Andor Season 2, Episodes 10-12 “Make It Stop,” “Who Else Knows?” and “Jedha, Kyber, Erso” Spoilers Ahead
After twelve episodes, the second season (and by extension, the series) of Andor has officially drawn to a close. The tenth, eleventh, and twelfth episodes — “Make It Stop,” “Who Else Knows?” and “Jedha, Kyber, Erso” — reveal how the Rebellion was informed about the Empire’s superweapon in the first place. Thanks to years of sacrifices from brave Rebel spies here in Andor, Luke Skywalker will soon blow up the Death Star, and peace will be restored to the galaxy.
With only two seasons, Andor successfully told a story that is as relevant as it is gripping. Tony Gilroy, Diego Luna, the cast, the writers, and the entire crew deserve a standing ovation for sticking the landing and raising the bar for Star Wars forever.
Luthen Rael Burns His Life For a Sunrise He’ll Never See
In Andor Season 2, Episode 10, “Make It Stop,” Lonni delivers information about Krennic’s superweapon he’s been building for years. Realizing how valuable this is and the limited time he has to act, Luthen kills Lonni and destroys his comms center at his shop, the last loose ends to cut off. Most importantly, he tells Kleya everything Lonni told him, trusting that she is the only person he can trust to get this information to the people who need it most before Dedra Meero comes knocking. (We’ll come back to Luthen and Kleya soon, I promise!)
I never thought I’d see Dedra and Luthen face off before the series concluded. Sure, Dedra had spent much of her time in Season 1 trying to discover who this mysterious Axis person was; I just didn’t think I’d see Denise Gough and Stellan Skarsgård share the screen together. I’m so glad I was wrong because watching the two of them face off was riveting. They represent the two sides of the fight: freedom versus order. Both have bent the rules and made questionable choices for the sake of their sides. The Rebellion has spread out throughout the whole galaxy, waiting to disgust Dedra’s views on order from chaos. Dedra thinks she finally captured Axis, her years of bending rules in order to prove her worth. She fails to calculate that Luthen might have one more trick up his sleeve. He takes matters into his own hands and stabs himself before Dedra has the chance to get any information out of him.
Years ago, Luthen told Lonni that he shared his dream of freedom with ghosts. He had concluded decades ago that there’s only one conclusion to the equation he’s created; he knew that he chose a death sentence for himself by joining the fight for freedom. The galaxy owes a debt of gratitude to Luthen Rael. If Andor Season 2, Episodes 10-12 has shown audiences anything, it’s that he lived and died for the Rebellion to spread outside of his shop in Coruscant. He sacrificed decency for the galaxy’s future.
Luthen was a complex man who made cruel decisions for the sake of freedom. Yet without him and his intricate web of communication across the galaxy, the Rebels wouldn’t have known the name Galen Erso. Even further, without Luthen, there would be no Cassian Andor in Rogue One.
Kleya Marki Is Luthen’s Legacy
Luthen didn’t die without an ace up his sleeve, a guarantee that the information would leave Coruscant and land in the right hands. Before he returns to his shop to face the end of his path, Luthen entrusts Kleya with the information about the Empire’s superweapon. Up until Andor Season 2, Episode 10, “Make It Stop,” the nature of Luthen and Kleya’s relationship remained a mystery. Who was his assistant who practically ran all the communications out of his shop while he was gone? Why was Kleya so loyal to him when many eventually rejected him? Thanks to this episode and its specific focus on Luthen and Kleya (featuring zero scenes of Cassian), we now know how deep their relationship ran.
Years ago, Luthen found Kleya alone, hiding in a vent while fighting raged on around them. He took her in, and together they used each other to survive. Before Luthen set off explosions on Naboo in a flashback, he admitted that he was afraid of what his influence and teaching were doing to her. Kleya could never have a normal life while she was with Luthen. However, the culmination of everything he taught her comes together in the aftermath of Luthen’s capture. Kleya maneuvers her way through the Imperial hospital, where he’s being kept with ease. She takes out Stormtroopers and guards without detection. Kleya finds Luthen and does exactly what he would’ve done… she mercy kills him to keep the Rebellion alive. Elizabeth Dulau is remarkable in this scene as she kisses Luthen’s face with a single tear escaping her eye.
Even though he was afraid of the influence he had on her, Kleya is the reason why Cassian knows the name Erso. Like her adoptive father, Kleya lives and breathes the Rebellion. She kept the Rebellion afloat for nearly 5 years (that we know of) thanks to her organized communications system, one that she uses to reach the Rebellion for someone to find her at the Coruscant safehouse Cassian once called home. Kleya is the one who will remind the Rebel leaders on Yavin that they wouldn’t be there without Luthen. He didn’t swallow his pride; he passed along everything he knew to the girl he found years ago. Kleya wasn’t just his assistant — Kleya was Luthen’s daughter and his legacy. Their relationship joins the legacy of other orphaned girls adopted by Rebel leaders in Star Wars, like Saw Gerrera and Jyn Erso and Bail Organa, and Princess Leia. Luthen burned his life for a sunrise that Kleya had the chance to see.
Who Lives, Who Dies, Who Tells Your Story?
Before we wrap up Andor, let’s take time to remember the fallen and see where the survivors landed. First, let’s remember Lonni. Luthen kills him after he gives him the information about Krennic’s superweapon. As a spy within the ISB for years, Lonni was under deep cover for so long, sacrificing a life with his family so they could be safe somewhere far away from Coruscant. From his conversation with Luthen back in Andor Season 1, Lonni seemed like the weakest link in Luthen’s web of spies. Yet, when it mattered most, Lonni held out long enough to find the answers the Rebellion didn’t know they were looking for. Princess Leia will never know his name, but he was the first to die for the invaluable Death Star information in “Make It Stop.”
Speaking of the Death Star, it’s finally said for the first time in Season 2, Episode 11, “Who Else Knows?” by Dedra as she’s being interrogated by Krennic. Because she jumped ahead to apprehend Luthen and failed to keep him conscious for questioning, Dedra is arrested. She was once used to being rewarded for overstepping because she usually got results. Her missteps on Ferrix didn’t keep her from her Ghorman assignment. However, now, her luck has run out because there’s too much at stake. Ben Mendelsohn and Denise Gough are incredible in this interrogation scene — Krennic’s cold, menacing questioning while the fear begins to settle in Dedra that there’s no bouncing back from this. She had two years of files on Jedha that she failed to report, making her a liability since Lonni was able to access them the night before.
Dedra is sent off to an Imperial prison like Narkina 5, where Cassian was sent off to unknowingly work on parts for the Death Star. While it could’ve been satisfying to find out Dedra ended up on the Death Star before Luke blew it up, this fate is more deserving. Dedra has to live with the damage she caused in a system she helped sustain. The despair on her face as the lights go out in the prison says it all — Dedra’s shame is going to eat her alive for the rest of her life.
Andor Season 2, Episodes 10-12 remind viewers that in the Rebellion, there usually isn’t time to remember the fallen, and the ones who came before that kept the fight alive. Yet, in the series finale “Jedha, Kyber, Erso,” we have a brief moment of this between Vel and Cassian. These two have seen so much in the years since Aldhani, as they were both shaped by Luthen recruiting them as part of his network of eyes and ears around the galaxy.
They’ve also both lost the women they loved to the Rebellion. In what is their last scene together, Cassian and Vel toast the fallen that history won’t remember — Gorn, Taramyn, Nemik, Cinta, Ferrix, the Ghormans, Maarva, and the Dhanis. In fact, Nemik’s manifesto from Season 1 still lives on, as it’s played by Partagaz back at the ISB. It’s the last thing he listens to as the dread and despair of the fruitless nature of his work settle in, which leads him to end his life with his own blaster. Nemik didn’t pull the trigger, but his words from years ago cut Partagaz deep enough that he might as well have shot him. These fallen Rebels’ impact outlived them and helped bring down their oppressors.
The Ending of Cassian Andor’s Story Is Only the Beginning
It comes to this. We have come to the end of Andor, and I can think of no better person to end this review with than Cassian Andor himself. In the final two episodes of the series, he honors the past by returning to Coruscant one more time to find Kleya and learn of Luthen’s demise. He defies Rebellion protocol to go back and bring back Kleya and the valuable information she holds. With Mon Mothma in his corner and a spy who’s only willing to speak to him, Cassian is given the orders to go to Kafrene with K-2SO accompanying him. Kafrene. All roads have led to Kafrene. Cassian’s fight began on Kenari, and with Kafrene, his fight is close to its conclusion. From Kafrene, he will travel to Wobani to free Jyn Erso, Jedha to find Saw Gerrera, Eadu to kill Galen Erso (but doesn’t), and Scarif to send a message that will light the Empire on fire.
Before he leaves for Kafrene, Vel tells Cassian that he should reach out to Bix before it’s too late. No day is a guarantee when fighting in the Rebellion. Although he doesn’t reach out to Bix (and we know he’s running on limited time), that doesn’t mean his story with Bix ended the day she left Yavin 4. It turns out, Bix had since returned to Mina-Rau with their son… She was pregnant when she left Cassian. Suddenly, it makes even more sense why Bix left the way she did. If Cassian knew about their son, he would’ve left the Rebellion behind and not been the messenger and leader the galaxy needed him to be. Bix’s sacrifice was not in vain. Cassian might die on a beach on Scarif next to Jyn Erso, but Bix and their son get to live on in a future that he helped ensure.
Across 24 episodes in two seasons, Cassian Andor transforms into a Rebel captain and spy who is responsible for delivering the Death Star plans to Princess Leia. He will die during this mission. We’ve known this since 2016 at the ending of Rogue One. Yet, the way by which he gets to the beach on Scarif is one of the most compelling, relevant stories Star Wars has ever told. In a franchise as expansive as the stories that take place in a galaxy far, far away, this prequel series about a group of Rebels that were never mentioned by name has captured everything George Lucas wanted to say with the prequel trilogy. Andor resonates for speaking to this moment in history, as well as featuring complex characters, rich dialogue, and a riveting story from start to finish.
Great television doesn’t come around often. We’re not even halfway through 2025, and we’ve been gifted incredible seasons of TV — Severance, The Pitt, Paradise, and The Last of Us. I don’t want Andor to get lost in the shuffle. Its legacy deserves to burn brightly. Only time will tell if Emmy winners will honor their achievements. As for me, I’m just thankful that I got to live during a time when Rogue One and Andor exist.
Now streaming on Disney+: What are your thoughts on Andor Season 2, Episodes 10-12? Let us know in the comments below.
First Featured Image Credit: ©Disney+ | Lucasfilm