in

Disney+Disney+

9 Shows and Movies to Stream If You Like ‘Andor’

Disney+

There’s nothing quite like finding a perfect new show or movie: something that keeps you entertained for its entire runtime and makes you think deeply for hours or days after viewing. This new column on the Reelgood Blog will take one excellent new film or series and provide a hearty list of semi-related recommendations to make your latest streaming obsession even more rewarding. This week’s list is all about Andor, the Rogue One: A Star Wars Story prequel, a hit among critics and audiences and might be the best Star Wars series yet

Andor (Disney+) 

Andor is a Star Wars show on Disney+ that doesn’t feel like a Star Wars show on Disney+, and that’s a good thing. While the streamer has had success with shows like The Mandalorian, The Book of Boba Fett, and this year’s Obi-Wan Kenobi, Andor stands out because it has no real easter eggs, precious little fan service, and an actually grounded plot about real people who live in the Star Wars universe but aren’t Jedis or Sith Lords. Instead, the show is a spy thriller about a man whose grief and desperate search for his family turn him into a revolutionary. It’s a universal story set in space: the sci-fi exposition, world-building, and all-around space stuff tend to play second fiddle to the human drama at the core of the story. 

Diego Luna stars as Cassian Andor, reprising his scene-stealing role from Rogue One: A Star Wars Story. As the series commences and takes place five years before the events in Rogue One, Andor is a thief on a mining planet who eventually becomes a revolutionary soldier in the Rebel Alliance. At the beginning of the series, Andor is harassed and ambushed by drunk corporate Imperial guards, kills them in self-defense, and becomes on the run from a crew of basically space Pinkertons who try to nab him for the crime. On top of Andor being on the run, he meets members of the Rebel Alliances and becomes embroiled in the fight against the Empire. The show also thrives as a meditation on grief by exploring Andor’s backstory as a kid who grew up on the indigenous jungle planet Kenari and was forced to leave his planet. 

While it’s a refreshing and unconventional take on the Star Wars franchise, it appears to be a successful one. While you should take Rotten Tomatoes scores with a grain of salt, the show is the highest-rated Disney+ Star Wars series of all time at 90 percent. On the Reelgood Top 10, it’s also rated highly and even competed with House of the Dragon and The Rings of Power, topping this week’s ranking. Though this summer Disney+ has found hits with Obi-Wan Kenobi and She-Hulk: Attorney at Law, it hasn’t reached the peaks of Netflix with Stranger Things or HBO with House of the Dragon. Nevertheless, a highly-rated Star Wars series that doesn’t just appeal to diehard sci-fi fans but prestige TV obsessives will undoubtedly bolster the streamer’s stature, especially as it explores ways to make beloved IPs like Star Wars, Marvel, and Pixar feel relevant to 2022 audiences. 

Below, Reelgood has compiled nine other TV shows and movies to give you a deeper dive into this new Disney+ hit. 

1. Rogue One: A Star Wars Story (Disney+)

Star Wars fans were first introduced to Cassian Andor on the excellent spin-off film Rogue One: A Star Wars Story, which followed Rebel Alliance commandoes in their quest to steal the plans for the Death Star. Mild spoiler alert: they blow up the Death Star in A New Hope. It’s unlikely you decided to start Andor without knowing what happens to him in Rogue One, but on the off chance you’re starting with the spin-off prequel and not the original movie it’s based on, be sure to add this to your list. Writer Tony Gilroy penned the script for Rogue One and returned to the story as the showrunner for Andor

Add to Watchlist

2. The Mandalorian (Disney+) 

The Mandalorian was the first Disney+ Star Wars television series, and it set the blueprint for what followed in The Book of Boba Fett, Obi-Wan Kenobi, and now Andor. The show does a solid job of telling a new story with new characters set nine years after the events of Return of the Jedi (about three decades before what happens in The Force Awakens). Compared to the film series, this show feels more grounded and economical in its storytelling. While Andor has more humanity and feels like legitimately great TV, it wouldn’t have happened without The Mandalorian doing it first. 

Add to Watchlist

3. Michael Clayton (Tubi) 

You may have seen someone on Twitter make a joke that Andor is basically “Michael Clayton in space.” It’s true. This 2007 legal thriller classic is the directorial debut of Andor showrunner Tony Gilroy. Starring George Clooney as the titular character, a fixer for a powerful and corrupt law firm, the film finds its hero making brutal and tough decisions to do his job and survive. Gilroy is a master of tension and character study here, and Clooney excels in one of his best roles yet. 

Add to Watchlist

4. Monos (Hulu) 

Monos was probably my most recommended film from 2019 (along with Waves and Transit) because it is severely underrated and the one movie I thought about most after my first watch. The psychedelic and unsettling film follows a band of child soldiers in Latin America participating in guerilla warfare. It’s uncompromising in its violence and exploration of youth shot in vivid color and has a bone-chilling soundtrack. Some of the flashback scenes in Andor that were set on the planet Kenari reminded me of the intensity and gorgeous scenery in Monos

Add to Watchlist

5. State of Play (Netflix) 

Tony Gilroy also wrote State of Play, proving he can write a darn good thriller no matter the setting: in space, at a law firm, in an international globe-trotting spy adventure, and here, on Capitol Hill. The film has a great ensemble cast in Russell Crowe, Ben Affleck, Rachel McAdams, Helen Mirren, Robin Wright, Jason Bateman, and Jeff Daniels. It follows the fallout of several D.C. murders. The truth becomes more knotty and conspiratorial as the film goes on. 

Add to Watchlist

6. The Bourne Identity (HBO Max) 

If you don’t know Gilroy’s work on the State of Play, you almost assuredly know his writing from The Bourne Identity. It’s one of the best spy films of the 2000s, and Matt Damon proves his action star bonafide in this more violent and grittier alternative to the James Bond and Mission Impossible franchises. 

Add to Watchlist 

7. The American (Hulu)

Though likely not a direct inspiration, I was continually reminded of Anton Corbijn’s tense and visually stunning 2010 spy film The American while watching Andor. George Clooney stars as an anonymous assassin living in Europe dealing with the fallout of his past and previous crimes. It’s a slow burn that’s worth a first watch. 

Add to Watchlist  

8. The Battle of Algiers (HBO Max) 

At the beginning of this 1966 classic film, there’s a disclaimer at the opening credits that there isn’t any real-life footage featured in this gritty guerilla warfare tale about an actual period of French-occupied Algeria. Directed by Italian filmmaker Gillo Pontecorvo, the film unfolds with two unrelenting hours of war, loss, violence, and cruelty that feel as real as a documentary, even though it’s a fictionalized version of actual events. 

Add to Watchlist 

9. Y tu mamá también (AMC+ and The Criterion Channel) 

Though this film couldn’t be further away from Andor in tone, it does star Diego Luna alongside Gael García Bernal. This classic movie from Alfonso Cuarón is a sex-obsessed, coming-of-age, road trip film that’s a whole lot of fun and surprisingly affecting. 

Add to Watchlist

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

GIPHY App Key not set. Please check settings

The Patient

9 Shows and Movies to Stream If You Like ‘The Patient’

Rings-of-Power-vs-House-of-the-Dragon-

Does ‘House of the Dragon’ Really Have the Edge on ‘The Rings of Power’?