Before Andor first premiered on Disney+, its title character mostly existed in one single piece of media set in a galaxy far, far away: the 2016 film Rogue One: A Star Wars Story.
In the movie, Cassian was a rebel spy with a snarky droid sidekick who gained the trust of the protagonist Jyn Erso despite his closed-off demeanor. He became a hero, and like so many heroes before him, he died before the end credits rolled. Diego Luna was a one-and-done Star Wars actor like so many others. Until he wasn't.
Now that his character has been given 24 full episodes of streaming TV (in other words, typically longer in length than the traditional 42 network minutes in a show like this) in addition to a whole movie, Luna sees him much differently now than he did all those years ago. So do all of us. It was no accident.
“I don't think you'll think about Cassian [the same way] ever again,” he told StarWars.com recently. "Because of what he's capable of leaving behind. What he’s not going to have. I think it's powerful and it's very strong. It's a beautiful way of reminding you what's behind change ... people that probably just wanted to be happy next to those they love."
When Cassian only existed within the arguably limited parameters of Rogue One -- a two-hour movie can only develop each of its characters so much -- his backstory was minimal and mostly free of emotional weight. Audiences knew he'd been fighting the Empire for a long time. That he'd done things he probably wished he hadn't. That was the extent of it. His death was still emotional and tragic -- but it weighs so much more heavily on Star Wars fans knowing now what we didn't know before.
Viewers didn't know, until Andor, that Cassian had fallen in love. That he'd watched her suffer and admired her strength and witnessed her growth -- and then watched her walk away because of how much she loved and cared for him. Viewers now also know something Cassian never did: That he could have had a family if he had survived Rogue One's final mission. Something that hit Luna just as hard as it hit many of us.
"I think it reminds us how lucky we are if we’re capable of having that in our lives," he said. A family. People we love. Cassian spent so much of his show just wanting to escape the fight, to live a quiet life. And he could have. He gave up quite literally everything he had to make sure the Empire fell, and it's because of his sacrifices -- and those of so many other rebels -- that it did, eventually, crumble.
There are so many ways to define heroism, but this is a rather unforgettable one. To know you could have easily had everything you always wanted, yet you made the hard choice to say no to the future you wanted for yourself in favor of a future that all the oppressed could witness.
Cassian Andor isn't just a one-movie hero anymore. He's so much more than that. Not just for the fans, but for the man who brought him to life as well.