Possible Filoniverse Cameos on Andor, Ranked from Worst to Not Great
Please no
I tried to come up with a bold and fresh take on the news that Dave Filoni has been promoted to Star Wars Content Czar. Truthfully, though, I can’t be bothered. It’s like learning a new parking lot downtown will be built by union labor in accordance with best environmental practices. I guess I’m happy they hired the right people, but I really wish the money was being used for something else.
I wish Star Wars was a movie—directed by Rian Johnson—that came out every four or five years. If instead it’s gotta be this TV series with interconnected prequel lore, then, sure, that’s the guy you hire.
One funny aspect of this development, however, is that there are five ongoing Star Wars shows and Filoni is already a producer on four of them (The Bad Batch, Tales of the Jedi, The Mandalorian, Ahsoka). That leaves Andor as the last of the established series he could take a greater hand in. I don’t know how to put this kindly, but the guy who made Ahsoka should not be giving the guy who made Michael Clayton too many notes.
And I’m not the only person who feels this way:
In fact, there’s already a leak suggesting a small cameo of that sort. You can look it up yourself if you’re curious.
Instead of ragging on Dave more, I’m going to approach this exercise seriously and deliver the ranking the headline promised:
Darth Maul—This is my opinion most out of step with the Star Wars mainstream, I guess, but: Dude should’ve stayed dead. We don’t need the devil with bionic legs when we have something far more sinister: a careerist intelligence agent and her incel security guard boyfriend.
Bo-Katan Kryze—After watching The Mandalorian Season 3, my appetite for Manadlore lore is at a historic low.
Boba Fett—We don’t have time for this shit.
Ahsoka—Where was Ahsoka during the Rebellion? is quickly becoming one of the most baffling questions in the canon, but her appearance would be too much of a symbolic takeover of a once-pristine corner of the franchise.
Ezra Bridger—I’m loving Eman Esfandi but throwing any Jedi in the mix seems like a mistake.
Cad Bane—Andor needs more aliens, just maybe not this one.
Hondo Ohnaka—See above.
Thrawn—The timeline kind of works. He’s a friend of Colonel Yularen, who has already cameoed. And I’m a huge sucker and Thrawn shill. Sorry!
Moff Gideon—Andor has been good about not showing the higher-ups in the Imperial military structure. Bringing in another Moff might be a good alternative to paying for CGI Tarkin again. Gideon is a Saturday morning–cartoon villain in The Mandalorian but Giancarlo Esposito is a brilliant actor who appears in two of my favorite movies ever (Do the Right Thing and Night on Earth). I’d like to see him work with Gilroy.
Hera Syndulla—She’s so embedded in the Rebel Alliance command that her absence from the original trilogy now qualifies as a plot hole. Mary Elizabeth Winstead didn’t have much to do in Ahsoka, but she’s a great actress who could certainly hang with all these Irish thespians. She gives the Rebels some much-needed alien representation and connects the universe without shrinking it.