Andor season 2 episode 1 finds the Empire talking Ghorman. What is Ghorman and is it more important to the lore than Tatooine? Here’s what you need to know.
Tatooine might be the inescapable center of the Skywalker Saga, but when it comes to the most influential planets in the Star Wars galaxy, Ghorman just hyperspace jumped to the top of the list.
In the season premiere of Andor season 2, the Earth-like planet lands in the crosshairs of Orson Krennic (Ben Mendelsohn), the cape-wearing Imperial crony last seen in Rogue One. In a secret meeting on the Maltheen Divide, Krennic and various representatives from across the Empire watch a 1950s-style PSA about the prosperous business of harvesting silk produced by Ghorman spiders, or ghorlectipods.
But Krennic’s interest in Ghorman goes beyond — or rather, deeper — than textiles: Underneath the planet is an ore, kalkite, that could completely reshape and empower the Empire. He intends to mine it at all costs.
Ghorman has been on the periphery of Star Wars lore while never in complete focus. In the first season of Andor, Ghorman pushback against Imperial rule led to sanctions from their overlords and cries in the planet’s defense in the Galactic Senate, spearheaded by Mon Mothma. Mentions of the planet’s silk production pop up in other parts of Star Wars — mainly in the High Republic book Convergence, set nearly 380 years before the events of the show — but Ghorman’s real claim to fame in Star Wars history is a violent turn.
Ported from “Legends” EU material like Dark Apprentice into canon auxiliary material like 2023’s Star Wars Timelines, the “Ghorman Massacre” saw the Empire “slaughter peaceful protestors” (per Timelines) who stood against trade blockades.
