Our Andor season 1 recap covers everything that happened in the epic Star Wars show so you can refresh your memory ahead of future instalments.
It isn’t controversial to say that Andor is not just the best Star Wars series, but one of the best TV series around. Unfortunately, with its final episode behind us, it’s going to be a few more years until we see any more of Cassian Andor. With the heist, the prison break, and the uprising on Ferrix, Andor had some of the best Star Wars scenes ever put to film. Those scenes were held together by a gripping story with an instantly memorable characters in the Andor cast, but the path wasn’t always straightforward. So let’s reflect on exactly how Cassian Andor found himself joining the Rebellion against the Galactic Empire.
To do an Andor season 1 recap, it’s worth noting the sci-fi series was split up into four main arcs: Andor escaping Ferrix, the heist on Aldhani, Cassian’s stint in the prison compound on Narkina 5, and Cassian Andor’s return to Ferrix.
Andor season 1 recap – the beginning
Lit by neon lights and dampened by heavy rain, Andor kicked off with a brutal, Blade Runner-y start. This was the first time that audiences had seen Cassian Andor since the Star Wars movie spin-off Rogue One (where he was both introduced as a Star Wars character, and killed) and he reminded us of exactly who he was when he quickly dispatched two Pre-Mor security officers who threatened him.
Worrying about being caught for the murder of the two officers, Andor fled to his home planet, Ferrix. On Ferrix, Andor had a reputation for slipperiness and charm that had made him lots of friends, as well as lots of enemies. While there, he convinces his adoptive mother Maarva, and his friend Brasso to cover for him with an alibi. Because he has acquired a valuable Imperial Starpath Unit, Andor also asks his friend Bix Caleen to put him in contact with a black market buyer.
Unbeknownst to Andor, a the deputy inspector at the Pre-Mor security, Syril Karn, has become determined to hunt him down and hold him responsible for the murder of the two officers. Syril Karn puts out an intergalactic search warrant for Andor, and Bix’s boyfriend (who has grown suspicious and jealous of Andor’s relationship with Bix) informs Syril Karn that Andor is on Ferrix.
Andor learns of the warrant, and decides to leave Ferrix to protect himself and those close to him. As he is trying to coordinate his escape, the black market dealer that Bix contacted to buy the Starpath Unit is lands on Ferrix to collect it from Andor. The dealer, a mysterious man named Luthen Rael, meets Andor in an abandoned warehouse to buy the starpath unit before Andor leaves. However, Syril Karn and his assembled team of officers have landed on Ferrix, and have tracked the pair down.
This results in a firefight, during which Luthen Rael tried to convince Andor to join the Rebellion against the Galactic Empire. Andor is unconvinced, but uses Luthen Rael’s abilities to escape from Ferrix. From Syril Karn’s perspective, the operation on Ferrix to capture Andor was a disaster, to put it mildly. Andor escaped along with Luthen Rael, civilians died, Pre-Mor security officers died, and Syril Karn was swiftly fired from his job.
Andor season 1 recap – the heist on Aldhani
Aboard Luthen Rael’s ship, the mysterious Rebellion operative tells Andor that he is recruiting him for a mission on Aldhani, but he is give almost no information about what it involves. As it turns out, Andor joins a small group of rebels (including a rogue-Imperial officer) who are planning to pull off a heist on a huge Imperial base, to steal a ludicrous amount of credits.
With Andor’s help, the heist is successful but not without a few deaths. The heist itself was one of the most nail-biting, tense moments in Star Wars history, coupled with visual splendour. It also forces the Empire, and its intelligence arm the ISB, into taking the Rebellion more seriously. Behind the scenes, Emperor Palpatine orders a strict response to the heist which includes harsher prison sentences and stringent penalties for any uncooperative planets.
This response, as it turns out, was all part of Luthen Rael’s plan to trick the Galactic Empire and Emperor Palpatine into reacting in a brutal way. He believed that this rapid escalation would be the catalyst for Rebellion to ignite across the galaxy.
Meanwhile, the ambitious ISB officer Dedra Meero makes the connection between the heist and Andor’s involvement, and makes it her mission to track him down correctly believing that Andor would be able to lead the ISB to Luthen Rael. Syril Karn, now working a dull office job, is still on his quest to hunt down Andor too.
Andor season 1 recap – Narkina 5
After the heist, Andor leaves to the recreational planet Niamos to spend his new money. However, he is swiftly arrested for interrupting Imperial business, and sentenced to six years on the prison at Narkina 5. On Narkina 5, the prisoners are being put to work making some type of mechanical part for the Empire, while under threat of being ‘fried’ if break the rules.
While Andor is on Narkina 5, Dedra Meero learns more about Andor and has Bix Caleen tortured for information. Like Dedra Meero, Luthen Rael also decides to try and track Andor down, but he wants to kill him to prevent him sharing any sensitive information about what he learned of the Rebellion while staging the Aldhani heist.
Through all this, Mon Mothma, a senator on Coruscant with sympathies for the Rebellion who has been funding them, finds that she is unable to access her wealth as easily as before, and is confronted with difficult decisions about her next move.
Back on Narkina 5 the prisoners, led by Andor and Kino Loy, discover that their sentences are indefinite, and that they won’t be getting out of the prison. They stage a revolt, overthrowing the Imperial guards and jumping off the floating prison into the ocean to swim away to freedom.
Andor season 1 recap – Maarva’s funeral
Andor manages to escape the planet and he gets back in contact with the people on Ferrix, only to discover that his adoptive mother, Maarva, has died. He decides to go back to Ferrix, despite the danger, to watch her funeral.
Dedra Meero, Syril Karn, and Luthen Rael all correctly believe that Andor will be returning to Ferrix for the funeral, and they each make their way to the planet in preparation to either apprehend or kill him. Once on the planet, Andor manages to remain hidden from those looking for him, and also rescue Bix Caleen from being tortured.
Maarva’s funeral, in which her hologram gives a rousing anti-Imperial speech, escalates into a confrontation between the people on Ferrix and the Imperial forces stationed there. In the confusion, Andor escapes (once again) after having sent his Ferrix friends to safety.
He confronts Luthen Rael on his ship, and asks to join the Rebellion after having been inspired to fight against the Galactic Empire. Mon Mothma, meanwhile, agrees to an arranged marriage for her daughter, in exchange for more funds which she can funnel into the Rebellion.
And that’s it! There’s still plenty of questions for Andor season 2. What’s going to happen to Dedra Meero and Syril Karn? How will Andor earn Luthen Rael’s trust? What’s going to happen to the surviving population on Ferrix? Did Kino Loy ever learn to swim? Unfortunately, we likely won’t find out until late 2024 at the earliest. That’s a long wait, and we’re already impatient for more.
To keep up with Andor and the rest of the Star Wars universe in the meantime, check out our guides to the Andor cast, and our Andor episode 12 review. Or, expand your knowledge of the galaxy far, far away by checking out our explainers on the Jedi, the Sith, the best Star Wars bounty hunters, and the best Star Wars droids.