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Viewed: Season 1

Despite practically nobody wanting this series, or asking for it, or even looking forward to it, Andor is arguably the best thing to emerge from the Disney Star Wars era. This is resolutely a Star Wars show for adults, more concerned with espionage and intricate politics than nostalgia or colourful action sequences. Masterminded by Tony Gilroy (who oversaw the reshoots for Rogue One), this is a rock-solid and frequently engrossing television series that once again reinvents what a Star Wars product can be. Moving away from the virtual reality stage used for previous Star Wars shows on Disney+, Andor was shot on location and on beautifully vast sets, which gives it a unique visual aesthetic that's further spiced up by the polished cinematography which does not look like classical Star Wars. The production design is equally unique, with sets looking more like Terry Gilliam's Brazil, and it's fascinating to see another side to the Empire and the Resistance. There are action sequences, of course, and they are spectacular; brutal, memorable and beautifully staged. It doesn't carry the appearance of a television show; it's clear that everyone involved strived to make something cinema-quality, and the effort paid off. It's arguably too good to be relegated to Disney+. Perhaps most miraculously of all is that the show is free of agenda. Whereas the Obi-Wan Kenobi show was mired in its feminist overtones, Andor's diversity is not forced or in your face; the ensemble feels organic to the story. It doesn't need to put men down to raise women, or satisfy diversity quotas - the show is diverse without shoving an agenda in our faces, and that's precisely what we need in contemporary cinema (and TV). Admittedly, it is slow-moving and drawn-out, sometimes painfully so, and these pacing issues do reoccur in most episodes, but the show gets far more right than wrong. Andor was originally designed as a five-season show that recounts a year in Andor's life leading up to Rogue One, but the cost was deemed too prohibitive, and the show will only last two seasons instead. Although it's a shame that we won't see everything that the writers had planned, it does mean that there will likely be less filler and the storytelling will be more proficient in the upcoming second season, which I can't wait to watch.