After “Rogue One” shocked audiences everywhere by killing every single main character in the movie in very tragic ways, there was reason to believe its prequel series, “Andor,” would follow suit. Sure, we knew Diego Luna’s Cassian was supposed to make it to the end as he still has a couple of days left in him, but everyone else had a death mark the size of a moon (scratch that — a space station).

Advertisement

It doesn’t help that Tony Gilroy and his team made “Andor” one of the bleakest shows on television by nature of it reflecting so much of our reality, whether that’s TV morning shows and news programs acting as propaganda for oppressive regimes, the killing of dissidents for dumb reasons, or the gut punch of an episode that was the Ghorman massacre. It’s easy to look at “Andor” and think the show is just too dark and depressing, and were it not for our knowledge of “Rogue One” and the original trilogy, you’d be forgiven for having doubts that the Rebellion actually gets anything done.

Thankfully, Gilroy and his team know better than to just make a bleak and depressing show. Instead, season 2 of “Andor” had as many victories for the rebels as it had heart-wrenching moments of the Empire being the absolute worst. And sometimes, those highs and lows would come one right after another: Right after the Ghorman massacre, we had Mon Mothma deliver a killer speech at the Senate and effectively announce the formation of the Rebel Alliance.

Advertisement

In the end, even if some characters tragically lost their lives along the way, others did make it to the final credits — everyone thank Tony Gilroy for giving our boy B2EMO a happy ending. What’s more, every single villain in “Andor” got the awful, righteous ending they deserved.

First, let’s talk about the villain that did not originate in “Andor,” Director Orson Krennic (Ben Mendelsohn). Krennic is a rather big part of the final season of “Andor,” helping plan the Ghorman massacre in order to acquire some resources that will help his Death Star project. Of course, Krennic doesn’t die in “Andor,” but luckily we know he does eventually meet a karmically gruesome end by being obliterated on Scarif by his own death machine.

Advertisement

As for the villains that originated in “Andor,” we start with Doctor Gorst (Joshua James), the single most evil villain in “Star Wars” that was not involved in the Ghorman massacre. The good doctor meets his end at the hands of Bix, who blows him to smithereens right as he is being tortured with his own sadistic torture machine — the one that uses the sounds of screaming babies.

Ironic death by their own work is a recurring theme in “Andor.” Take Syril Karn (Kyle Soller), a man who worked tirelessly to help the Empire and ultimately brought forth the Ghorman massacre, feeding intel to the Ghorman Front to the point where the Empire could accuse them of being a legitimate threat, fake a violent uprising, and kill them all. In the end, Syril was shot in the head after realizing he helped commit an atrocity, just after learning that the man he had chasing for years didn’t even know who he was. 

Advertisement

Then there’s Partagaz (Anton Lesser), a man who had helped execute and illegally imprison countless people throughout the years in his role as leader of the ISB Central Office on Coruscant. Except the ISB suffers no mistakes, and after Partagaz failed to prevent the leak of information about the Death Star, he was slated for execution. Like a good space Nazi, Partagaz didn’t wait and decided to just shoot himself in the head with a blaster at his office like a petty coward.

And finally, the series finale of “Andor” gave us one last look at our favorite fascist zealot, Dedra Meero (Denise Gough). Unsurprisingly, the Empire does not look kindly upon someone ordering operations without authorization that resulted in the death of a man wanted for questioning, as well as having her authorization code used to steal information about the Death Star. So what becomes of Dedra? She ends up sentenced to a prison that looks just like the one Cassian was kept in on Narkina 5, with electrified floors, bland food, and absolutely horrendous living conditions. Sure, she’s the only villain who survives, but then again, if she lives long enough, she is going to be forced to see the fall of her beloved Empire from inside her prison — or maybe worse yet, not even hear about the destruction of the Death Star, the fall of Palpatine, and ultimately the Empire.

Advertisement

“Andor” doesn’t have to depict the Rebels earning some big victory against the Empire. By the final scene, the biggest win is Cassian earning the trust of the Rebel leaders in chasing after the information Luthen gained about the Death Star. And yet, in the larger context, the finale of “Andor” is one of absolute victory for the Rebellion. The Imperial villains are either dead or on their way to be annihilated. The Rebel Alliance is fully formed and soon ready to meet the Empire out in the open. And just a few days after the credits roll on this episode, some farm boy from Tatooine will deliver a major blow to the Empire’s presumed invulnerability. Cassian and the other characters may not know it, but their lives did burn for a sunrise that millions across the galaxy got to see.

Advertisement

“Andor” is now streaming in its entirety on Disney+.