“Andor” was already the best “Star Wars” thing in decades when season 2 debuted, but Tony Gilroy’s timely political thriller shines the brightest while focusing on the Ghorman storyline in its latest installment. The show not only offers a poignant exploration of politics in the face of fascism, but also of the mundanity of evil and how people become radicalized. In the Ghorman subplot, however, we see the full condensed story of the rise of a larger resistance against the Empire. While we’ve previously seen rebellions like the one on Ferrix in season 1, we haven’t seen the formation of an organized revolution like the one on Ghorman — until now.
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What makes this so tragic is that we already know the Ghorman Resistance will fail, because it is, quite literally, orchestrated by the Empire, courtesy of your favorite evil “Star Wars” power couple. It doesn’t matter how passionate the Ghormans are or how well-organized they are; they already have Syril Karn (Kyle Soller) right there with them, waiting to shut them down for good.
Part of what makes this storyline so poignant and well-executed is how real it feels. Though “Andor” is already a very grounded show that often feels like it takes place in a version of our reality (one with TIE Fighters and X-wings), the Ghorman storyline is very much the “Star Wars” version of the French Resistance. This extends from the look of the Ghorman planet (which already takes inspiration from northern Italy and France) to much of the costuming on Ghorman (which was influenced by real-life French fashion) — and, of course, the Ghorman language.
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If you felt the speeches given during the Ghorman Resistance meeting in “Andor” season 2, episode 4 (titled “Ever Been to Ghorman?”) sounded familiar, you’re not far off. Speaking in an “Andor: Declassified” featurette on Disney+, showrunner Tony Gilroy talked about his approach to crafting Ghorman, which included hiring French actors to portray most of the planet’s residents (even if the leader of the Ghormans, Carro Rylanz, is played by German actor Richard Sammel) and being inspired by the French Resistance. As Gilroy noted, the French Resistance “is one that we’re completely sympathetic with to begin with.”
