Warning! This post contains SPOILERS for Andor season 2, episodes 1-6.
Andorseason 2 just madeStar Warshistory with one scene in episode 6, butAndorshowrunner Tony Gilroy doesn’t want to make too big a fuss about it.Andorseason 2 has released 6 of its 12 episodes so far, and this brand-new addition toStar Warsmovies and TV showsclearly doesn’t mind changing the game. So far, this has included everything fromStar Wars’first use of the word rapeto newfound insight intohow the Empire kept the Death Star a secret.
Andorepisode 6 included yet another franchise-altering moment with the first on-screen lesbian kiss between named characters, Vel Sartha and Cinta Kaz. Although this madeStar Warshistory,Andorshowrunner Tony Gilroy toldTVLinethat he doesn’t see it as anything other than a"regular thing":
“I think it’s a mistake to try to underline everything and put a halo on things….I don’t think about it, it really doesn’t come up. We treat it like a regular thing.”
Soon after this kiss inAndorepisode 6, Cinta Kaz sadly also dies as a result of friendly fire. On that point, Gilroy was also fairly blunt:
“Look, this [season] is taking place over four years during awar. If people don’t go down in a variety of ways, it would really be disingenuous. I don’t think it would feel right to people. It’s a tough decision to make, tough phone calls to make to the actors….s*** happens.”
It seems that, for Gilroy at least, this moment is business as usual, butthe larger implication for theStar Warsfranchise is arguably quite a bit bigger than that.
Star Wars: The Rise Of Skywalker Has Already Revealed As Much
AlthoughAndorseason 2, episode 6 marks the first on-screen queer kiss inStar Warsbetween named characters, this is not technically the first on-screen lesbian kiss in the franchise.At the end ofStar Wars: The Rise of Skywalker, two unnamed women kissduring the movie’s final celebration, after the First Order (and the Final Order) has come to an end. This was immediately criticized by LGBTQ+ viewers, however, because it did little in terms of queer representation; some felt it was more a throwaway moment than a genuine commitment to inclusion.
Worse still,this kiss was actually cut from some international releases of the movie. Given that history, it’s perhaps little surprise thatStar Warshas shied away from depicting anything similar on screen over the last six years. This suggests that the moment between Vel and Cinta is rather significant, which makes it a bit curious that Gilroy seems so resistant to addressing it as such.
Our Take On Tony Gilroy’s Comments
The Importance Of This Scene Shouldn’t Be Diminished
I’ll admit to being a bit disappointed in Gilroy’s comments on this scene. On the one hand, I understand and appreciate where Gilroy is coming from. It’s refreshing to see queerness depicted on screen (especially in a franchise likeStar Warsthat has so rarely included it) and to know it’s being represented as something regular. That’s frankly a wonderful way to normalize queerness. However,it shouldn’t be overlooked that this is groundbreaking inStar Wars, and that is important, especially for LGBTQ+ audiences.
I wish Gilroy had thought a bit more, at least in his response, about the implications of a character being killed off immediately after a lesbian kiss. Some viewers have waited a long time to see a queer kiss by named characters on theStar Warsscreen, and it could be interpreted as offering that only to take it away to have killed Cinta so soon after. Tony Gilroy is right that things happen in war, but I still wish this history-makingStar Warsmoment hadn’t immediately been followed by one character’s death inAndorseason 2.
Source:TVLine
New episodes ofAndorseason 2 release weekly on Tuesdays at 9 PM EST/6 PM PST on Disney+.
Andorseason 2, episodes 1-3
Andorseason 2, episodes 4-6
Andorseason 2, episodes 7-9
Andorseason 2, episodes 10-12
