By George & Josh Bate
WARNING: The following contains spoilers for Andor – Season 2, Episodes 7-9
The Ghorman Massacre and Mon Mothma’s game-changing speech were far from the only interesting things to happen in the new episodes of Andor. Here is every easter egg, reference, hidden detail, and behind the scenes trivia we noticed in Andor Season 2 episodes 7-9.
The hotel employee tells Cassian, “Rebellions are built on hope.” This is a famous line reiterated by Jyn and Cassian in Rogue One.
Approximately 350 extras were used for the Ghorman Massacre sequence. All of them were dressed by Michael Wilkinson’s costume department.
An early version of the script for Andor Season 2 had a different introduction for K-2SO. This early version featured K-2SO tearing through a ship in a scene that resembled the Alien and Predator franchises.
The newscasters on Ghorman use camera droids, which were first introduced in the prequels. Andor marks the first time that these camera droids were brought to life practically, as opposed to a digital effect.
The call sign “Shadow Six” can be heard at the beginning of episode 7. In canon, this call sign appeared in The Clone Wars episode “Shadow of Malevolence.”
Major Partagaz mentions Director Krennic’s lab on Eadu. This is where Galen Erso was forced to work on the Death Star and where he meets his end in Rogue One.
The rifle Cassian uses on Ghorman is a BlasTech A280-CFE convertible heavy blaster pistol, the same blaster he almost killed Galen Erso with in Rogue One.
The Empire employs KX-series droids to facilitate the genocide on Ghorman. The Empire similarly used KX-series droids to commit genocide on Mandalore, as depicted in a flashback in The Book of Boba Fett.
Season 2 episode 8 retcons the one-shot comic Cassian & K-2O Special #1 by reimagining how the duo meet.
The Senator from Ghorman says, “My people today, yours tomorrow.” The scene then immediately cuts to Bail Organa, which foreshadows the eventual fate of Alderaan.
The speech that Mon Mothma diverges from the canon established in the Star Wars Rebels episode “Secret Cargo.” In that episode, Mon makes a speech aboard a ship that is broadcast to the galaxy. Tony Gilroy explained his approach to reworking canon here. “We are hijacking canon,” Gilroy said. “In canon, she’s rescued by the Gold Squadron and the speech that they gave in the cartoon, which was a canonical show, [is on that ship]. And [Dan Gilroy’s] like, ‘Do I have to stick to this f–ing speech?'” What they landed on was that Mon initially gives a speech on the Senate floor before making another speech broadcast to the entire galaxy while safely on her way to Yavin. “In a really sneaky way, we’re minimizing what they did in Star Wars Rebels, but we’re keeping it consistent,” Gilroy said. “We’re just saying you don’t really know the whole story of what happened.”
Originally, Mon Mothma’s entire speech was not going to be fully depicted in episode 9. Instead, the episode would have cut back and forth between Mon’s speech and a flurry of action sequences, including Bail’s corrupted Gold Squadron, Cassian entering the Senate building, and the ISB frantically trying to stop Mon. Upon Genevieve O’Reilly’s request, Tony Gilroy wrote the whole speech for Mon regardless. Ultimately, Gilroy decided to put Mon’s entire speech in the show.
The score that plays while Mon delivers her speech is the same score that lays as Maarva delivers her posthumous speech in the Season 1 finale.
Mon taking off her Senate robe and donning Cassian’s jacket symbolizes her transition from senator to rebel. The team had not scripted where this moment would take place, initially thinking thinking it could happen when her pod retracts.
The Force healer on Yavin calls Cassian “a messenger.” This aligns with his eventual fate, which sees Cassian deliver the message of the Death Star plans to the Rebel Alliance before dying.
General Draven returns in Andor Season 2. The character played by Alistair Petrie first appeared in Rogue One.
Draven says there’s a ship waiting to escort Mon Mothma. The ship he is referring to is The Ghost from Star Wars Rebels.
Vel mentions that they are “no longer running around Aldhani” to Bix. This is a reference to the Aldhani heist from Season 1.
Episode 9 marks the first time in canon that Cassian is referred to as Captain Andor. This is how Mon introduces him to Jyn in Rogue One.
Melshi returns in episode 9. His blaster that Vel recognizes was one that was used during the Aldhani heist.