The best Star Wars TV show has changed one of the franchise’s most common elements forever: lightsabers. From Star Wars’ lightsaber colors to the many duels carried out using the weapons, the Jedi laser swords have solidified themselves, not only as staples of the franchise but as one of the most recognizable movie props in history. Their appearance in both the best and worst Star Wars movies reaffirms this, with almost every story, regardless of quality, featuring one of the weapons in some capacity.
Several upcoming Star Wars movies will do the same, from Star Wars: Starfighter and Simon Kinberg’s trilogy to Rey’s New Jedi Order movie. However, while lightsabers are iconic in Star Wars, the best TV shows in the franchise changed them altogether. That TV show is Andor, the spy thriller based on Cassian Andor, exploring how he became part of the Rebel Alliance.
Via Andor, Star Wars changed lightsabers forever – by not including them at all.
Andor Proves Star Wars Doesn’t Need Lightsabers
Cassian Andor side eyeing someone off screen
Despite existing for 50 years as of next year, Star Wars has only ever had one live-action project that did not include lightsabers. Andor is that show, with even the likes of The Mandalorian including the Darksaber as an integral plot point. Similarly, Solo: A Star Wars Story features a cameo of Maul in the final moments, during which he ignites a red lightsaber.
Andor, though, omitted the weapons completely. Instead, the show focused on the grittier, more mature aspects of the Star Wars universe, proving that lightsabers are not needed to make a good story in the franchise. In fact, Andor separated itself from the Star Wars mould in many other ways, with the lack of lightsabers simply typifying this.
Nonetheless, the show works. Andor is undoubtedly the best Star Wars TV show ever made, and even comes close to the likes of The Empire Strikes Back as the greatest story ever told in the franchise. This was all without classic Star Wars elements like the Force or, indeed, lightsabers, proving that the franchise doesn’t need either to succeed.
Too Many Lightsabers Has Become A Problem In Star Wars
This brings to light another possible argument in Star Wars. The quality of lightsaber fights, and even the inclusion of them at all, have been used to judge quality. For instance, The Acolyte’s best-rated episode includes a huge lightsaber duel, Rogue One’s most famous scene is Darth Vader’s killing spree against Rebellion soldiers, and the disappointing fate of the Darksaber was a key talking point surrounding The Mandalorian season 3.
This raises the question of whether including lightsabers in too many Star Wars projects has actually become a problem for the franchise. Oftentimes, they overshadow the rest of the story and feed into another issue: can Star Wars move beyond the Skywalkers, the Jedi, and other Force-sensitives?
Andor, of course, proves that the franchise unequivocally can do so, but stories since then seem to say otherwise. From Star Wars Visions, Star Wars: Maul – Shadow Lord, the upcoming Ahsoka season 2, and all the aforementioned upcoming movies set to feature lightsabers, the franchise may not have learned a good lesson from Andor.
Lightsabers will, and should, always have a role in Star Wars. However, Andor has proven that it doesn’t need them. When thinking about the original two movies, A New Hope and The Empire Strikes Back, lightsabers were seldom used, especially in comparison to modern projects in the franchise.
Hopefully, Star Wars learns from Andor and begins delving into more stories away from lightsabers and the Jedi. The latter will always be part of the franchise; that is not in question. Regardless, more stories that don’t include lightsabers could be welcome, especially after Andor changed the perception of them forever by not including them.
- Release Date
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2022 – 2025-00-00
- Network
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Disney+
- Showrunner
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Tony Gilroy
