Will Darth Vader Appear in Andor? (& When Can We Expect Him)

Andor is the newest Star Wars series on Disney+, as this story will tell us the history behind Cassian Andor and how he became a Rebel hero. Of course, this means that the story is a prequel to the successful Rogue One: A Star Wars Story movie that made us all cry with that amazing ending. There is also the fact that the ending of Rogue One allowed us to see Darth Vader invading a Rebel ship. So, does that imply that Darth Vader will also appear in Andor?
It is unlikely that Darth Vader will be in Andor. That’s because the series will focus heavily on Cassian Andor’s story before the events of Rogue One. While the timelines of the characters are on point, the storylines are entirely different, as Cassian isn’t even remotely related to Darth Vader’s story.
Darth Vader may be the most popular Star Wars character ever, but it would be too much of the same thing to include him in another Star Wars series just after the success of the Obi-Wan Kenobi show. In that regard, it is highly unlikely that he will be in Andor, especially because this is a totally different storyline. So, with that said, let’s look at why Vader won’t be in Andor.
Will Darth Vader Appear In Andor?
The Star Wars galaxy will never be short on stories because there is just so much potential in such a massive galaxy that’s full of different characters that have their own stories in different timelines throughout the history of Star Wars. As such, Andor is the newest Star Wars series to tell a different story that is not directly connected but is still related to the larger narrative of the entire Star Wars storyline. Of course, the series will follow the story of the titular character named Cassian Andor.
We met Cassian back in Rogue One: A Star Wars Story, wherein he and the rest of the Rogue One crew were responsible for discovering that the Empire was building the Death Star. He was the Rebellion’s best spy and operative, and that was why he was the best man for the job. It was also Cassian and his crew that stole the plans of the Death Star so that they could give them to the Rebel Alliance. Of course, at the end of the movie, he and the crew of Rogue One perished when they were made the first victims of the power of the Death Star.
In the end, however, we saw a direct connection between Rogue One and Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope when Darth Vader attacked the Rebel ship that had the data on the Death Star. Of course, the opening scene of A New Hope directly connects to this as Vader chased the Tantive IV ship that had the Death Star plans and apprehended Princess Leia, who gave the plans to R2D2 and C3PO. So, considering that Darth Vader was in Rogue One, does that mean that he will also appear in Andor?
It is unlikely that Vader will be in Andor because of the fact that he isn’t even remotely related to Cassian Andor’s story. Remember that Andor is the series that will tell us the story of how Cassian became the best Rebel spy. In that regard, it focuses heavily on the character and the different people he met along his journey as a salvager on Ferrix to one of the most important heroes in the history of the Rebel Alliance.
The story takes place on 5 BBY, which is five years before the events of Rogue One and A New Hope. In that regard, the timeline of Andor is in line with Vader’s own timeline because we all know that the dark lord was quite active during that time. Nevertheless, Cassian’s own story was different from Vader’s.
During that time, Vader was probably more preoccupied with rounding up the remaining Jedi throughout the galaxy. This also explains why he was in Star Wars: Rebels, which also takes place on 5 BBY. In that regard, Darth Vader’s story before the events of Rogue One and A New Hope was more focused on finding Jedi among the different Rebel factions all over the galaxy. Meanwhile, we all know that Andor isn’t a Jedi.
As such, there is little to no chance that Cassian will cross paths with Darth Vader in his own storyline because of the fact that they have entirely different stories. Andor is more of a character development story for the titular hero, as he ends up meeting people that allow him to grow more into his own person. On the other hand, Darth Vader’s story is on a grander and larger level because he was in charge of handling any Jedi that could be hiding among the Rebels and was tasked with rounding up much more important figures of the Rebellion, such as Princess Leia and the other Rebel leaders.
Can We Expect Darth Vader To Appear In Andor?
While fans would want to see Darth Vader returning on our screens in this latest Disney+ series, we believe that no one should ever expect the popular dark lord to appear in Andor. As such, everyone should keep their expectations close to zero when it comes to the chances of Vader appearing in Andor.
That’s because Darth Vader and Hayden Christensen had just appeared in the successful Obi-Wan Kenobi series that was released months before Andor was released. It made sense for Vader to appear in that series because of the character’s close ties with the titular character. On the other hand, it doesn’t make sense for him to appear in Andor because he has no ties with Cassian.
Of course, there’s also the fact that too much of a good thing can end up becoming bad. That means that too much of Darth Vader in a short span of time would only be a bad thing for Lucasfilm because of how it degrades the value of the character. In fact, the only reason why he appeared in Rogue One was to bridge the events of that movie with the opening scene of A New Hope. Vader didn’t even have a single scene involving any of the crew of Rogue One.
Making Vader appear in a series that shouldn’t involve him will only make it quite obvious that Disney is looking to capitalize on his popularity to market a new series. And doing so would only make the spotlight shift from Cassian Andor to Darth Vader, as we all know that the storyline should focus heavily on the titular character’s own journey instead of the Sith Lord.
There are so many stories to tell in Star Wars, and not all of them should necessarily include the Jedi and the Sith. This is what makes Andor so compelling because it allows us to see the story of a character that belongs in a world that’s different from the common Jedi vs. Sith, Light vs. Dark narrative. And not everyone wants Star Wars to be all about the Jedi and the Sith.