Warning! This article contains spoilers for Andor.
Lucasfilm’s latest Star Wars streaming series, Andor, has been praised by critics as a refreshing change of pace. It’s a ground-level espionage thriller about a Rebel spy trying to clear his name and outrun the Empire. Instead of relying on familiar legacy characters, Andor is forging its own path with fresh faces like Brasso, Bix Caleen, and gruff Pre-Mor bureaucrat Chief Hyne.
From no-nonsense Imperial detective Syril Karn to deadpan droid B2EMO to the mysterious Luthen Rael, Andor has introduced a bunch of great new characters to the sprawling ensemble that populates a galaxy far, far away.
Chief Hyne
While the backdrop of Andor is the conflict between the Rebellion and the Empire, the Empire doesn’t send its supposedly elite Stormtroopers to capture a low-level Rebel spy like Cassian. Instead, the job has been subcontracted to the Pre-Mor Authority, a security agency doing the Empire’s dirty work. When Cassian kills a couple of Pre-Mor employees in self-defense at the beginning of the series, he makes it personal.
Heading up the investigation into Cassian’s double homicide is Chief Hyne, a superior officer working for Pre-Mor. Played to perfection by Rupert Vansittart, Chief Hyne is the classic archetype of a gruff police chief who’s more interested in maintaining his own reputation and covering his own butt than pursuing justice.
Brasso
When Cassian has killed a couple of Pre-Mor officers and has the Empire on his tail, one of the first people he goes to for help is his friend and colleague Brasso. Played brilliantly by Joplin Sibtain, Brasso is a true friend to the title character.
Brasso doesn’t just have one of the most unique and interesting character names on the show; he’s also a ride-or-die kind of companion. He covers for Cassian after his double homicide without asking questions. He even goes as far as sabotaging the Imperial investigation into the killings.
Maarva & Clem Andor
The series is structured around cross-cutting between the present-day action and flashbacks to Cassian’s childhood. In both the present day and the flashbacks, Cassian shares a heartwarming relationship with his adoptive mother Maarva, played by Fiona Shaw. She’s deeply concerned when she learns that the Pre-Mor Authority is after him and refuses to cooperate when they come looking for him.
The flashbacks have revealed how Maarva and her husband Clem, played by Gary Beadle, ended up becoming Cassian’s guardians. A young Cassian, back when he went by “Kassa,” is discovered aboard a crashed ship on Kenari. Maarva and Clem take Kassa with them, fearing what the Imperial forces will do if they find him there.
Deputy Inspector Syril Karn
Everyone at the Pre-Mor Authority is determined to bring Cassian to justice for killing a couple of their men, but no one wants his blood more fervently than Deputy Inspector Syril Karn. Kyle Soller has been playing Karn as a no-nonsense detective who will stop at nothing to capture Cassian and make him pay for his crimes.
Unlike many antagonists in the Star Wars universe, Deputy Inspector Karn is not a straightforward villain. Darth Sidious and Jabba the Hutt and Supreme Leader Snoke are pure evil, but Karn is just a low-level Imperial headhunter doing his job.
Bix Caleen
Brasso isn’t the only friend that Cassian can count on when he’s in a bind; he can also call on Bix Caleen, a badass mechanic and black-market dealer. Adria Arjona has given a warm, likable turn as Caleen as she helps Cassian while also keeping herself out of danger.
Early on in the series, Caleen’s boyfriend was shot dead for trying to help her when she was detained by the Pre-Mor Authority. This devastating loss has made an already endearing character even more sympathetic.
Kerri Andor
The driving story engine of the show is Cassian’s search for his missing sister. The inciting incident might have been a fateful encounter with two Pre-Mor employees in a shady bar, but Cassian was only in that bar to look for his sister, Kerri.
In the early episodes of the series, Kerri is only seen as a child in the flashbacks to Cassian’s youth. But it’s clear that she shares a close bond with her brother. Before he was adopted by Maarva and Clem, Kerri was the only family that Cassian had. It’s no wonder that he’ll go to the deepest, darkest depths of the galaxy to find her.
Luthen Rael
Stellan Skarsgård, the most famous actor in the Andor cast, plays the most mysterious character in the ensemble, Luthen Rael. Rael is Bix Caleen’s buyer who was introduced on his way to pick up the Starpath Unit. Of all the Andor characters introduced so far, Rael has one of the closest connections to the Rebel Alliance that Star Wars fans know and love.
Rael made an unforgettable entrance in the third episode to save Cassian just as the law was closing in on him. From the moment he met up with Cassian in an abandoned factory and helped to fend off a legion of heavily armed security officers, Rael was a mesmerizing screen presence that audiences couldn’t wait to get to know better.
B2EMO
In Star Wars projects, the droid characters often steal the show from their human counterparts, from R2-D2 to BB-8. Andor is no different, as the droid that Cassian inherited from his adoptive mother – the clunky red unit B2EMO – has quickly become a fan-favorite icon. Cassian has yet to take ownership of K-2SO, the reprogrammed Imperial droid who accompanied him when he debuted in Rogue One, but B2EMO will make a more than fitting replacement in the meantime.
Voice actor Dave Chapman has brought B2EMO to life with hilariously deadpan line deliveries. He’s also proven his mettle as an ally, as he agreed to lie for Cassian to cover up his killings.
