By George & Josh Bate
Each week, we’ve been breaking down all the easter eggs, hidden details, references, and behind the scenes trivia in each block of Andor episodes. And now we’re compiling over 100 of them together. Check out all the easter eggs below….
WARNING: The following contains spoilers for Andor Season 2
Season 2 Episodes 1-3
A full-scale, practical ship was built for the TIE Avenger that Cassian steals in Episode 1. This is unusual for TIE Fighters in Star Wars productions, which usually don’t have the full, real set of an exterior and interior like the TIE Avenger in Andor.
The TIE Avenger was inspired by Kylo Ren’s TIE Whisper from The Rise of Skywalker. The TIE Avenger first appeared in the 1994 LucasArts game TIE Fighter. In Legends, Grand Admiral Thrawn contributed to the creation of the TIE Avenger.
The password used by Cassian and the Imperial defector Niya at the beginning of episode 1 is “Kafrene.” The Ring of Kafrene is where Cassian’s story in Rogue One begins.
Cassian tells Niya at the beginning of the episode, “You’re coming home to yourself.” In Rogue One, Cassian tells Jyn, “Welcome home.”
Some of the troopers that pursue Cassian are Range Troopers. This kind of trooper first appeared in Solo: A Star Wars Story.
The ships that case Cassian from the Imperial testing base are TIE Advanced prototypes. These ships first appeared in the Star Wars Rebels Season 1 episode “Empire Day.”
The planet that Bix, Brasso, Wilmon, and B2 hide out on is Mina-Rau, a new Star Wars planet. Based on promotional footage, some fans speculated that this location was actually Lothal, Ezra Bridger’s home in Star Wars Rebels.
To create the agriculture on Mina-Rau, the Andor team actually planted an ancient rye grain in a vast field in Oxfordshire. After the SAG-AFTRA strike began in summer 2023, the production team had to halt shooting and harvest the crop, placing it in sheets of polystyrene so that the outdoor locations could be reconstructed later on at Pinewood’s 007 Stage.
Bix can be seen working on a vaporator on Mina-Rau, the same kind that were on the Lars’ farm on Tatooine.
The Mothma estate was inspired by historic Japanese stone castles and minimalist, nature-infused architecture from Scandinavia.
Mon Mothma’s aide is named Erskin Semaj. Semaj first appeared in the Star Wars Rebels episode “Secret Cargo.”
For the second time, Andor makes reference to the Rakatan Invasion (after Luthen mentioned it in Andor Season 1 episode 4). In Legends, the Rakata were the first to develop hyperspace technology and created the Infinite Empire. The Rakata were eventually overthrown by the Jedi. In Andor Season 2, the stolen temple figure that Luthen Rael presents for Davo Sculdun was stoken during the Rakatan Invasion. Dialogue confirms that the invasion took place 25,000 years beforehand, which coincides with the founding of the Jedi Order.
The food and eating utensils of Ledia Mothma’s wedding are similar to those seen at Galaxy’s Edge.
The Imperial cruiser on Mina-Rau is a modified version of the Gozanti cruiser digital model created for The Mandalorian Season 2 Chapter 11: The Heiress.
The view outside Krennic’s secret meeting is actually a hand-painted backdrop with some digital touch-ups by ILM.
During Krennic’s meeting, the Imperials speak about Ghorman, a planet of great importance to the Empire and Star Wars canon. The Ghorman Massacre is a pivotal event in Star Wars history that sees Mon Mothma finally take a public stand against Palpatine. The Ghorman Massacre will be depicted later this season.
The Empire’s “Ministry of Enlightenment” shares a name with Nazi Germany’s “Ministry of Propaganda and Public Enlightenment.”
Krennic says that Palpatine is seeking “stable, unlimited power.” Of course, Palpatine makes the triumphant declaration of “unlimited power” in Revenge of the Sith as he kills Mace Windu.
In Bix and others’ new home, a drawing of Maarva Andor hangs on the wall.
The planet Cassian is taken captive on is Yavin 4. This is revealed at the end of episode 2 as the structures that first appeared in A New Hope and were later seen in Rogue One become evident. Eventually, Yavin 4 becomes the home to the Rebel Alliance.
Kleya’s radio in Luthen’s gallery was inspired by a telephone operator’s switchboard.
Leida Mothma’s wedding dress took costume designer Michael Wilkinson and his team six months to construct. It includes dozens of pattern pieces sewn together, with hand-beading and hand-finishing.
The wedding dance is a remix of Season 1’s “Niamos!” track. This sequence was among the last shot for Andor Season 2 in January 2024.
Season 2 Episodes 4-6
The Stagecraft, also known as The Volume, was used to depict outside the windows of Cassian and Bix’s Coruscant safe house. This is the same technology that has been used on a number of Star Wars shows, including The Mandalorian and Obi-Wan Kenobi. Sprinklers were placed between the LED screens and the windows to simulate a rainy day.
The Niki-Bon travel agency on Coruscant was inspired by airline and travel agent graphics from the 1970s.
The Ghorman Front, the burgeoning resistance group on Ghorman, was inspired by the French Resistance during World War II. Due to this, Tony Gilroy aimed to cast primarily French actors as the people of Ghorman.
Saw Gerrera first mentioned the Ghorman Front in Andor Season 1.
The Ghorman plaza was a massive 500-foot long outdoor set built on the Pinewood Studios backlot. This is the same backlot where the Jakku village and Maz’s castle in The Force Awakens, Jedha City in Rogue One, an the Kessel landing area in Solo were filmed.
Two written languages of wrritten Ghorman were created for the series – Ghorelle (or High Ghor) and Dixian (Low Ghor). These were named after graphic designers Elle McKee and Lauren Dix respectively.
“The Tarkin Massacre” is mentioned in these new episodes. In Legends, the Ghorman Massacre involved Grand Moff Tarkin landing a ship onto a crowd of protesters, resulting in the deaths of many innocent Ghor. Andor, however, establishes that The Tarkin Massacre was a separate tragedy that occurred shortly after the events of Revenge of the Sith. The memorial in the center of Palmo is dedicated to those lost in The Tarkin Massacre. The establishment of The Tarkin Massacre as distinct from the Ghorman Massacre means the poor people of Ghorman experienced not one but two massacres at the hands of the Empire within a period of less than two decades.
Richard Sammel plays Carro Rylanz. Sammel is a German actor known for his role as Thomas Eichhorst in The Strain.
Imperial officers on Ghorman can be seen watching podracing on a monitor.
A conspiracy theory that the ISB are running a shadow government without Palpatine’s awareness originated from the novelization for the original Star Wars by Alan Dean Foster.
The ISB operation room was filmed in the OKX Thought Leadership Center within the McLaren Group’s Technology Center in Woking, England. This is the same place where Coruscant’s transportation hub was filmed in Season 1.
To accurately depict the Senate District on Coruscant, ILM visual effects supervisor Mohen Leo overlaid the Valencia, Spain shooting location onto the layout from the prequels. This ensured that the Senate District in Andor physically matched what was previously established.
Saw Gerrera and his Partisans are based on the planet D’Qar. This planet first appeared in The Force Awakens as the home of the Resistance.
The shooting location for Saw’s base was once a Royal Air Force airfield and station.
Saw Gerrera and Wilmon Paak inhale Rhydonium, a volitaile starship fuel. Rhydonium first appeared in The Clone Wars episode “Missing in Action” and possibly explains the extent of Saw’s breathing difficulties.
The Partisans can be seen eating a cooked massiff. This is the dog-like creature that appears on Tatooine alongside Tusken Raiders in projects like Attack of the Clones and The Mandalorian. Sections of the prop massiff were actually edible on set.
Sam Witwer makes a cameo appearance! As Cassian gets ready to leave Coruscant for Ghorman, he corresponds with a person via an earpiece. This person is voiced by Sam Witwer, who recently appeared at Star Wars Celebration Japan to announce the new animated series Maul: Shadow Lord.
An urn with a small sculpture of a Torgruta can be seen in Luthen’s shop. Ahsoka Tano and Shaak Ti are notable members of the Torgruta species.
The truck heist escape tunnel on Ghorman was filmed on Pinewood Studio’s paddock tank. This is the same location that Rey and Kylo dueled one another on in The Rise of Skywalker.
Bail Organa appears in Andor Season 2. While the character was played by Jimmy Smits in the prequels, Rogue One, and Obi-Wan Kenobi, Bail is now played by Benjamin Bratt.
In the conversation between Mon, Perrin, and Bail, Bail’s wife Breha is mentioned. Breha appeared in Revenge of the Sith and Obi-Wan Kenobi.
Episode 6 concludes with Bix enacting her revenge against the villainous Dr. Gorst. Bix tells Gorst, “It will only feel like forever.” This phrase was what Gorst said to Bix in Season 1 right before he initiated her torture.
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.
Season 2 Episodes 10-12
Andor Season 2 consists of 4,100 VFX shots, which is up from the 3,800 shots used in Season 1.
Lonni’s intel includes information about Galen Erso and the lab on Eadu. Galen Erso is the scientist behind the Death Star, played by Mads Mikkelsen in Rogue One.
Luthen and Lonni’s meeting was filmed under the bridge between the Palau de les Arts Reina and Sofía and Hemisfèric buildings in Valencia, Spain.
Luthen killing Lonni to keep him silent is reminicent of Cassian killing Tivik at the beginning of Rogue One.
The scene with Luthen and Lonni features a tooka cat. This animal first appeared in The Clone Wars and has since appeared in Rebels, The Mandalorian, and Ahsoka. The tooka cat in episode 10 has a collar that says ‘Pix,’ which is the name of a recently deceased dog of one of the viual effect’s artists.
One of the many artifacts in Luthen’s gallery is a Twi’lek Kalikori. This relic was first seen in Star Wars: Rebels and was part of Thrawn’s collection.
Next to the Nubian headdresses in Luthen’s gallery appears to be the skull of a Gungan.
Luthen shows Dedra a rare Nautolan bleeder knife. The most well-known Nautolan is Jedi Master Kit Fisto from the prequels.
The hospital that Luthen Rael is treated as is called The Lina Roh Medical Center. Lina Roh was the Chancellor of the Republic during the High Republic era and features in a variety of High Republic stories.
Lina Soh Hospital was inspired by Lloyd’s building in London’s financial district, which is known for its distinct, repetive layout of identical floors.
The initial flashback of Kleya and Luthen features Mudtroopers. These troopers were first seen in Solo: A Star Wars Story.
In the flashbacks, Luthen and Kleya sell a Devaronian victory necklace. Devaronians are the devil-like creatures that first appeared in A New Hope. Notable Devaonianss include Vizago in Rebels and Burg in The Mandalorian.
Some of the flashbacks of Luthen and Kleya were filmed on location in Spain. The vibrant color palette of Valencia in the market was used to contrast the gray palette of the hospital.
Luthen and Kleya sit at a cafe on Naboo. This planet first appeared in The Phantom Menace and features prominently throughout the Star Wars saga.
To film Naboo, Hever Castle in Kent, England was used. This is exactly where George Lucas filmed an ultimately deleted scene in The Phantom Menace in which Qui-Gon and Obi-Wan, alongside Jar Jar, enter the Theed Royal Palace grounds after escaping a dangerous waterfall.
The area around Lake Como, Italy, which was previously photographed in August 2001 for Attack of the Clones, was used a background plates for Naboo.
One of the species seen in the hospital was previously seen on Niamos in Season 1. See below.
Cassian’s home on Yavin is described as a “frat house” by series creator Tony Gilroy.
The game that Cassian, Melshi, and K-2 play is called Rianza and was designed by the art/graphics team.
K-2 reveals he was at a parade on Coruscant that was attended by the Emperor. This was probably an Empire Day Celebration, a galaxy-wide holiday celebrating the beginning of the Galactic Empire and the conclusion of the Clone Wars.
Mon Mothma and Bail Organa try to reason with Saw Gerrera over hologram, just like how they do at the end of the novel Reign of the Empire: The Mask of Fear.
Hundreds of Rebel costumes were created for Andor Season 2 and were carefully designed to be based on the patterns and designs from Rogue One.
Various characters from Rogue One appear in the final episodes of Andor. One of the lesser known characters is Pao (aka Paodok’Draba’Takat Sap’De’Rekti Nik’Linke’Ti’ Ki’Vef’Nik’NeSevef’Li’Kek). The character with (we think?) the longest name in Star Wars history pops up on Yavin in Season 2.
Another returning face from Rogue One is Admiral Raddus. The fan favorite character is once again voiced by Star Wars veteran Stephen Stanton. In order to bring Raddus to life in Andor, Neal Scanlan’s creature department had to completely rebuild Raddus.
Senators Jebel and Pamlo from Rogue One are also back in Andor Season 2. Pamlo also previously appeared in The Bad Batch.
One Rogue One character who doesn’t appear is General Merrick, although he is referenced by Raddus.
Before he leaves for the Ring of Kafrene, Cassian and Vel have a drink in honor of those who have died. They include: Luthen, Gorn, Nemik, Taramyn, Cinta, The Ghormans, Ferrix, Maarva, and The Dhanis. Gorn and Taramyn were two of the people Cassian and Vel did the Aldhani heist with.
Nemik’s manfesto spreads across the galaxy, leading to Partagaz committing suicide. Nemik’s manifesto was introduced in the Aldhani arc in Season 1.
Dedra Meero is impriosned in a Narkina 5-esque prison at the end of the show. Tony Gilroy confirmed this is not Narkna 5, but, rather, another Narkina that is “the women’s version” of the prison.
At the end of episode 12, Cassian wears the same jacket he was wearing at the beginning of Rogue One on his mission in the Ring of Kafrene.
Saw Gerrera is shown looking out onto Jedha Ciy at the end of Season 2. This is where Saw is introduced in Rogue One (and where he eventually dies).
The series concludes with Bix carrying her and Cassian’s son. This harkens back to a line that Luthen said about burning his life to make a sunrise he know she’ll never see. Cassian sacrificed his life for the galaxy for a sunrise (i.e., a son) he will never know.
