Andor Episode 5 featured a reference to Star Wars Rebels that clearly shows that the live-action series takes place simultaneously as the animated one.
During the dialogue between ISB supervisor Dedra Meero and an officer, the officer almost casually drops a reference to Star Wars Rebels when he mentions the planet Kessel. Let’s dive into what happened on that planet, which is more important to the story than it might appear. There might be some spoilers if you keep on reading, be careful.
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What Happened on Kessel?
Kessel is a planet where the Rebel Alliance operated in the years ahead of the Battle of Yavin. The place plays a pivotal role in Star Wars Rebels: Spark of Rebellion, the two-part introduction to the animated series. The story f0llows Ezra Bridger joining the crew of the Ghost as they went on Kessel to save some Wookiee slaves from the spice mines run by the Empire. That’s when Kanan Jarrus reveals himself as of the Jedi who survived Order 66, teaming up with Ezra. Rebels expanded the story of Ezra as he discovered to be Force-sensitive himself. The show developed over four seasons from 2014 to 2018.
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Audiences already knew that Andor started in BBY 5, as the show’s opening scene mentioned it. However, it was unclear how this show related to other Star Wars stories until the latest installment. “Kessel, Fondor, targeting consoles from Jakku,” says the officer to Meero, listing all the places where the Rebellion has operated. The officer’s words imply that the Ghost crew mission on Kessel went down immediately before or at the same time as Andor caused a ruckus on Ferrix. It isn’t enough to say that Andor might cross some of the Rebels characters sooner or later. However, it’s sure that they are operating almost simultaneously.
In Andor Episode 5, both Meero and the officer agree that something is going on in the galaxy as someone is taking up arms against the Empire. At the same time, the several Rebel cells don’t seem to collaborate for a bigger picture, even though their actions are more than enough to raise some eyebrows. “It’s too random to be random,” concluded the officer, heading into more investigative work.
