Andor season 2 has Cassian Andor (Diego Luna) captured by the Maya Pei Brigade. Here’s where we know them from and how they fit into Andor’s key themes.
By halfway through the first episode of Andor’s second season, fledgling rebel Cassian Andor (Diego Luna) has run across a complication on his latest mission: a band of rebel soldiers who see him as a threat rather than an ally. In fact, they seem to see just about everything as a threat: the critters in the extensive jungle around them, any outsiders they run across, even the other members of their own group. From the first moment Cassian meets them — at gunpoint, in a mass confrontation — they’re already loudly arguing with each other about the right way to capture him.
We’ve never seen this fractious, incompetent group before — but thanks to a few small references in Andor season 1, we know a few things about who they are, and possibly how they wound up stranded at Cassian’s drop point. Here’s how these loud, flailing goobers fit into Andor’s continuity — and how they fit into what seems to be this season’s overarching theme.
[Ed. note: Minor spoilers ahead for episodes 1 and 2 of Andor season 2, and for a small subplot in season 1.]
After capturing Cassian, the rebel group argue among themselves about where they could possibly go next, assuming they can either learn to use Cassian’s stolen experimental TIE Avenger or talk him into transporting them. It’s clear that in addition to not having any agreed-upon leader in the group, they don’t have any sort of headquarters or clear goal. From the arguments, we also know they’ve been stuck on the planet for two days, with minimal food and supplies. From one member, Cassian learns they’re members of the Maya Pei Brigade, one of the rebel groups his sponsor/handler Luthen Rael (Stellan Skarsgård) has been backing.Who is Maya Pei, the rebel leader?
We’ve also never seen Maya Pei in Andor, but she’s been mentioned a few times by Saw Gerrera (Forest Whitaker), who brings her up in a rant about various anti-Empire rebel factions he disdains as “lost” because they lack his “clarity of purpose.” In a scene in season 1’s “Narkina 5,” he sneers at Luthen that he wouldn’t work with Maya Pei because she’s a “neo-Republican.” (Luthen for his part describes Saw as an anarchist, though seemingly one he’s still willing to work with.
