There’s a new Star Wars series on Disney+ this week.

Andor, a prequel series set five years before the events of Rogue One, is based on the journey of one of its main characters, Cassian Andor (Diego Luna). The series was created by Tony Gllroy, and follows Cassian on his journey from a runaway hiding from the empire to the Rebellion officer we see in Rogue One. 

At the beginning of the first episode, we find Cassian in a bar searching for his sister, a fellow refugee from the planet Kenari. After getting an inconclusive answer, he is hassled by two guards from a security company known as Pre-Mor, a group the empire employs to manage their worlds. He quickly leaves the bar, but the guards follow him and attempt to shake him down and take his money. He manages to knock one guard down and take the other’s Blaster. After the first guard he attacked died, the second one pleads with him that he won’t say anything and he can let him go, but Cassian doesn’t believe him and kills him. Now on the run, Cassian must find a way off world before his crime catches up with him. 

Cassian makes his way to his home, where his droid, B2EMO (Dave Chapman) is waiting for him, Cassian takes a rare map of empire information from his stash to use as barter for a ride off planet, and tells B2EMO to not tell anyone he was there. He meets up with a rebel friend Brasso (Joplin Sibtain) and convinces him to lie about where he was last night as to not draw suspicion. Cassian then finds his friend Bix Caleen (Adria Arjona) who can get him in contact with someone to sell the information to. 

As he waits for his ride to come, in orbit of the planet that is the main base for Pre-Mor, the head of the guards Syril Karn (Kyle Soller) decides to put together a team to pursue the murderer of the two guards, who they learn is Cassian after the bartender he talked to tipped them off. Over the course of the next two episodes, Cassian’s escape window gets shorter and shorter, the buyer for his intel is still on the way and Pre-Mor has sent out a planet-wide notice that they’re looking for Cassian. 

Cassian eventually meets with the buyer, Luthen Rael (Stellan Skarsgård), who instead of buying the information, offers to take Cassian into the full rebel alliance instead. While this discussion is ongoing, Karn, his Sergeant Kostek (Alex Ferns) and a dozen men plan to attack the meeting after being tipped off by a citizen that saw the notice. After a battle, Rael and Cassian narrowly escape by blowing up a number of Karn’s men, leaving him distraught. The third episode ends with the two heading off world to join the true rebel alliance. Each episode also features flashback scenes of a young Cassian, who is called Kassa among his fellow Kenari people, exploring a fallen space ship. Cassian and his people clearly suffered a tragedy, one that looks like it will be disclosed later in the season, as many people in the present refer to his world as a failed empire operation and a forgotten world.  

Andor so far is a much more low-key Star Wars story than audiences are used to, even compared to its original story Rogue One, with a more grounded focus on crime-and-pursuit combat than large-scale battles. The series has good direction and acting so far, with great cinematography. Andor will have twenty-four episodes, making it the longest Star Wars show season so far, and making it longer than even any MCU show season.

The first three episodes are available now, with new episodes dropping Wednesdays only on Disney+.