5 times Star Wars’ ‘Andor’ mirrors real-world history in the most visceral way

Although Gilroy has dismissed speculation that he drew direct parallels to current world events, he has acknowledged that “Andor is like a catalogue of a couple of thousand years of repetitive cruelty and oppression.”

“If you look at history, every 50 or 100 years, the same things happen. People rise up, people are oppressed, and the cycle continues,” he told Variety, noting that he drew inspiration from various historical events and figures while also referencing films like The Battle of Algiers and This Land is Mine for visual and thematic influence.

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We unpack some of the thematic connections that make the series feel urgent, relevant, and deeply human–demonstrating that even in a galaxy far, far away, everything remains painfully familiar.

Originally conceived during the Richard Nixon administration in the late 1960s and early 1970s, Star Wars creator George Lucas has consistently acknowledged how fascism, authoritarianism, and real-world historical events–particularly the rise of the Third Reich–shaped his vision of the Empire.

In fact, this historical grounding was embedded in the franchise’s visual DNA from the beginning. Clear examples include the Empire’s stormtroopers, whose name derives from Hitler’s Sturmabteilung (SA), the original paramilitary organisation under Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party of Germany. 

Similarly, Imperial uniforms and Darth Vader’s imposing black attire deliberately echo those of the Schutzstaffel (SS), the “political soldiers” of the Nazi Party.

These parallels, of course, persist in the Andor series, which is set during the height of Imperial control in the canonical timeline.

While iconic characters like Darth Vader and Luke Skywalker are notably absent, the series deepens these established connections, providing richer insights into the mechanisms of authoritarian rule through its portrayal of the Imperial Security Bureau (ISB).

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As the Empire’s internal intelligence, surveillance, and secret police apparatus, the ISB represents a chilling amalgamation of real-world organisations such as the Gestapo (Nazi Germany), the Stasi (East Germany), and the KGB (Soviet Union). 

Highly bureaucratic, deeply paranoid, and ruthlessly efficient, the ISB employs advanced technology and intricate administrative systems to monitor populations, and suppress dissent through propaganda and brute force–in an effort to maintain the Emperor’s iron grip across the galaxy.

In season one, the pivotal Aldhani Heist marks a watershed moment not only for Andor but for the entire Star Wars saga–representing the first coordinated strike by what would eventually evolve into the Rebel Alliance.

The story arc saw Andor join Vel Sartha (portrayed by Faye Marsay) and her ragtag rebel crew embedded on Aldhani–consisting of Cinta Kaz (Varada Sethu), Taramyn Barcona (Gershwyn Eustache Jr), Arvel Skeen (Ebon Moss-Bachrach), Karis Nemik (Alex Lawther) and their Imperial insider Lieutenant Gorn (Sule Rimi)–for a covert but audacious operation to seize the Imperial payroll from a heavily fortified garrison. 

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A heist designed to shock the Empire, provoke a response, and show the galaxy that resistance is possible, it is inspired by the infamous 1907 Tiflis bank robbery orchestrated by Joseph Stalin–whom Gilroy quipped Luna’s Andor looks like–and his Bolshevik comrades against Tsarist Russia.

The historical robbery in Tiflis (present-day Tbilisi, Georgia) aimed to finance revolutionary activities against the Russian Empire. The Bolsheviks successfully seized approximately 300,000 rubles–equivalent to roughly US$1 million at the time–by launching a precisely timed attack on a bank transport using explosives and firearms, resulting in numerous casualties.

Furthermore, both operations feature small, determined groups executing calculated, high-risk missions against seemingly invincible imperial powers; reflecting tactics employed by various 20th-century revolutionary movements, particularly leftist guerrilla organisations that utilised asymmetric warfare and strategic strikes to destabilise established regimes.

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Following the events on Aldhani in season one, Andor is abruptly apprehended–quite literally–by a KX-series security droid, one of which will eventually become his trusted companion in Rogue One. 

While hiding out on Niamos, he is falsely convicted and sent to serve time in the Imperial prison complex on Narkina 5, the sterile, electrically enforced Imperial prison complex, where inmates are reduced to little more than production units, forced to work twelve-hour shifts to assemble mysterious mechanical components (for the Death Star) under the constant threat of electrocution for failing to meet quotas.

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The prison’s hyper-regimented environment and systematic dehumanisation present an unflinching depiction of forced labour systems–not as aberrations, but as deliberate tools of Imperial control, while prisoners are psychologically manipulated into monitoring one another, clinging to the false hope of eventual “release.”

Narkina 5’s meticulous efficiency and disregard for human dignity finds uncomfortable parallels in Soviet gulags–established in 1918 after the Russian Revolution, where hope was weaponised as control, and labour prisoners exploited for industrial production; before they were systematically exterminated, much like the prisoners in Nazi concentration camps during the Second World War.

Andor echoes this grim historical reality through the off-screen mass execution of inmates on another level, following an accidental readmission that revealed the facility’s “recycling” system of transferring prisoners between levels instead of releasing them.

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Later, when Andor’s allies from Ferrix–Bix Caleen (Adria Arjona), Wilmon Paak (Muhannad Bhaier), and Brasso (Joplin Sibtain)–end up as undocumented labourers in Mina-Rau in season two, the show draws a clear parallel to the modern-day plight of migrant workers.

Performing essential labour while living in constant precarity, these characters mirror real-world migrants who face the threat of deportation, lack of legal protections, and limited recourse against exploitation.

Much like the Empire’s approach to maintaining control and suppressing dissent, these conditions reflect the lived experiences of undocumented workers in countries, such as the United States, and the Middle East–particularly in Saudi Arabia and Qatar, where Amnesty International reports have recently revealed migrant workers facing serious abuses.

Despite forming the backbone of key industries such as agriculture, construction, and food service, migrant labourers routinely endure wage theft, hazardous working conditions, and systemic exploitation–vulnerabilities that are magnified by their immigration status, which dramatically restricts their ability to advocate for fair treatment or improved conditions.

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When push comes to shove for the meek and powerless, something is bound to break; and this nuanced exploration of the cycle of oppression and resistance in Andor reaches its crescendo during the finale episode of season one, when the people of Ferrix gather for Andor’s surrogate mother Maarva’s (Fiona Shaw) funeral.

Long suffering under Imperial occupation, Ferrix citizens use the ritual of mourning as an act of defiance, catching Imperial forces completely off guard in their uprising.

While the Ferrix funeral riot bears particular resemblance to the funeral of journalist Shireen Abu Akleh in East Jerusalem in 2022–when Israeli forces attacked mourners carrying her coffin–this climactic sequence in the season finale resembles large-scale civil unrest, akin to crackdowns like the 1989 Tiananmen Massacre.

Demonstrators in Beijing, who gathered initially with hopes for dialogue and reform, discovered that authoritarian regimes ultimately resort to overwhelming force when their authority is challenged. The Chinese government deployed tanks against unarmed students, killing hundreds to thousands of civilians–a complete death toll that remains unknown to this day.

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Throughout season two, audiences sense the proverbial penny in the air that is bound to drop in the most brutal way when Director Orson Krennic (Ben Mendelsohn, who reprises his role from Rogue One) focuses on Ghorman–a culturally rich but politically volatile planet reminiscent of historic textile cities like Milan and Turin–due to the city-planet’s abundance of kalkite, a resource tied to the construction of the Death Star.

Tension between the Empire and the local population escalates dramatically over the next few episodes, culminating in the tragic and pivotal Ghorman Massacre–a dark turning point that establishes Ghorman as a symbol of sacrifice and resistance that “will burn, very brightly,” just as Luthen Rael (Stellan Skarsgård) anticipated.

This fictional massacre evokes unmistakable parallels to South Africa’s Sharpeville Massacre in 1960, during a peaceful demonstration organised by the Pan-Africanist Congress (PAC), a splinter group from the African National Congress (ANC).

The police claimed some demonstrators began stoning officers and armoured vehicles, and opened fire with submachine guns on the crowd. The allegations were challenged when notably, many victims were shot in the back, indicating they were fleeing when fired upon.

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One of the most violent and pivotal events in South Africa’s anti-apartheid struggle, the shooting resulted in the deaths of 69 people, including women and children, and wounded over 180 others.

While the event led to increased repression in the country, it also galvanised greater international condemnation with some activists moving towards armed resistance.

Adding another level of nuance to Andor’s storytelling is the unyielding examination of how seemingly ordinary individuals become cogs in the machinery of oppression through a lifetime of Imperial conditioning.

Rather than focusing on the Empire’s highest echelons, Andor offers a glimpse into the psyches and lives of mid-level enforcers. Characters like Dedra Meero (Denise Gough) and Syril Karn (Kyle Soller) aren’t merely cartoon villains but complex individuals whose humanity gradually–if it hasn’t already–erodes through systematic indoctrination.

Meero, who reveals in a later episode of season two that she grew up in the Imperial Kinder-block, is steeped in Imperial conditioning and justifies her actions through blind adherence to protocol.

Meanwhile, Karn, when an enlightening revelation strips him of his institutional identity, he wanders purposelessly through Palmo Square in Ghorman until he fixates on Andor– the one person who gave meaning to his otherwise mundane life as a deputy inspector on Morlana One at the start of the series–desperate to restore his sense of belonging.

These characters serve as chilling illustrations of what Hannah Arendt termed “the banality of evil” in her coverage of the Eichmann trial in the 1960s against Nazi SS officer Adolf Eichmann, who was primarily responsible for implementing the Final Solution.

“A man who drifted into the Nazi Party, in search of purpose and direction, not out of deep ideological belief,” as Arendt described Eichmann–and, by and large, the many Nazi officers who claimed they were “simply following orders” during the Nuremberg Trials in the 1940s; the historian and philosopher noted how ordinary people can commit harmful acts simply by not questioning their actions or the situations they face.

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Yet amid this oppression, while calamity serves as a destroyer in crushing ordinary people, it simultaneously forges extraordinary leaders from them.

Following the canonical atrocity that is the Ghorman Massacre, Senator Mon Mothma (Genevieve O’Reilly) is pushed to publicly denounce Emperor Palpatine on the Senate floor in front of senators who have sworn allegiance to the Empire. Catalytically, she also helps lead the Rebel Alliance that becomes the collective protagonist of the original Star Wars trilogy.

Mothma’s political awakening is analogous to Nelson Mandela’s leadership following the Sharpeville Massacre, when armed forces killed and injured protestors demonstrating against the apartheid-era passing laws to restrict their movement.

Mandela and the African National Congress (ANC) shifted from non-violent protest to armed resistance shortly after, recognising the limits of peaceful protest under apartheid–marking a turning point in the anti-apartheid movement.

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Ultimately, while Andor successfully showcases what Gilroy and many others have observed about humanity–the circadian rhythm of authoritarianism that resurfaces every few generations–it also reveals how resistance invariably emerges as part of the cyclical nature as well.

Though all the bad is bound to happen again, so will all the good. That is the sliver of hope one can take away from a momentous series like Andor–and what are rebellions, if not built on hope?

Both seasons of ‘Andor,’ ‘Rogue One’ and other ‘Star Wars’ films and series are now streaming on Disney+

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