'A New Hope' Is Now the End of a New 'Star Wars' Trilogy - Inside the Magic

After weeks of skirting around the subject, it has been confirmed by showrunner Tony Gilroy that Star Wars: Andor will definitely be a 24-episode two-season run, with each season acting, in his words, as “two halves of a novel.”

But, as Gilroy zooms in even more, fans are now aware that Andor will lead directly into Rogue One: A Star Wars Story (2016), meaning a new continuous trilogy has just been born in the Star Wars Universe.

With a delay announcement ahead of its August 31 release, Star Wars: Andor will now release on September 21 and run for a 12-episode season — the longest season in Star Wars live-action streaming history. Andor sees Diego Luna reprise his role as Rebel spy Cassian Andor who was originally introduced into the galaxy far, far away in Gareth Edwards’ Rogue One, the hit movie centering the Rebel Alliance’s efforts to destroy the Death Star, starring Felicity Jones (Jyn Erso), Ben Mendelsohn (Orson Krennic), Alan Tudyk (K-2SO), and Mads Mikkelsen (Galen Erso).

Penned by Gilroy, Rogue One shocked fans when it ended with a direct continuous link to George Lucas’s original Star Wars epic, Star Wars: Episode IV — A New Hope (1977), even reimagining Carrie Fisher’s young Princess Leia via CGI technology and Darth Vader’s dramatic entrance aboard her ship, all in a bid to secure the Death Star plans… and the rest, they say, is history.

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Andor will revisit the Star Wars universe at the time of the Galactic Empire’s powerful rule circa five years prior to the events of Rogue One. Lucasfilm has revealed that Andor will utilize three episode chunks to showcase a one-year timeframe, suggesting that by the end of Andor Season 1, fans should be just one year out from the beginning of the 2016 hit, thus leading us to believe the second season of the “Trumpian” series will take the course of an entire year.

However…

Speaking at the Television Critic Association’s press tour, the Star Wars creator confirmed that it will be the other way around, and also revealed how the series will end (via The Hollywood Reporter):

Gilroy also revealed the show’s master plan includes the debut season covering one year in Andor’s life and the second – and final – season will cover four years. “Our last scene of the show, our 24th episode, will walk the audience directly into Rogue One and directly into the first scene of Rogue One.”

So, as Andor rolls right into Rogue One, and Rogue One straight into A New Hope, it exemplifies how the latter will act as the conclusion of one trilogy — Andor, Rogue One, A New Hope — while simultaneously being the beginning of the original trilogy — A New Hope, Star Wars: Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back (1980), and Star Wars: Episode VI — Return of the Jedi (1983). And yes, all of Star Wars‘ projects are part of the greater whole, the Skywalker Saga and beyond, and are all interlinked, but this complete real-time transition of three major projects is what makes Andor special and A New Hope a fulcrum for the greater Star Wars story.

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Earlier this year, something similar happened when Dave Filoni’s The Bad Batch picked up during Order 66 being activated by Emperor Palpatine, but even then The Bad Batch crosses over with Star Wars: Episode III — Revenge of the Sith (2005) and does not pick up right when it ends.

Star Wars: Andor stars Stellan Skarsgård, Adria Arjona, Fiona Shaw, Denise Gough, Kyle Soller, along with familiar faces, Genevieve O’Reilly as Mon Mothma, and Forest Whitaker who will return as Partisans leader, and character featured in Star Wars: The Clone Wars and Rogue One, Saw Gerrera.

Are you looking forward to the new Star Wars series? Let us know in the comments down below!