The latest addition to the Star Wars universe is officially available to watch, leaving fans of the franchise with a brand new offering to enjoy.
Andor arrived on Disney Plus on Sept. 21, quickly collecting attention from the hordes of Star Wars fans. The show serves as a prequel to a prequel, detailing the life of Cassian Andor in the five years before the events of Rogue One take place. The show will follow Andor as he becomes the man fans recognize from the 2016 hit, a fact that is prompting questions about its content. Even in Rogue One, Andor’s approach to heroism is a major departure from the child-friendly content of most films in the franchise. The former thief doesn’t boast the same classic hero qualities of characters like Luke, and he was likely even less morally-driven in the years before he met Jyn Erso and the rest of the Rogue One crew. With this in mind, parents of blossoming Star Wars fans are eyeing the series with trepidation, as they wonder if its as child-friendly as the rest of the franchise.
Is Andor kid friendly?
The content in Star Wars already toys with the idea of what is truly child friendly, as it thrusts viewers into a war-torn galaxy filled with occasionally dense politics and a surprising amount of death. And, while the original Star Wars trilogy largely avoided any major character deaths or brutal fight scenes, the prequel trilogy quickly abandoned this formula, ending the first prequel film with a dead Jedi and a bisected Sith. Even the original trilogy had its darker moments, however, between Luke’s struggle with the Dark Side, Han’s torture, and Leia’s brief enslavement.
Andor aims to take things a step further, based on early reactions to the show’s premiere episodes, departing entirely from the kid-friendly Star Wars formula and instead making a show aimed at the franchise’s adult fans. Those grittier elements in earlier Star Wars releases may raise a few eyebrows, but there’s no arguing that Andor is not aimed at an audience of less than around 15 years old.
The show’s director, Tony Gilroy, has been clear in his intent to make something different. So, while his show likely won’t contain heaps of blood or excessive swearing, its content is clearly aimed at an older audience. Andor hopes to take aim at the everyday heroes of the galaxy; regular, seemingly unimpressive people who’s fates still work into the larger Star Wars story. It’s not racy or gore-filled, but it likely won’t be as alluring to kids as, say, the brightly-colored Rebels spinoff.
Andor isn’t likely to spawn nightmares in its youthful viewers, but it likely won’t appeal to most viewers who’ve yet to enter their teens. It simply isn’t aimed at them, and that’s not necessarily a bad thing. Most Star Wars fans start young, but their love for the franchise tends to persist over time. The kids that are currently binging The Clone Wars will be grown in a few years, and once they’ve done so, Andor will be waiting for them.