'Andor' can save 'Star Wars' if Disney gets out of the way - SFGATE

Cassian Andor (Diego Luna) in "Andor.".

If you need a topline review of “Andor,” the latest “Star Wars” TV series, here it is: It’s good.

I can’t guarantee that’ll remain the case with “Andor.” Nearly every TV show jumps the shark eventually, and the “Star Wars” franchise has a nasty history of failing to stick landings.

If you need a refresher, “Andor” is a standalone series centered on Cassian Andor, played by Diego Luna, who you may (or, forgivably, may not) remember from “Rogue One.” He was one of the martyrs who gave their lives to deliver the Death Star plans to the Rebellion so that they could blow it up real good at the end of “Episode IV.” “Rogue One” was a troubled production that was rewritten, with great haste, by “Bourne” trilogy screenwriter and “Michael Clayton” writer/director Tony Gilroy, who also reportedly assumed unofficial directing duties and helped turn “Rogue One” into one of the better “Star Wars” movies of this century.

Cassian Andor (Diego Luna) in "Andor.".

All of that gives it a leg up on some of the more hideous entries into the “Star Wars” canon.

That episode was the point where I was like, “OK, I’m game for this,” but it also marked a decisive turning point in the story line.

At the end of episode three, Luna and Skarsgard have peaced out on Andor’s adopted home planet and ventured out into space, which gives Gilroy a chance to expand his noir across the galaxy while keeping the story line contained.

Cassian Andor (Diego Luna) and Bix Caleen (Adria Arjona) in "Andor.".

I grew up worshiping the original film trilogy and, as a result, take my “Star Wars” WAY too seriously.

“Star Wars” is its own genre at this point, which means that not every story within it has to tie together.

Kravas (Lee Boardman), Verlo (Stephen Wight), hostess (Margaret Clunie), Cassian Andor (Diego Luna) and bartender (Caroline Green) in a scene from "Andor.".

If he can keep on doing it, no matter what directives have been foisted upon him by the dark forces at Disney, he’ll have freed “Star Wars” from its own creative shackles and steered it into newer, and more interesting, places