Despite pop culture’s ongoing obsession with them, the original “Star Wars” trilogy did not feature a lot of lightsabers, at least in the grand scheme of things, especially in relation to other “Star Wars” properties.
Compared to recent “Star Wars” television series and the prequel films, most fans don’t think of the Original Trilogy as a lightsaber-heavy group of films. It would be pretty difficult to count the number of lightsabers in the Prequel Trilogy, considering all those drag-out battles and the demoralizing defeats. (“Attack of the Clones” alone likely runs in the hundreds when it comes to its lightsaber count.)
Consider the facts: in the first “Star Wars” film, Old Ben (AKA Obi Wan Kenobi) gave Luke a lightsaber that belonged to his father. That’s nice! So, in the the first movie that set off the lightsaber sensation, there were three: Luke’s, Ben’s, and Darth Vader’s. And for the next two sequels, that was it. Luke lost his father’s lightsaber, then built a new one, so by the end of “Return of the Jedi,” there were a grand total of four known lightsabers in use. (When one of them lights up, it is pretty exciting.)
Related Stories
The Original Trilogy sets the tone of the film series, especially in that first film, one that is more about politics than it is about swashbuckling laser swords. This is a movie that, in 1977, just casually includes a line about dissolving the Imperial Senate and letting the local governors take control.
Actually, let’s get this right. Grand Moff Tarkin walks into the conference room and has an announcement: “The Imperial Senate will no longer be of any concern to us. I have just received word that the Emperor has dissolved the council permanently. The last remnants of the old Republic have been swept away.”
Oh, well, Tagge has some questions: “That’s impossible, how will the Emperor maintain control without the bureaucracy?”
Great question! “The regional governors now have direct control over their territories.”
Ah.
All of this is dialogue that sets up the television series “Andor” (well, precludes, technically), a perfect prequel made some 45 years later. It’s an entire series about slowly losing your rights as a citizen, not about supernatural beings with lightsabers. There are a plenty of interesting things about Tony Gilroy’s “Andor.” One of the most interesting? There’s not one single lightsaber in the show’s entire two-season run.
In fact, “Andor” is the first live-action “Star Wars” property to not feature a lightsaber. This is actually remarkable. It’s the first property to not rely on “superhero Jedi” to save the day, as opposed to, you know, just normal people like us.
One of the reasons why “Andor” has resonated so much over the course of its two-season run is because, even in the “Star Wars” universe, it never relied on a magic superhero with a lightsaber showing up to save the day. Over the course of two seasons and 24 episodes, this was obviously a deliberate choice. This is a show about ordinary people rising up against the government, without the aid of any super-powered beings or lightsabers. It was just up to people, not superpowered, light-wielding hermits.
Here’s what’s weird: As far as I can tell, most people in the “Star Wars” universe are just normal people like you and me. Maybe that’s been part of disconnect lately between “Star Wars” and its viewership: even though most people in the “Star Wars” universe are average citizens, every single show is about these superhero Jedi. Why? I don’t have any interest watching supernatural beings defeat zombie Stormtroopers (I’m fairly certain this is a plot point of a show I did not watch) — but, watching normal people rise up against a corrupt government, no matter the cost? With no superpowers or lightsabers? Well, that’s pretty interesting.
So, no this isn’t just “deliberate,” this is unprecedented in the “Star Wars” universe. The first six movies all have lightsabers. In the more recent Disney era, “Rogue One” (which “Andor” obviously leads up to) comes close to being lightsaber-free … until Darth Vader shows up and destroys a bunch of Rebel soldiers with his lightsaber.
Well, there’s no way “Solo” will have a lightsaber, right? We somehow made it through that entire movie with no lightsaber until, out of nowhere, Darth Maul (yes, the guy who was cut in half in “The Phantom Menace”) shows up as the secret boss in a hologram and FOR NO REASON ignites his lightsaber. We were so close. Even “The Mandalorian” has the saga of The Dark Saber (and Luke showing up, with his lightsaber), and same with “The Book of Boba Fett.”
Is “Andor” really the only “Star Wars” property without a lightsaber? OK, this gets a little complicated, but for 99 percent of you, the answer is yes. But for the one percent of the serious nerds still wondering, I’ve looked into this:
- Obviously, the first six movies have lightsabers.
- And, yes, the three after that.
- All the Disney live-action series like “Ahsoka” and animated series like “Skeleton Crew” have lightsabers.
- I went back and checked, even “The Holiday Special” has a lightsaber, hanging on Luke’s belt as Carrie Fisher sings her Life Day song.
Technically, there are some properties that do not:
- There is the “Droids and Ewoks” animated series from the 1980s.
- And there are the 1980s made-for-television Ewok movies.
- And that is … it. Everything else EVER has involved Jedi and lightsabers.
That is what makes “Andor” so special and so unique, it’s a show about people without any special powers (or lightsabers!) standing up to a powerful government they are mostly ill-equipped to fight against. It’s about the powerless discovering they might be powerful after all — no lightsaber needed.
All episodes of “Andor” are now streaming on Disney+.
