Today, the first trailer for the second season of Andor was released, providing us with a much-anticipated glimpse of Cassian Andor’s (Diego Luna) homecoming and a revolt coming to a head. In addition to recognizable characters from the first season, it has some intriguing Star Wars Easter eggs and tiny hints of what we know will be four separate chapters that set the scene year by year for the Cassian we met in Rogue One. Here is what we noticed.

Cassian Andor’s Many Lives

The beginning cuts between multiple images of Cassian’s back and isolated acts of defiance reference the season two framework. We now know that the 12-episode season will be divided into four “chapters,” each consisting of three episodes.

The series was initially supposed to run for five seasons, but according to cinematographer Adriano Goldman, those plans had changed, and it was anticipated to run for three back in 2022. Lucasfilm later announced a 12-episode second season at Star Wars Celebration. According to Tony Gilroy, showrunner, head writer, and executive producer, the original five-season plan was considered “physically impossible” because of the series’ size. Instead, they decided that they could conclude the series with one last season that immediately led to the events of Rogue One.

Each story will leap by approximately a year between 4BBY and 0BBY, ending Andor only a few days before Rogue One starts. Here, those four eras are identified: Cassian in a sleek, elegant disguise on a planet with white buildings and what looks to be a bustling transportation center (which quickly devolves into mayhem; more on that later).

Steve Earle’s song “The Revolution Starts Now” plays. It’s a powerful political statement that aligns with the rebellion’s rise. The lyrics emphasize the rebellion’s struggle against the Empire, making the story more contemporary by connecting Andor to ongoing political conflicts. Andor hopes to reach a larger audience, much like Skeleton Crew did with real-life music.

A darker interior of a cramped, dim hallway appears to correspond with some of the later Saw Gerrera shots (which cut to Cassian again as he casually kills an Imperial guard at a Spartan facility). After that, it cuts to…

Rogue One’s Eve

An agent of the united Rebel Alliance on the verge of a full-scale galactic civil war, Cassian was in the Massassi Temple. This is most likely the show’s last arc, which we know will come to a head a few days before Rogue One and A New Hope begin, apart from the apparent fact that Cassian is on Yavin IV.

How can we know that? He is wearing a portion of his Rogue One costume: the undershirt he wears throughout the film—until the very end—and the jacket we see Cassian wearing in the opening scene when he meets his contract at a station in the Rings of Kafrene.

Plus, he’s carrying an Imperial Code Cylinder in his jacket pocket. Palpatine’s Galactic Empire employed specialized code cylinders to give its officers security clearance codes. These code cylinders could indicate rank in the hierarchy in conjunction with the rank plaques. We’ll soon discover why Andor has it on the Rebel Base at Yavin IV. 

You Wanna Fight or Win?

Cassian snarls over a barrage of gunfire, “We’re in a war. You want to win or fight?” He appears to be juggling both of these; they both seem to stem from the same storyline and are based on previously hinted-at elements: an agri-world with oceans of crops that we witness Stormtroopers shooting at an unidentified person fleeing across.

The last element of this short montage is a prototype TIE Fighter, from which Cassian unloads a salvo of rockets to blow up a vehicle in those previously mentioned crop fields. We can see who Cassian is speaking to because he is wearing an Imperial disguise that we had seen in earlier promotional photos of him.

Although it hasn’t been given a formal name yet, that prototype TIE is considered the standard design for the TIE Avenger. The Expanded Universe’s (EU) version of Darth Vader’s TIE Advance, an experimental prototype that symbolized the possible future of space superiority fighter craft in the Imperial Navy, was first seen in the classic simulation game TIE Fighter in 1994. It was a capable ship-to-ship dogfighter that combined high speed, an enhanced arsenal of blaster and heavy payload armaments, and deflector shielding in one package.

Three Rebellion Faces

The following three images are pretty intriguing. We see Saw Gerrera (Forest Whitaker), who appears to be much more like him in Rogue One than in Andor’s first season. This suggests that we will see Saw again after some significant events in the chronology of season two (more on that later).

The following picture shows Mon Mothma (Genevieve O’Reilly) at a party (more on that later), surrounded by groups of similarly finely dressed dancers. She is wearing a beautiful gown. In the final image, Luthen Rael (Stellan Skarsgård) appears to have returned to his foppish disguise as an antiquities merchant. There is more on that now, as this is the only real shot of him in the trailer.

Luthen was a significant character in season one, but that’s not the only reason this is fascinating. However, he is also the character about whom we know the least in this context. The original trilogy tells us where Mon Mothma winds up. Like Cassian, we understand where Saw ends up, for better or worse. Although Luthen is a free radical in many respects, observing what he does to help the Alliance become known as a political and revolutionary organization will be fascinating. Andor isn’t giving us many hints at the moment.

There’s Gonna be a Revolution

Cool people don’t look at explosions. Tropes aside, however, this is intriguing proof that Bix Caleen (Adria Arjona) would eventually work directly with Cassian due to his rebellious activities. He saved her from Imperial interrogation at the end of season one, and she and Brasso (Joplin Sibtain)—who we also see in this trailer later—were taken away from Ferrix. However, season two will show us how she is transformed into a rebel agent.

This teaser makes it clear that Bix Caleen is prepared to fight following her imprisonment and suffering at the hands of the Empire in Season 1. In the backdrop, we see her and Cassian detonating explosives in a building (presumably an Imperial facility). Still, we also see her earlier in the video, sprinting and using a blaster to murder an Imperial officer. She is wearing the same cloak in both pictures.

What a Swell Party This is

We get some gratifyingly arrogant glimpses of Andor’s most prominent “cameo” so far, Ben Mendelsohn’s reappearance as Orson Krennic, to remind us of where this is all finally going again. Although it is apparent from past indications that Krennic and Dedra will clash this season, we will also undoubtedly witness some of the early phases of Krennic’s work on the Death Star, which is far closer to operational than at the end of season one.

It’s missing the cylindrical super laser being installed in Rogue One. 

“What a swell party this is,” we hear Krennic say, over an image of him gazing lovingly at his pet project, the Death Star.

That’s taken from the Cole Porter song “Well Did You Evah,” most famously performed by Bing Crosby and Frank Sinatra in the 1956 movie High Society. The song is a satire of two drunk, gossiping party guests who treat even the potential destruction of Earth lightly and repeatedly return to the scene around them with the same line: What a swell party this is!

Partisan War

With a corpse in the foreground and X-Wings and another spacecraft in the distance, the following image has a somber viewpoint. That ship enters hyperspace a little later in another image. Although it’s difficult to tell precisely what it is, it looks like the YV-865 Aurore-class freighter, which was initially used by the Zygerrian empire in Clone Wars.

The critical thing to remember is that the X-Wings are wearing the recognizable black-and-white uniform of Saw Gerrera’s guerilla group, the “Partisans.” Given that Saw was having trouble obtaining supplies and required persuasion to collaborate on operations with other disjointed rebel cells when we first met him in the first season of Andor, it appears that the Partisan front will be much more easily established by the time we meet him in season two. Presumably, the Partisan front will also have primarily separated from the larger Rebel Alliance as it pursued its own, more aggressive route to resistance against the Empire.

Before a Massacre

Throughout this trailer, Cassian, the port city, is frequently shown to descend into complete pandemonium eventually. There is total carnage, bodies all over the place, and stormtroopers firing randomly. The Ghorman Massacre, a pivotal event in the Rebellion’s history, may be shown on screen for the first time because of the date of Andor’s second season and perhaps some possible teases from the first.

Following years of conflict over Imperial control of transportation lanes worldwide, the Ghorman Massacre occurred in 2BBY, when Imperial soldiers massacred groups of civilians participating in nonviolent protest on the planet Ghorman. As demonstrated in Rebels’ third season, the slaughter led to Mon Mothma’s public resignation from the Imperial Senate and the official founding of the Alliance to Restore the Republic, which publicly brought together several rebel cells throughout the galaxy in an organized uprising against the Empire.

Kleya’s Fury

Even though Luthen doesn’t appear in this trailer often, this fascinating image of his coworker and assistant, Kleya Marki (Elizabeth Dulau), may help us understand his ultimate destiny. Something terrible happened because she appeared so unhappy and angry when she saw Cassian.

Hooray Brasso!

Even though he is severely beaten here, we are eager to watch a fight between four Stormtroopers and one Brasso (Joplin Sibtain). Unfortunately, he has no brick to bash them up with this time. Due to the agricultural setting, Brasso appears to be situated on whatever planet Cassian utilizes the TIE Avenger.

After the disturbances on Ferrix, is this the universe Cassian sent him and Bix to? Is it possible that Wilmon Paak, the child of the Ferrix salvage shop owner, is the young person being pursued by troopers earlier in the trailer?

Cinta Starts an Explosion

Cassian and Bix aren’t the only ones blowing things up! The shadowy blur in the trailer is, in fact, Cinta Kaz (Varada Sethu), a former member of the Aldhani heist crew. Having lost her whole family to the Empire, she’s committed to the fight — but where’s her girlfriend (and Mon Mothma’s cousin), Vel Sartha (Faye Marsay)?

Cassian and Bix Reunion

Cassian and Bix seem to reunite on the same planet where Brasso is arrested; this would seem to be a prelude to their dramatic outing earlier in the movie. It’s evident that Bix escapes the planet without incident, but what happens to Cassian’s devoted robot, B2EM0, Wilmon (Muhannad Bhaier), and Jezzi (Pamela Nomvete) is unclear.

Almost a Soldier, Almost a Trooper

This intriguing scene is similar to the narrow passageway Cassian was seen walking through in the first montage of shots. Still, it is viewed from a completely different angle: Imperial soldiers, who are dressed in an intriguing combination of Imperial army uniforms (such as those on Aldhani and the riot officers sent to Ferrix) and the white plastoid armor plating of Stormtroopers.

We also see similarly clothed soldiers in the background of another shot shortly; are they a sort of transitional force between the Stormtrooper Corps and the regular troops of the Imperial ground army? This doesn’t seem to be a spontaneous get-up out of necessity. It’s noteworthy that, while being very few in Andor season one, Stormtroopers are far more common in all of this footage, demonstrating how the Imperial response to the insurgency will intensify over time.

One fun Easter egg is that one of the troops is wearing a set of goggles that Luke wore on Hoth.

Dedra’s Back and Extremely Angry

As long as we’re talking about the other shot. Another of these hybrid troopers may be seen meandering about in the background of another well-known face that we have only seen once before: Dedra Meero’s (Denise Gough) homecoming.

Something has irritated her in typical Dedra fashion. Is Cassian slipping from her grasp? Is Krennic irritating her? Is Syril feeling okay? We will need to wait and find out.

Krennic’s Intriguing Friends

Speaking of the talented filmmaker, the fascinating thing about this following shot of him in a somewhat fancier outfit is not so much him as it is the person in the hazy background. Later in the video, we’ll get a much better look, though no less quick. This seems like Davos Sculden (Richard Dillane) in the blue robes, the shady Chandrilan mobster Mon Mothma has to deal with to find covert means to transfer funds to the Rebellion.

The ISB officers behind Krennic are also fascinating; one of them is Lagret (Michael Jenn), an ISB captain frequently featured in the boardroom scenes throughout Season 1.

On the left side of the picture, Mon appears to be herself, resembling her roles from Rogue One and Return of the Jedi.

Greetings from Chandrila

A few pictures of Mon Mothma wildly dancing at the party we saw her at early in the trailer follow a brief scene of the TIE Avenger wreaking havoc in an Imperial facility (presumably at Cassian’s hands) as it shoots down a group of Stormtroopers. The clothing fits the style we frequently saw Mon and Perrin drape themselves in throughout season one. Thus, this may be our first glimpse of her homeworld, Chandrila, on TV. Could we travel the world to witness the customs leading to the marriage of Sculden’s son, Stekan (Finley Glasgow), and Mon’s daughter, Leida Mothma (Bronte Carmichael)?

The Revolution Will Be Televised

Speaking of Sculden and Mon, we appear to be back on Coruscant at this point, and the event that Krennic is seen at gives us a better view of Sculden greeting Mon and Perrin. It is also evident that Mon has undergone some physical alteration compared to what we just saw on her homeworld. It appears that Mon will wear the pixie cut from Rogue One for the duration of the Galactic Civil War, and this is the first time it has appeared. Fashion icon!

K2 is Back!

Yes, Cassian’s former Imperial droid best friend is back! We knew he was coming this season and quickly saw him at our first public preview of season two a few months ago. This season, we should expect to see how Cassian and K-2SO (Alan Tudyk) worked together; I’m sure there won’t be any trauma related to Cassian’s violent arrest of Niamos at the hands of another KX security droid.

And Syril (Ugh)

Our first and only glimpse of Syril Karn (Kyle Soller) in this trailer is appropriately dweeby, as he arrogantly scuttles through a gathering of Imperial technicians. He is another one-shot wonder. Since rescuing Dedra from Ferrix, he has risen in the world. But given his formal clothing and the setting, which hints at a port city that might be Ghorman based on the other images in the teaser, we question if he would have genuinely wanted to. Is that where everyone’s least favorite little freak will meet his premature demise?

Melshi Joins the Rebellion

Another brief glimpse, another familiar face: this time, it’s Rogue One‘s Ruescott Melshi (Duncan Pow), who we saw liberated from Narkina Five thanks to Cassian’s help last season. Although we last saw him and Cassian parting ways on Niamos after they’d managed to flee the Imperial prison, it seems Melshi’s still going to be caught up in chaos here—makes sense, considering that, like Cassian, we know he’s going to be signing up for the Rebellion.

You’re Ready to Fight!

Another quick montage of action scenes marks the trailer’s climax, featuring more of the TIE Avenger going insane, the mayhem on Maybe-Ghorman, and Cassian being flung around. At the same time, he collides with walls and tumbles over surfaces, and Bix engages in hand-to-hand combat with an Imperial commander. There’s even a picture of Syril’s mother, Eedy, the most chaotic force of all!

However, Saw speaks briefly as the trailer ends, shaking an inspirational sense that seems to be one of his partisans. “You’re here, right here, and you’re ready to fight!” This teaser indicates that Saw’s journey this season will occur after he has severed chiefly his links with the larger Rebel Alliance, a moment we witnessed come together in Rebels. It will be intriguing to observe how Saw convinces his troops that his approach is the best, particularly in light of the awful outcome for the partisans caused by Rogue One.

The three-episode launch of Andor Season 2 will air on Disney+ on Tuesday, April 22.

What do you think of the trailer for Andor? Are you looking forward to season 2? Let us know in the comments below!