Thread will follow traditional Disney+ rules. Once the episodes are online, discussion of those episodes is fair game. If you know something or think you know something that hasn't been in an episode, use the spoiler tags.
Episodes will be released 3 at a time as the timeline of the show jumps forward year by year to lead straight into Rogue One.
Known returning characters include: Cassian Andor , Luthen Rael, Mon Mothma, Bix Caleen, Syril Karn, Dedra Meero, Saw Gerrera, Kino Loy, Vel Sartha, Cinta Kaz, Kleya Marki (Luthen's assistant), Major Partagaz (head of ISB), Brasso, Davo Sculdun, B2EMO, Two Tubes, Melshi
Known new Additions: Ben Mendelsoh as Orson Krennic from Rogue One, Alan Tudyk as K-2S0.
There appear to be multiple Star Wars EU events that are going to be fleshed into life in this season, including:
The Ghorman Massacre - where a peaceful protest ends in a slaughter by Imperial stormtroopers and Mon Mothma condemns Palpatine in front of the Senate as a "lying executioner", which leads to her being called a traitor and having to flee Coruscant for good. This leads to her giving a speech onboard the Ghost (ship from Star Wars "Rebels" declaring the formation of the Rebel Alliance. If they were to recreate that scene precisely, it would likely involve the addition of the actors who portrayed Ezra Bridger and Hera Syndulla in the live-action "Ahsoka" series as well as the CGI version of Zev briefly seen in The Mandalorian Season 3.
The Rebel Base on Dantooine: Leia gives Dantooine as a planet that the rebels are on to Tarkin in Episode IV. he later gets a report from scouts that there was a base there "but it has been abandoned for some time." There are multiple shots in the trailer of several characters in a distinct "wheat-looking" landscape that match pretty well with a few long-standing Star Wars video games - Galaxies, The Old Republic, and Knights of the Old Republic that both have Dantooine locations and look exactly the same. In KOTOR, there is a Jedi Temple there. In Galaxies, there is a large Rebel base with several key characters inside.
The TIE Avenger: The ship featured so prominently in the trailers being stolen by Andor made its debut in Star Wars in 1994 in the great TIE fighter game. . The Avenger in the game was a TIE fighter on steroids with laser cannons, missiles, a tractor beam, and actual armor, so you couldn't blow it up by sneezing on it. It also had a hyperdrive and was super fast. So in theory even a few of these ships with amazing pilots could terrorize the Rebellion or a planet with virtually no way to stop them.
Key lines from "Rogue One": In recruiting Jyn Erso, Andor tells her at 2 different points
"What do you know? We don't all have the luxury of deciding when and where we want to care about something. Suddenly the Rebellion is real for you. Some of us live it. I've been in this fight since I was *six* years old. You're not the only one who lost everything. Some of us just decided to do something about it."
"Some of us - well, most of us - we've all done terrible things on behalf of the Rebellion. Spies, saboteurs, assassins. Everything I did, I did for the Rebellion. And every time I walked away from something I wanted to forget, I told myself it was for a cause that I believed in. A cause that was worth it. Without that, we're lost. Everything we've done would have been for nothing. I can't face myself if I gave up now. None of us could."
So as my grandfather used to say, let's call a spade a spade. The only characters we know that survive for sure into Rogue One are: Cassian, Melshi, K2, Mon Mothma, Saw (briefly), and Two Tubes. Ain't no Bix or Brasso or Luthen or Vel or Cinta puttering around in Rogue One. Which means Andor is probably going to have to make some tough choices coming up.
Here's a 14-minute recap of Andor: Season 1 from Disney+
