Andor season 2's cast of characters fleshed out some appearances in Rogue One, but the overall expansion of the Rebel Alliance's timeline makes the original trilogy era of the franchise all the better.

As is natural with fan discourse, though, there are some looking between Andor and Rogue One who potentially find cracks in the story. Despite being separated by only days on the Star Wars timeline, Andor season 2 and Rogue One were filmed almost a decade apart, meaning some elements from the latter could be argued to contradict the former and vice versa. One specific instance of this has been raised a lot by Star Wars fans of late, with Tony Gilroy responding with the advice to "reorient their thinking," causing many to question if he is right.

Tony Gilroy's Perspective On Cassian & Jyn Post-Andor Is Devoid Of Love

The Two Were Just A Result Of Circumstance

The discourse in question surrounds Cassian Andor and his romantic relationships. Andor season 2 leaned heavily into Cassian and Bix's romantic relationship that was teased in season 1. By the time of Andor season 2, episodes 7-9, audiences were heavily invested in their relationship and heartbroken when Bix left Cassian so that the latter could focus on the Rebel Alliance. Even a year later in Andor season 2, episodes 10-12, Cassian still clearly throught about Bix, only days before meeting Jyn in Rogue One.

This has casued many to question the romantic undertones of Cassian and Jyn's relationship in the 2016 movie. When asked what he thought about this in an interview with Entertainment Weekly, Rogue One screenwriter and Andor showrunner Tony Gilroy indicates Jyn and Cassian were not in love: “I mean, people who thought that was the love of his life are going to have to reorient their thinking.” Of course, this is not to say that no romantic feelings were present between Cassian and Jyn, but the love the former felt for Bix was not the same as whatever he felt for Jyn.

The Cassian & Bix Versus Cassian & Jyn Discourse Is Pretty Pointless

Both Relationships Work Within The Context Of The Saga

With Gilroy telling people to change their thinking about Bix, Cassian, and Jyn, the question is raised of whether he is right. For the most part, I think he is and the discourse surrounding these two relationships seems somewhat pointless. Based on how Andor presents the end of Bix and Cassian's relationship, I do not see any issue with Cassian and Jyn having romantic feelings - albeit, not on the same level - by the time of Rogue One. After all, Bix left over a year before Cassian met Jyn.

Cassian can still have feelings for Bix and may even still be in love with her but, in his mind, she is gone and is not coming back until the war ends, which could be decades from now for all he knows. Cassian is only human, meaning any other romantic engagements he had after Bix left are natural, including with Jyn. Although Rogue One never explicitly shows this, the hints are there. If audiences can, as Gilroy puts it, reorient their thinking, it can be true that Cassian dies both having loved Bix and felt some romantic spark with Jyn.

Jyn & Bix's Characters Both Deserve Better Than A Reduction To Ship Discourse

Their Characters Exist Beyond Cassian's Love

On a broader level too, the discourse is pointless as it somewhat devalues Jyn and Bix as individual characters. Of course, many people in modern fandoms care about relationships and often ship certain characters with others, and that is okay. That said, discourse like this gets to a point where it risks reducing good characters like Jyn and Bix to being nothing other than the object of Cassian's affections.

Both characters deserve more than to be reduced to female characters the lead male can fall in love with...

Andor proved that Bix is a deep character in her own right, making her own decisions and having her own character arc beyond whatever she had with Cassian. Rogue One does the same for Jyn, with the majority of her character arc linking to her wish to find her father, Galen, and fight back against the Empire. The romantic undertones with Cassian are an afterthought compared to this. At the end of the day, both characters deserve more than to be reduced to female characters the lead male can fall in love with, as Andor and Rogue One both prove in spades.