Full spoilers immediately follow for Andor, up to and including season 2 episode 8.
If Andor‘s season 1 finale was the crowd-pleasing, hope-inspiring event that fully lit the fire of the nascent Rebel Alliance, this season’s eighth chapter is the one that feels like it could’ve extinguished it.
Episode 8 of Andor season 2 is arguably the series’ most difficult chapter to watch – but not because it’s bad. Quite the opposite, in fact. A near-60-minute chapter that puts viewers uncomfortably close to its drama and action, this season’s eighth entry will live long in the memory for its emotionally devastating impact.
Ahead of the show’s live-action take on the Ghorman Massacre, aka one of the most tragic events in Star Wars history, I sat down with several members of Andor‘s season 2 cast to discuss the series’ most harrowing event. By all accounts, it seems they were similarly taken aback by what occurred.
“What goes down in season two is really full on,” says Ben Mendelsohn, who returned to play Star Wars villain Orson Krennic, aka the man responsible for overseeing the Death Star’s creation in this series and its sequel film Rogue One. “This is the only time I’ve watched a Star Wars project and thought ‘oh wow, the Empire really… F– the Empire’, you know? I’ve watched the Death Star blow up planets before, but this is something else.”
He’s not wrong. Prior to season 2’s development, the Ghorman Massacre was the name given to two separate events: one that occurred 18 years before the Battle of Yavin (18 BBY) and another in 2 BBY.
Historically, though, these events have been shrouded in mystery. Save for the odd clue here and there, various Star Wars literary works have danced around both incidents, so fans have been none the wiser about what really transpired.
Thanks to Andor, aka one of the best Disney+ shows, both events are now officially canon on the Star Wars timeline. As confirmed in season 2 act 2 (aka episodes 4 to 6), the earlier incident in 18 BBY is now simply known as the Moff Tarkin Massacre. This event, which is brutal in its own way, saw the Governor of Eriadu land his ship on a crowd of peaceful Ghorman protestors, killing hundreds of them in the process.
The Ghorman Massacre, i.e. the soul-destroying event that occurs in 2 BBY, is far worse, with episode 8 of Andor‘s second and final season capturing it in all of its harrowing detail. Indeed, countless people – Ghorman rebels and Empire employees alike – lose their lives when a fierce plaza- and street-based battle erupts in the capital city of Palmo.
Following their successful raid – one which costs Rebel Alliance fighter Cinta her life – on an Empire arms shipment in season 2 episode 6, Ghorman’s band of freedom fighters are now armed to the teeth. While their next protest of the Empire’s presence on Ghorman will be peaceful, they have the means to defend themselves if the Empire uses lethal force to break up the public gathering.
For many present in and around Palmo’s plaza, that’s exactly what the Empire does. When the galaxy’s autocratic rulers open fire on their own forces – a move made to look like the Ghor shot first – the Empire’s soldiers fire back. Long story short, a disastrous firefight breaks out, with both sides suffering huge casualties.
Such a battle would be distressing enough to watch, but what makes it even more impactful is the fact that characters we’ve watched (and come to know) since Andor season 1 premiered in August 2022, including Cassian Andor and Syril Karn, get caught up in the life-threatening action. Not only that, but director Janus Metz, cinematographer Mark Patten, and the camera crew bring viewers so close to the action that it makes it feel like we’re amongst the unfolding chaos.
“As a viewer, you don’t know what you’re getting involved with,” Diego Luna, who plays the titular character, tells me. “You don’t understand until you’re there in the plaza alongside these characters, and I think that’s very smart writing on [showrunner] Tony Gilroy’s part, and the part of our camera operators.”
There are plenty of huge moments that play out once the first shot has been fired, too. The deaths of supporting characters, especially those involved in the Ghorman resistance, plus the panic and fear that take over individuals like Cassian, Syril, and Wilmon (Muhannad Bhaier) as they desperately try to survive, are felt most keenly.
Then there’s the addition of the Empire’s KX security droids, who are introduced to crush the remaining Ghor separatists. That leads to the long overdue inclusion of K-2SO, Cassian’s android bestie in Rogue One. At this point on the timeline, though, he’s not the wisecracking reprogrammed droid Cassian can rely on. Instead, he’s the droid that hunts down Cassian and Wilmon, who are only saved by a member of the Ghorman resistance when he rams one of Empire’s troop-deploying speeders into the droid that’ll become known as K-2SO.
Before that occurs, one of the Disney+ series’ latest chapters gives us something that, I imagine, many viewers didn’t expect: a fatal showdown between Cassian and Syril.
It’s a moment 20 episodes in the making. Syril spent almost the entirety of last season hunting Cassian, but ultimately failed to find and arrest the man Syril considered public enemy number one. After keeping them apart for so long, it’s a serendipitous moment that the pair are not only present on Ghorman when the massacre begins, but also inadvertently cross paths amid the conflict.
Unsurprisingly (to viewers, but not Cassian, who has no idea who Syril is), a one-on-one skirmish ensues. It’s a frantic duel, too, with both parties using any means necessary to get the upper hand.
Eventually, Syril does so but, as he prepares to use Cassian’s own blaster to kill him, Syril, arguably the show’s most complex character, pauses. It proves to be a fatal error as, moments later, Ghorman resistance leader Carro Rylanz, who’s snuck up on the duo, shoots Syril in the head.
“Every character has a soul and a reason to do what they’re doing,” Luna muses. “So, you understand Cassian and Syril, and see where both sides are coming from.
“But, during a revolution, when you see people on opposing sides fighting for what they believe in, you realize that they’re both bringing a life into the equation. It poses a very interesting dilemma because it’s not as black and white as rooting for the guy on the left or the right. You might have wanted to see one kill the other beforehand, but in the moment, I think you want both of them to make it out alive.”
For Soller, Syril’s demise brings an end to his time on Andor, so viewers won’t see him in the final three episodes of one of 2025’s new Star Wars shows. Nonetheless, Soller thinks episode 8 is an absorbing albeit shocking way for Syril to bow out for many reasons.
“Syril’s on the ground [in Ghorman] for so long by this point,” Soller says. “He’s been mixing in with these people and getting to understand them.
“I think cracks were starting to form in his armor after he infiltrates the Gorman front and witnesses first-hand what the Empire is doing,” Soller continues, “And chinks are also already forming between him and Dedra, because he’s been noticing that something isn’t quite right. He’s feeling like she’s never really trusted him, so there’s always this suspicion that things aren’t quite what they seem.
“Having that ultimate betrayal [where Dedra comes clean to Syril ahead of the Palmo riot about the Empire’s true motivations on Ghorman] before he goes out and mixes into the melee, his whole world comes crashing down. So, when he spots Cassian, it’s like having these back-to-back revelations happen.
For real change to happen, a lot of pain is involved
Diego Luna
“This guy [Cassian] that Syril has blamed for his life going badly is right there, so all of the frustration and anger, from his mother to his job, is poured into Cassian. Their confrontation doesn’t go well for Syril, but it’s like he’s just crying out for help by attacking Cassian. He throws himself into the fire without any concerns about what will happen to him, and it winds up costing him his life.”
“The sad thing is that, no matter who wins, it’s what revolutions are – they bring loss,” Luna adds. “That’s the beautiful thing about Tony’s writing. This episode shows you what a rebellion is and what people are willing to risk for it. For real change to happen, a lot of pain is involved, and episode eight proves it.”
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tom.power@futurenet.com (Tom Power)
