Star Wars: ‘Andor’ is Bringing Back the Expanded Universe

Star Wars: Andor is an amazing show, and it’s doing a lot to bring classic Star Wars ideas into the modern era.

Andor is great. It’s the best Star Wars content in years. Each episode is somehow better than bringing in new ideas and themes. It’s highly enjoyable. It’s also doing more than any other property to take us back to the days of the old EU. Let’s take a look at how it’s doing that

Andor Has Some Real Need Cut  Expanded Universe Nods

Andor is often billed as a Star Wars show that doesn’t do Easter eggs or callbacks. Now that’s kind of true. It’s fairer to say it doesn’t do a lot of really obvious ones. Unlike the Mandalorian, you won’t see a ton of well know characters showing up, or a ton of obvious nods to other Star Wars stuff, just for the sake of the reference. Andor’s callbacks are either major parts of the story (like Saw) or tend to be very subtle. Sometimes it’s just some clever editing.  Andor also makes a lot of really deep cuts to EU lore.

Take Mon Mothma‘s daughter Lieda. She’s an old and pretty much forgotten EU character.  That the show brought her back is kind of amazing and shows a real appreciation for old Star Wars lore. Luthen’s shop is another great example. This place is full of small easter eggs. Many of them refer directly to EU events or things. The show has done a lot of work making EU things canon.

Andor Feels Like the Expanded Universe

via Lucasfilm

More than just bringing in EU aspects and making them canon, the show feels like the EU. The expanded universe was just that: expanded. It reached beyond the main characters. It even went be the classic Jedi Vs Sith conflict, telling new and different stories and exploring new places. Andor does this. Taking us to new worlds, rather than the same old ones. It builds on Star Wars lore. Andor is expanding star wars cannon in amazing ways.

We’ve gotten new worlds and ships. New people and languages. New foods, and many new plots. Most importantly we’ve gotten new heroes and new villains. These are perfectly tied into old ones in a way that makes everything feel bigger.

It’s About Normal People

More than any other show, movie, or almost anything, Andor is showing us how the common person lives in Star Wars. It’s showing us just basic people living and trying to get by under the Empire. These aren’t just cameos. This is a major focus of the story. These aren’t reluctant farm boy heroes.

The show has done a ton to expand the universe. To show how people live and breathe and eat. It’s answered a ton of basic questions about just life. Ultimately that’s the kind of thing the EU did. It’s the kind of thing an expanded universe should do. Movies don’t have time to get into all these details, but Andor does, and Star Wars is better because of it.

Author: Abe Apfel

Abe is that rare thing, an Austin local born and raised here. Though he keeps on moving around, DC, Japan, ETC., he always seems to find his way back eventually. Abe has decades of experience with a wide range of tabletop and RPG games, from historicals, to Star Wars to D&D and 40K. He has been contributing to BOLS since almost the start, back when he worked at and then owned a local gaming store. He used to be big into the competitive Warhammer tournament scene but age has mellowed him and he now appreciates a good casual match. He currently covers 40K tactics and lore, as well as all things Star Wars, with occasional dabbling in other topics. Abe remains in mourning over the loss of WFB to this day.