The Andor Season 2 finale featured an exciting Star Wars: Rogue One connection relating to Daniel Mays' Tivik. After two seasons of sewing the seeds of the Rebellion, showrunner Tony Gilroy finally lit the flame that would become the Rebel attack on the Death Star in Star Wars: A New Hope.
Daniel Mays' Tivik, a character seen in the first few minutes of Rogue One, got a unique cameo at the end of Andor Season 2, sending Diego Luna's titular spy from the hit series onto the path toward his siege to steal the Death Star plans. Tivik's name popped up in the Disney+ series in Season 2, Episode 12, as Alistair Petrie's General Draven informed Andor that he had an incoming message from one of his operatives in the field.
Tivik is a human informant to the Rebel Alliance and one of Cassian Andor's underground contacts working with Saw Gerrera's rebel insurgents.
He makes his only on-screen appearance at the beginning of Rogue One, providing Andor with key information about a weapon the Empire is working on (aka the Death Star).
Tivik's namedrop is just one of many connections the Disney+ series shares with Rogue One, as the hit series led directly into the gripping tale of sacrifice told in Gilroy's 2016 movie.
Andor just rounded out its two-season run on Disney+, bringing a close to this era of Star Wars storytelling. Since its debut in 2022, Andor has recounted the origins of Diego Luna's Cassian Andor as he went from a fledgling smuggler in the Outer Rim to a full-blown member of the rebel alliance.
Why Tivik Won't Talk to Anyone But Andor: Rogue One Connection Explained
When Tivik's name is brought up in the Andor finale, it comes with a crucial twist. He wants to talk but will only do so if it is with Diego Luna's Cassian Andor.
This comes right as Andor has brought Elizabeth Dulau's Kleya to Yavin with the information that the Empire is working on some sort of superweapon.
The specifics of this weapon, or what it entails, remains unknown to Andor and the rest of the Rebel Alliance (or at least the contingent that actually believes him), but that is where Tivik comes in.
Tivik's message to Andor is to come to the Ring of Kafrene, where he has some crucial intel for his friend working within the cause. This sends Andor into orbit, as he is sent on a mission to retrieve this information and report back to the Alliance, running seamlessly right into the events of Rogue One.
Andor's meeting with Tivik is the next time fans see the character, about 10 minutes into the 2016 film (read more about the Andor-Rogue One connection here).
This backstreet conversation is where Daniel Mays' character offers information on this new Empire superweapon (which he called a "planet killer") before being deemed expendable and killed off by Andor.
The idea of a new Imperial threat had previously been teased by Robert Emms' ISB mole, Lonni, early in Episode 10 during his last conversation with Rebel mastermind Luthen Rael before that was passed to Kleya and then, eventually, Andor; however, details beyond that remain scarce.
Thankfully, Tivik, an informant working on a planet mentioned explicitly in the initial whispers of the superweapon project (which Andor inadvertently had a hand in creating), had a bit more information, revealing that it has the power to destroy an entire world in a single blast.
These new details come from an Imperial defector Saw took prisoner, who came spouting claims of this planet killer—aka another member of the Rogue One cast, Riz Ahmed's Bodhi Rook.
No specific reason is given in Andor Season 2 for why Tivik would talk exclusively to Cassian, but it is likely that Diego Luna's character had groomed the Rebel informant for this specific reason as a key contact working within Saw Gerrara's ranks.
Considering Tivik had been hand-selected by Andor, if he discovered new intel, Andor was always going be the one he went to first.
