This article has spoilers for Andor Season 2, episodes 1-3.
The much-anticipated Andor Season 2 starts with a bang - quite literally - as Cassian (Diego Luna) steals a TIE Avenger starfighter by blowing a hole through the gate of the Imperial Test Facility on Sienar. He was scheduled to drop the starfighter off with a fellow rebel agent named Porko on a planet we later learn to be none other than Yavin 4 - the future Rebel Alliance Headquarters.
However, things go very, very wrong.
Cassian finds himself at the mercy of a fractured, squabbling group of rebels who hold him at gunpoint and refuse to believe his rebel affiliations. The fact that he is wearing the uniform of an Imperial test pilot does not help. All attempts at explaining, bargaining, and negotiating with the group fail, even after they identify themselves as the Maya Pei Brigade.
If you have watched the episode and the name sounded familiar, you are not wrong. Maya Pei has indeed been mentioned before, and she is also connected to the overarching plot. Let's find out what we know about the character, how she fits into the show's timeline.
Who is Maya Pei in Star Wars?
We are yet to see Maya Pei on screen, but we have heard her name a few times in Andor Season 1.
In episode 5, "Narkina," we hear Saw Gerrera (Forest Whitaker) mention Maya Pei in an angry rant at Luthen Rael (Stellan Skarsgard). Upon being asked to help Anton Kreegyr's raid on the Imperial power station in Spellhaus, Saw lists all the people he'd never consider aligning with, despite having a common enemy in the Empire.
Saw sneers about Maya Pei, calling her a "neo-Republican," and earns the label of an "anarchist" from Luthen for being picky with his rebellion.
Maya Pei is also mentioned by Dedra Meero (Denise Gough) in an ISB meeting. In episode 6, "Nobody's Listening," she reports back to Major Partagas (Anton Lesser) on Coruscant about her findings after torturing and obtaining information from Bix Caleen (Adria Arjona).
After Bix gives up a list of all the stolen Imperial devices she sold to rebel factions, Dedra's team seemingly finds a match — a targeting unit recovered from a safe house operated by a rebel cell associated with Maya Pei. Cassian also tells the Brigade in Season 2 that Maya Pei was a customer who purchased stolen equipment from them.
There is not much more on Maya Pei in post-Disney canon, but she appears in Legends as a member of Alderaan's security force. She becomes a member of Senator Bail Organa's personal security team during the Clone Wars.
After the Republic's fall and the formation of the Galactic Empire, she joins the Alderaanian Resistance and goes on missions at Organa's behest. In one such mission, she is sent by the Senator to steal Imperial cargo and is badly wounded in the battle. It seems like something similar may have happened to her in Andor season 2.
The rebels Cassian comes across tell him that Maya Pei has been fatally injured, but there is no confirmation on whether she is actually dead.
Significance of the Maya Pei Brigade arc in Andor
Even if we do not see the scattered remains of the Maya Pei Brigade later on, Cassian's confrontation with them leaves a heavy footprint on the show's story.
First, the squad's collapse sounds awfully similar to what happened with Anton Kreegyr in Season 1. They were fed to the metaphorical wolves in Spellhaus without knowing that the Empire would see them coming. Luthen knew it, thanks to his mole in the ISB, but decided not to act on it. He chooses to sacrifice Kreegyr and his men in exchange for not giving up Lonni Jung's (Robert Emms) position.
The Maya Pei Brigade tells Cassian that they were ambushed, which shouldn't generally be the case if it is a secretly planned Rebel attack. If it's true, it would go on to show, once again, what's truly at stake here for the rebels. There is always a chance, despite the best odds, that their lives become an afterthought in favor of the greater good. That's what they signed up for, and that's what may happen sooner or later.
Second, the in-fighting among the Maya Pei Brigade is an incredibly realistic display of how individual cells like this would've acted in the early days of the Rebellion. Whether or not they were effective under the leadership of Maya Pei, they are clearly on their last legs without her to show the way. It may seem like Cassian's side of the story drags on a bit in the first episode, but it is a necessary evil.
Despite having a functional fighter jet and a pilot at hand, they fail to decide how to leave the planet.
The Brigade gets further divided into two fragments, shooting at each other for no particular reason. Meanwhile, bloodthirsty creatures roam the forest and attack multiple team members. The rebels all look young and lost, and for a while, Cassian tries to tell them what to do despite being in chains. He even suggests they make a tarp to collect rainwater while it pours. But in the end, he visibly gives up and looks for an opportunity to escape.
He gets one when the beast attacks again and takes off in the TIE fighter, leaving Maya Pei Brigade once again stranded. Given that Yavin 4 later becomes the Rebel base, there is a chance that some of these people survive and turn the place into a habitable one. Maybe they find Maya Pei, maybe they do it all by themselves. Regardless, what happens in episode 1 is a stark reminder of how disagreements within allies make it so much harder to fight off the larger enemy on the horizon.
The first three episodes of Andor Season 2 are now streaming on Disney+. Three new episodes will drop weekly on Tuesday nights, with the final three releasing on May 13.