Andors Blade Runner influence: Space opera to dystopic neo-noir, Star Wars shifts genre gears

Andor, the latest Star Wars series, has met with warm reception from both fans and critics after its first three episodes were released on September 21. The latest addition to the ever-expanding Star Wars universe has marked a distinct shift from the usual space opera-esque qualities we tend to associate with the franchise.

Andor is a far more gritty and humane portrait of how life really is for the commonest of creatures in the intergalactic society where these characters exist. Never before has the franchise so deeply delved into nuances of the lives of the most ordinary people in its universe.

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The series begins with Cassian Andor searching for his sister in a brothel of Morlana, an industrial planet ruled by the Preox-Morlana (Pre-Mor) Authority, a corporate entity that has the backing of the Galactic Empire. He invites the wrath of two guards working for Pre-Mor, who confront him in an alley outside the brothel and end up getting killed by Andor. 

The lead character, masterfully portrayed by Diego Luna, has similarities with the character Rick Deckard from Ridley Scott’s Blade Runner. The murky and desolate atmosphere, along with cyberpunk influences, can also be interpreted as a nod to the Blade Runner universe, where despite the advancement of technology, humans are still facing existential concerns. Just like Deckard, Andor here is an agent of resistance, who despite facing insurmountable odds, has decided, as Dylan Thomas puts it, to “rage against the dying of the light”.

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Despite its advanced technology and easy interplanetary travel, the citizens of Morlana, or of Ferrix, another planet operated by Pre-Mor, do not seem well off by any stretch of the imagination. They pick up scrap, refurbish old and used electronic material, and work like any other factory worker we are used to seeing around us.

These planets are also reminiscent of the so-called company towns we have seen so many times in western movies. The shops, pubs, and markets that grew around such towns run by major companies were intended to host the workers who toiled in their factories. The situation is quite similar in Ferrix and Morlana.

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Andor here is not any space pirate or a larger-than-life Jedi. He lost his parents at an early age, was adopted by Marvaa, and brought to a new planet where people speak English, a language he was not used to in his home planet of Kenari. He shares complex relationships with both his adoptive mother and best friend/confidante, Bix Caleen. He has more in common with Deckard or Blade Runner 2049’s K (Ryan Gosling) than with Luke Skywalker or Han Solo.