“Star Wars” could be waiting for the subsequent main cinematic occasion on the horizon, however a few of us nonetheless have not left the final space-bound journey that captivated us all on the small display screen. It is solely been a number of months since “Andor” season 2, arguably the high-water mark of your entire franchise, introduced the acclaimed collection to an epic and grand conclusion. Some followers might have assumed that there was nothing left to study and no stones left to be uncovered by now. Fortunately, these followers could be improper. Like, “Dedra Meero discovering herself on the new seat and getting jabbed by Director Orson Krennic’s finger”-levels of improper. Let’s simply say that, in an alternate universe, these wanting ahead to an Emperor Palpatine cameo in “Andor” would’ve discovered themselves more than happy.
We all know that “Andor” had initially been conceived as a collection meant to span 5 full seasons, however what we did not notice was precisely how a lot storytelling potential fell by the wayside as soon as creator Tony Gilroy and his inventive workforce readjusted their method. In a latest episode of the Script Aside podcast (by way of Complete Movie), Gilroy’s brother and author Dan Gilroy joined as a visitor to speak all issues “Andor.” Naturally, the dialog turned in the direction of what the Gilroy brothers would’ve achieved had their preliminary plans for a five-year present truly panned out. In accordance with Dan, this might’ve resulted in one of many largest villainous cameos of any “Star Wars” manufacturing but:
“What else would we’ve got explored? Oh my god, the place would we’ve got gone? I imply, I can not think about over 5 years we would not have proven the Emperor at that time. I believe we might have gotten nearer to that world. I believe we might have gone — we’re actually getting a great sense of opposition forces right here, however let’s go deeper into the ability in the mean time, the halls of energy. I believe we might have gone deeper into the halls of energy and explored that. That might have been the pure strategy to go, I believe, the development of it.”
Andor most likely would’ve introduced in Emperor Palpatine, however would which have been as efficient?
One of the gratifying thought experiments whereas watching “Andor” was imagining what different characters within the huge canon of the franchise had been as much as at that actual second. Jar Jar Binks, as an illustration, may’ve been prancing round someplace on Coruscant throughout all these sequences involving Senator Mon Mothma (Genevieve O’Reilly) assembly in secret with Insurgent mastermind Luthen Raal (Stellan Skarsgård). It is hilarious to think about the esteemed prepare dinner and Jedi ally Dexter Jettster doing his factor in that Fifties diner from “Assault of the Clones,” too. However all through the collection (and particularly in season 2), one character was name-dropped and alluded to greater than every other unseen presence: Ian McDiarmid’s Emperor Palpatine.
That proved to be probably the most efficient decisions in your entire season, giving the authoritarian despot an added enhance in mystique by merely displaying us the reactions he provokes in different, extra grounded figures. He was the one pulling the strings on the Loss of life Star “vitality mission,” the fascistic enhance in “safety” galaxy-wide following the Insurgent heist on Aldhani in season 1, and the one in the end liable for the Ghorman Bloodbath. Many viewers had hopes of an precise look by the massive unhealthy in the direction of the later levels of the second season, particularly when a lot of the motion on Coruscant was set in the exact same Senate chamber the place a sure green-colored Jedi and the newly-unveiled Darth Sidious duked it out in a battle royale for the ages in “Revenge of the Sith.”
However would an precise cameo within the flesh have undercut all of that cautious bricklaying? I am of two minds on this: On one hand, I respect the extent of restraint to keep away from the fan-service pandering that has bothered so many different “Star Wars” tales today; however, are you able to think about the extent of scenery-chewing McDiarmid may’ve achieved with a Tony Gilroy script and the regular route of, properly, actually any of the filmmakers concerned within the present? This may all the time be a captivating what-if situation, however I, for one, am content material with the model of “Andor” we obtained.
Each seasons of “Andor” are at the moment streaming on Disney+.
