Andor’s story could smoothly transition into Rogue One’s, which in turn smoothly transitioned into the original Star Wars movie, means that some plot points and character arcs will have been written in service of the wider franchise, rather than Andor’s relatively self-contained narrative.

This created certain expectations for the story, reinforced by Andor’s prime position within the Star Wars timeline. So many important characters in Andor never appear in Rogue One, just as many important characters in Rogue One never appeared beyond Star Wars’ second anthology film. This is largely due to the order in which these Star Wars properties were produced. Even so, the writers needed to ensure that Andor’s ending blended seamlessly with Rogue One’s while also, ideally, providing audiences with a new emotional perspective, and I think they succeeded.

We Expected All The Major Character Deaths In Rogue One

One of the things Rogue One did so brilliantly was make us care about characters that we knew, with almost 100% certainty, weren’t going to make it beyond the end of the film. After all, Cassian was a Captain in the Rebel Alliance, and he wouldn’t have been able to accomplish his mission without the others. If they had miraculously survived the Battle of Scarif, they would have been worthy of the same recognition that Luke Skywalker and Han Solo were granted at the end of the original Star Wars film.

Jyn Erso, Cassian Andor, Bodhi Rook, Chirrut Îmwe, Baze Malbus, and even K-2SO felt distinct and well-rounded. They needed to be brave, of course, but they were also traumatized, funny, sarcastic, and deeply caring in their own ways. It made liking them that much easier and mourning their inevitable deaths that much harder, too. Going into Andor season 2, I believed that most of the people Cassian was close to were doomed by the galaxy’s history to meet that same fate, but thankfully, there’s more to it than that.

Andor Was Set To Repeat That Pattern

Brasso’s death in Andor season 2, episode 3, “Harvest,” primes the viewer to expect the rest of Cassian’s loved ones to die in the future, too. It wouldn’t have been hard to make Bix’s, Wilmon’s, or even Vel’s deaths unexpected, even if the audience was waiting for it to happen. Andor’s year-skipping, twelve-episode structure meant that they could have potentially died at any point, and their deaths would still have come as a shock.

Surprisingly, of those closest to Cassian, only Brasso and Luthen Rael died in Andor. Bix, Wilmon, Vel, and Kleya all survive the show. Having their characters die would have been the easiest and the “cleanest” way to pull them out of the story without complicating canon, though there are other ways to explain their absence from Rogue One and the original Star Wars trilogy; what Andor’s writers did with Bix is a prime example.

Bix's Decision To Leave Makes Rogue One's Tragedy Even More Devastating

Would Cassian’s death in Rogue One have been just as heartbreaking if we learned that all of his friends and family had died before him? Of course. Cassian and the rest of the Rogue One team sacrificed themselves “for a sunrise [they would] never see,” just as Luthen described in Andor season 1. That’s devastating in and of itself. We didn’t necessarily need to know about Cassian’s backstory to empathize with him.

However, Bix’s decision to leave changes everything. It’s tragic, not necessarily because she’s his great love, and she left him behind for the sake of the Rebellion, not just because he never got to see her again, not even because of the child he never knew he had. Yes, those factors are gutting, but I’d argue that Cassian’s Rogue One fate is even more tragic because he never witnessed the life Bix created for herself.

Since Dedra Meero and Syril Karn began hunting Cassian, Bix has been caught in the crossfire. She’s endured torture, had to flee her homeworld, was assaulted by an Imperial officer, was forced to hide and wait for Cassian to return home from missions, never knowing if he was safe. Andor season 2 showed how much of an effect that had on her. She wasn’t sleeping, tortured by nightmares. Even Luthen, who had no qualms ing people for the Rebellion, recognized that she couldn’t fight.

The saddest thing about Rogue One’s ending is that Cassian never saw the peace that Bix had found.

Cassian couldn’t help her, not in the way she needed. That affected him, too. After watching Andor, I believe the saddest thing about Rogue One’s ending is that Cassian never saw the peace that Bix had found. The very peace that the Rebel Alliance was fighting for.

He might have known his death was coming in Rogue One, but how would he have felt knowing that one of the people he cared about most was not just "safe" but had found that solace she so desperately needed? Would that have given him peace? Did he regret not making with her when Vel suggested it, just to hear how she was doing? Did he think he'd have more time? That’s what haunts me most about Andor’s ending.

All episodes of Andor are now available to stream exclusively on Disney+.