tony Gilroy and putting down every other Star Wars project, from the original trilogy to Ahsoka, and The Mandalorian. Hate for Dave Filoni's work is particularly noticeable, with fans comparing his work on live-action shows such as Ahsoka to AI-generated videos.
It's not that there haven't been tweets comparing Andor to everything else, while putting other creators down, it's the sheer volume of these takes in the past few days. Not only are there endless takes blasting the original trilogy, Dave Filoni, and Rogue One, but these posts often have thousands of likes. From fans wishing Cassian Andor was the lead of Rogue One, to editing Michael Giacchino's music and replacing it with the Andor score, there's no doubt these fans genuinely loved everything about Andor.
However, this barrage of criticism aimed at other shows and movies is making it hard for some fans to enjoy Andor's success. Andor is an ultra-expensive, well-made show promoted well, featuring good writing and even better performances. Tony Gilroy didn't do it alone, he had a great team that ensured the sets and costumes looked perfect, and actors who were passionate about their work.
This is great for Star Wars, but at some point, it starts to feel like Andor fans are a separate group of fans who don't love Star Wars anymore. They've outgrown it, and unless all of Star Wars is as mature and politically charged as Andor, minus the aliens, wizards, and laser swords, they won't be able to take it seriously. While Andor has shown how different genres of Star Wars can fit into the larger narrative, it's led to people forgetting what the franchise has always been about.
It's beginning to feel like a show about Jedi, the Force, and Star Wars' more mythical side would be laughed at now. I love the weird mythical elements explored in Star Wars Rebels. I loved Bendu, the World Between Worlds, the Loth wolves, and anything that dives into the origins of the Force. If every Star Wars show is like Andor, how much room will be left for the franchise to be weird, mythical, and science fiction?
I hope every Star Wars show gets an equally big budget and great writers, but above all, I hope we can enjoy them without putting others down. It's okay to like Andor more than other Star Wars shows or movies, but it's not okay to put down the creative team behind these projects. The original trilogy doesn't need to be remade. The OT is as good as it gets, so good that it led to the expansion of Star Wars to books, comics, and animation, which eventually gave way to series such as The Clone Wars and live-action shows like The Mandalorian.
If all of Star Wars were like Andor, it would alienate a large number of fans, including children (just see our Daddy-Daughter reviews as proof). The original trilogy was, at times, silly and poorly written, but those moments became iconic. In the end, everything was worth it thanks to the franchise's iconic duels, the emphasis on relationships, and George Lucas's constant need to push the technological boundaries to create a visual masterpiece.
While certain Star Wars shows may seem silly and childish to some, they may be the escape others seek desperately from their ugly reality. Above all, Star Wars was always for kids, and we shouldn't put creatives like Jon Favreau and Dave Filoni, who cater to younger audiences, down just because we think we're superior for liking a grown-up show like Andor. Filoni and Favreau aren't doing anything unusual. Sure, they could write better dialogues like Gilroy or push the creative boundaries like Lucas, but there's a huge demand for everything they've made.
The least we can do is be respectful of things other fans enjoy. If you don't like them, don't watch them, but please find a better way to channel your love for Andor than taking to social media and laughing at anyone you deem intellectually inferior for liking other Star Wars shows. As much as people praise Andor, I've never seen the fandom as united for it as I did for The Mandalorian, which Tony Gilroy himself said that Andor's success was thanks to prior shows.
Instead, we're left with a weird divide within the fandom, where some fans see others as silly for enjoying the fantastic aspects of Star Wars, like the Jedi and lightsabers. These things make the franchise stand apart, and even though it's great that a show can be successful without them, that shouldn't mean every show or movie that features Jedi and lightsabers is inferior. The Star Wars galaxy is huge, and it makes sense to explore it from every angle, including the grounded Andor and the lore-heavy stories like The Acolyte and Ahsoka.
Andor is streaming on Disney+.