The Andor panel at Star Wars Celebration 2025 in Japan included several cast and crew members on stage, including Diego Luna. However, the real surprise came later.
The attendees got to see the second season's first episode before its official release on Disney+. Some of the fans who were present at the viewing and others who got an opportunity at an early screening shared their opinions on social media.
Jason Concepcio wrote, "Andor Season 2 is outrageously good."
Star Wars Holocron gave a more detailed breakdown after watching all 12 episodes of season 2. "This season is more mature and relevant than any other Star Wars project," they said. "The show explores difficult topics never explored before in Star Wars, and handles them with incredible grace and thoughtfulness." They also added what the Andor cast and crew have been saying for a while: Season 2 changes our perspective on Rogue One and A New Hope.
David Chen hailed it as "one of the most ambitious pieces of sci-fi storytelling" ever. "It illuminates many complex aspects of repression and rebellion while still bringing adventure and thrills." Tricia Barr went a step further and said the second season is a "cold, vicious story" that elevates Andor to the same level as Schindler's List and Lawrence of Arabia.
Alan Cerny said it is "as strong as" Season 1 and gets "devastating" from episode 4 onwards.
Darren Mooney claimed it was one of the top three Star Wars productions ever. "At least one image in each of the four stories has haunted me in a 'I didn’t know Star Wars could do this' way," he said. "Beautiful, incredible, transcendental stuff."
In fact, Eammon Jacobs believes it is the best Star Wars story since the first three movies. "#Andor season 2 is the best Star Wars story since the original trilogy. Yes, I’m serious. The plot is a masterful, timeless mirror to our own world, yet gives us intense action and haunting performances... I’m blown away by it."
Find more reactions to Andor season 2 below:
#Andor Season 2: Episodes 1-5 are good, but it kicks into another gear entirely with episode 6 and rarely lets up. It's the standard by which all future Star Wars will be measured. Superb TV. pic.twitter.com/zy42Vhvpit
— Amon Warmann (@AmonWarmann) April 19, 2025
#Andor Season 2 is a masterpiece The defining swan song of the Rebellion era riveting, intense, emotional I'm left speechless. A brilliant full circle that deepens not just Rogue One, but the entire original trilogy & that ending Pure perfection I’ll be thinking about it all year pic.twitter.com/JGeejeC53o
— Zach Pope (@popetheking) April 19, 2025
I have seen all of #Andor season 2 and this is not just the best Star Wars show, but the best TV show I've seen all year, period. Utterly riveting, emotionally devastating storytelling. It makes not only Rogue One but even Rebels better. 💫 pic.twitter.com/pawpNINOhP
— Rafael Motamayor (@RafaelMotamayor) April 19, 2025
ANDOR season 2 is an exhilarating and ethically probing revolutionary spy thriller, less a series of “four movies” than an intricately designed season of Star Wars on the nature of fascism and the need for rebellion — in all its forms. One of the best seasons of TV in years. pic.twitter.com/6T0w03PFhn
— Brendan Hodges (@metaplexmovies) April 19, 2025
#ANDOR Season 2 is phenomenal. Often series reactions are done having seen just a few episodes, but not this time around. I’ve seen the full season and can wholeheartedly say, this is the best season of Star Wars TV I have ever seen. pic.twitter.com/P0c3TtCMbf
— Perri Nemiroff (@PNemiroff) April 19, 2025
I’ve seen ALL of #Andor season 2 and it’s both Star Wars at its absolute best and a triumph of storytelling in general.
— Germain Lussier (@GermainLussier) April 19, 2025
I cried, I cheered, I laughed, I gasped. It’s smart, sophisticated, propulsive, entertaining and hugely resonant. Everything you want & more. It’s a miracle. pic.twitter.com/nsK8gnaRfq
The idea behind Andor and how it became a TV show
With season 1 of Andor, Tony Gilroy proved how well he understands the characters created in Rogue One and the boundaries of storytelling he's willing to push to make their ultimate fate worthwhile. It all started with a "sort of manifesto" he wrote for Kathleen Kennedy when the show was first proposed.
Gilroy's initial idea wasn't Lucasfilm's first choice, but clearly, it was the right one. The showrunner recently told MovieWeb's George Edelman how he ended up at the helm of what is being touted as the best Star Wars TV show ever.
"Kathy (Kennedy) came and I had written a sort of manifesto about what I thought the show should be. They tried to do it several other times and they finally came back and go, 'Hey, that crazy thing that you told us when you're giving us advice, we want to do that.'"
Gilroy emphasized that he wanted to show the Rebellion's true, grassroots nature, separated from the Jedi and their stories.
"We want to do a show about revolution, and we want to do a show from the kitchen and not in the dining room. We want to follow ordinary people. I said there's going to be no lightsabers and no Force and like, really, a story about revolution."
Andor Season 2 arrives exclusively on Disney+ April 22.