Rogue One prequel Andor is, as far as we can tell, a standalone story. While Diego Luna and Genevieve O’Reilly are reprising their roles as Cassian Andor and Mon Mothma, everyone else appears to be new. But in the world of Disney+ Star Wars shows, cameos are part of the foundation: We had Luke, Ahsoka, and Boba Fett in The Mandalorian, and Obi-Wan Kenobi brought us young Leia and Qui-Gon Jinn.
Andor appears to buck the trend, but could its first season really go through 12 whole episodes without a single cameo? One rumor suggests there will, in fact, be a familiar face. It just won’t be one we’ve seen in live-action before.
Star Wars Youtuber Kyle Katarn tweeted an ominous statement on Thursday: “A certain comic character appearing in Andor is gonna cause a fuss.”
That’s all the info we have, and there’s no way to tell if this rumor has any truth to it. But assuming it is correct, who would be the most likely candidate for a cameo?
Andor Season 1 takes place in 5 BBY, or five years before the events of Rogue One and A New Hope, which is a very specific point in the Star Wars universe. When it comes to comics characters who are active at this point, there’s one name that stands out: Chelli Loni Aphra.
Lost Legends is an Inverse series about the forgotten lore of our favorite stories.
Chelli Aphra, better known as Dr. Aphra, is an archaeologist and renegade. Imagine Han Solo crossed with Indiana Jones. While she started her career selling artifacts to pay her bills, she later became an agent of Darth Vader and was tasked with trying to track down Luke. Despite being a canonical character, many non-comic readers aren’t aware of her.
While Dr. Aphra started as a side character in the Darth Vader comics, she quickly became a fan favorite and secured her own run of comics, as well as an audio adventure. In fact, we’ve already seen one of Dr. Aphra’s closest allies on a Disney+ show. Remember the fearsome Wookiee Black Krrsantan in The Book of Boba Fett? Before he was on Tatooine, he traveled the universe with Dr. Aphra.
Dr. Aphra was born in 24 BBY, meaning she would be 19 at the time Andor begins. Presumably, she would still be studying at the University of Bar’leth (essentially the Harvard of Star Wars). Could her first steps into field work allow her to cross paths with Cassian Andor?
Dr. Aphra’s story, much like Cassian Andor’s, is the story of someone just trying to survive before getting caught up in a situation far larger than herself. She would be the perfect thematic fit for Andor because, like its title character, we’d be seeing Aphra before she became the character we know. Both are on their way to realizing they’re willing to fight for a cause beyond themselves.
This is a wild rumor, so it should be taken with an entire salt shaker. But it’s hard not to get a little excited about the prospect of a character beloved by comic book fans yet unknown to the rest of the Star Wars fandom finally getting the spotlight.
Andor premieres on Disney+ September 21.
