Star Wars retconned Rogue One's opening scene with the release of Andor Season 2's acclaimed finale. Tony Gilroy's take on the sci-fi universe ended about nine years after it started, as he finished recounting the story of Cassian Andor (played by Diego Luna) becoming the man who would go on to help steal the Death Star plans.
The Andor Season 2 finale retconned the Andor's introduction in Rogue One nine years after release. The end of the beloved Disney+ series saw Deigo Luna's Rebel captain embark on a mission that will change the course of the war against the Empire, picking up where fans find the character at the beginning of Gilroy's 2016 Star Wars film.
However, now that audiences know what happened right before that faithful Rogue One introduction, eyebrows have been raised over how Andor's finale does not align with how fans find Cassian at the beginning of the Gareth Evans-directed blockbuster.
Fans will remember that Cassian Andor's first scene in Rogue One sees him on the bustling Ring of Kafrene, where he is to meet Tivik, a contact working within the Rebel terrorist Saw Gerrarra's ranks.
The Andor finale does a good enough job of setting this part of the story up, with Tivik calling the Rebel Base on Yavin 4 and asking for Andor (read more about Andor's Tivik reveal here). The Rebel informant claims to have some information that may be valuable to both Andor and the Alliance, so Cassian goes, leaving the series as he hops in his ship with his droid partner K-2SO to meet Tivik on Kafrene.
But it is on Kafrene where some wires start to cross for fans. When Andor meets Tivik on the deep-space trading post, Andor's mole tells him of a "planet killer" that the Empire is working on (aka the Death Star), and Andor reacts as if he has never heard of such a thing.
What fans now know, though, is that is not the case. Andor Season 2's last arc is all about the Rebels finding out about plans for an Imperial superweapon and whether they believe it or not.
This superweapon revelation was actually discovered by Lonni, a Rebel mole working within the ISB. Lonni (played by Robert Emms) disseminates this information to Stellan Skarsgård's Luthen Rael, who tells his assistant Kleya, who then passes that info on to Cassian Andor.
So, if Andor already knew of the Empire's superweapon, why would he be so surprised when Tivik mentions the project at the beginning of Rogue One? This revelation causes a massive continuity error between Andor and Rogue One if unexplained.
Andor Seasons 1 and 2 are now streaming on Disney+, telling the story of Diego Luna's Cassian Andor before fans find him in Star Wars: Rogue One, as he goes from downtrodden smuggler to hero of the Rebellions.
The series, created by Rogue One co-writer Tony Gilroy, has been critically acclaimed, with fans and critics praising its gritty take on the Star Wars universe and multi-dimensional character work.
Did Tony Gilroy Retcon Rogue One?
At a passing glance, it may seem as though Andor's series finale actively contradicted Rogue One's introduction of Diego Luna's Cassian Andor character, retconning the 2016 Star Wars movie; however, that may not ultimately be the case.
Even though Andor knows about the superweapon project when he meets with Tivik, that does not mean he knows its full extent. He could also be playing dumb to get as much information out of his informant as he can before he ultimately kills him for his efforts.
Cassian Andor is a smart guy and knows how to play the game of espionage better than almost anyone else in the Rebellion (aside from maybe Luthen Rael).
That means that even if he knew everything there was to know about the Death Star coming into his meeting on Kafrene, he was still going to play as if he did not, seeing just how much information Tivik actually had and comparing it to his own knowledge of the project.
During this Rogue One conversation between Andor and his contact, the only meaningful info he gets out of it is that "planet killer" note, learning just how dire things are looking if the Rebel Alliance does not act quickly and stop the Empire in their tracks.
If anything, Andor likely took that meeting to confirm his suspicions about the project and use that information to convince any doubters on the Rebel Council (of which Mon Mothma is a member) that this threat needs to be taken seriously.
So yes, while on the outside, Andor's knowledge of the Death Star before Rogue One may not look like an incongruity among the Star Wars canon (of which there are many), it is more than likely an intentional ploy used by the Rebel spy to squeeze Tivik for every bit of intel he is worth, add to his own knowledge base, and off the informant entirely.
