Andor might not have any Jedi Knight characters, but the Force is strong with the new season of the Star Wars prequel series nonetheless.
The acclaimed Tony Gilroy drama’s second season — which continues the story of Rebel Alliance fighter Cassian Andor (Diego Luna) — has the best critics score on Rotten Tomatoes of any live-action Star Wars TV show — or movie. Andor season two, which premieres tonight, currently has a 98 percent positive rating.
The new season edged out the previous top-rated title which was … Andor season one (96 percent).
Next comes the agreed-upon favorite of all Star Wars films, The Empire Strikes Back, which has 95 percent positive rating. (In case you’re wondering who actually gave a bad review to Empire, the few negative reviews seem to come from archival reviews published when the film was first released in 1980, with critics grousing that the Star Wars sequel is “too dark,” “confusing,” and, according to The New York Times, “bland“).
The worst-reviewed live-action Star Wars title is 2019’s Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker with only 51 percent — lower than even 2018’s Solo: A Star Wars Story (69 percent) and 2002’s Attack of the Clones (61 percent), which is a bit surprising.
In terms of Andor, Disney+ gave the entire new season to critics in advance, so its score reflects the whole 12-episode run. For its other live action Star Wars titles, the studio often only sends a few episodes to critics before the show’s premiere — Disney+ sent three episodes of last year’s Skeleton Crew (92 percent positive) in advance and four for The Acolyte (78 percent positive).
Providing partial seasons is the most common studio strategy for sending screeners to critics in general, so it’s hardly considered a conspiratorial move. But if a show takes a creative nosedive midway through its season, it’s RT score remains elevated unless critics go through the task of re-reviewing a show, which seldom happens. So sending a full season is typically considered a sign of confidence — or a sign that a season has a rather slow start and its second half is stronger (in case of Andor season two, critics agree, both of these things are true). The Hollywood Reporter‘s review called Andor season two “a devastating testament to the power of storytelling, both within the Star Wars reality and our own,” though noted it has a rather slow start.
Rotten Tomatoes scores can and do change, of course, particularly from a score this early (the review embargo ended yesterday morning). As the show rolls out, critics who didn’t receive episodes in advance will begin to chime in too. So it will be interesting to see if the score holds up.
Speaking of re-reviewing, one wonders if 2016’s Rogue One: A Star Wars story (84 percent), will be re-assessed following the release of Andor season two, which leads right into the movie’s introduction of Luna’s character. Rogue One will become, essentially, the Andor series finale (having personally screened all of Andor season two and then immediately re-watched Rogue One, my take is, yes, the show does make the film better, even if all the story details don’t quite line up — just like all the story details don’t quite line up between Rogue One and A New Hope).
All that said, there are Star Wars titles as well reviewed as Andor on the animated side, though those tend to garner fewer reviews from mainstream publications. Both 2014’s Star Wars Rebels and 2021’s Star Wars Visions, for example, have 98 percent positive scores.
Andor premieres Tuesday at 6 p.m. PST with the first three episodes. Another three episodes will be released in each subsequent week.
