Star Wars was never a story about a galaxy far, far away. It was about us – we just didn’t realise it.
Creator George Lucas confirmed as much in a 2019 interview with James Cameron, when asked about his tale of guerrilla rebels taking down an oppressive evil empire. The spaceships, aliens and Jedi masters were just a bonus – his tale was really about revolution and the mid-1970s political realities he was writing it amidst.
“They were the Viet Cong,” said Lucas, referring to the Rebellion. “The little guys won, and the big technical empire lost. That was the whole point.”
But since Lucas stepped away from the franchise after selling it to Disney in 2012, the story’s political roots have been largely left aside. Increasingly, the fixation on Skywalkers and space fantasy has made the franchise often fall into the trappings of grown men playing with action figures with very little grounding in our reality.
That is, until Tony Gilroy, the man behind the Bourne franchise and Michael Clayton, started applying his mind to the world of Star Wars to write Rogue One. And finally, Lucas’s vision found a kindred spirit – and the seeds of a grander, deeply political story were planted.
Gilroy tells The National: “I've been reading history my whole life as a sort of idiot armchair historian. I’m fascinated by all this stuff. And it is material I thought I would never have a chance to use anywhere.”
That material became the original series Andor, perhaps the most acclaimed Star Wars creation since The Empire Strikes Back in 1980. And in case there’s any doubt, Gilroy does not mince words on what his series, now in its second and final season, is really trying to say: “It's about revolution".
“I want to drop the mic on revolution stories. I want to get it all in there. I want it to be timeless. I want it to feel like it's honouring all the revolutions that we've ever read about, all through history,” he says.
The series follows Cassian Andor (Diego Luna), a man who initially embodies the sort of “scum and villainy” that Obi-Wan Kenobi once warned about. Over the course of the show’s two seasons – the second premiered on Wednesday on Disney+ globally – Andor is radicalised, slowly becoming a true believer in a revolution he initially wants nothing to do with.
But as the story evolved, it became grander in scope. Throughout the show, a panoply of characters across the landscape is featured. We follow a docile senator secretly working with an art dealer to fund and organise the rebellion. We meet guerrilla soldiers bickering in the jungle and farmers just trying to survive as the powers that be clench their fists. And we even experience the banality of evil through government workers deep inside the empire’s bureaucracy.
Gilroy had no shortage of historical antecedents to draw from. “The Russian Revolution, for one. The French Revolution. The American Revolution, obviously. Oliver Cromwell – I got really into that and the complications of him. Zapata. I know a lot about Mao.”
“Revolutions are like families,” Gilroy adds. They're all the same, and they're all different, you know? So I'm pulling from everything here. And as far as how molecular it is, I mean, I've always worked that way.”
Gilroy knew how rare an opportunity it was to get to make such grand political statements within a major intellectual property. But to his surprise, even as he laid his vision bare to Lucasfilm head Kathleen Kennedy and other top Disney brass, no one blinked.
“Disney knew what I was going to do. I did a lot of work beforehand to show them, to make sure that they were really into what we were doing, but they wanted to go this way. And it's a big gamble for them, too,” Gilroy says.
For Luna, who serves as both producer and star, the show is not just about history – it’s about the world we live in now.
Luna says: “Yes, there's reference to the past, but sadly, history repeats. We're not that different from our parents or our grandparents.”
As season two evolves across its 12 episodes, and the war between the rebellion and the Galactic Empire heats up, Luna was surprised to see how much of it reflected current conflicts happening across the world.
“This story suddenly feels like, ‘Oh my God, it's talking about today’. And it's because Tony has a very honest process as a writer. He reflects on what matters to him. And a story of people wanting to bring change to their community is timeless.”
But for Ben Mendelsohn, who played the Galactic Empire’s military leader Orson Krennic in Rogue One and returns to the franchise in Andor season two, the show is the “pinnacle” of Star Wars because it captures the humanity on all sides of the political equation.
“The real secret to the empathy game is this: The rebels are fighting for a good idea, but the Empire is also fighting for what they see as a good idea. And that’s history in a nutshell. It’s a series of disagreements about good ideas,” says Mendelsohn.
And part of the reason the series feels so rich, especially in the second season, is that the heroes are morally complex. Characters in life and death scenarios must constantly confront whether evil actions can serve the greater good, and what kind of violence can be justified. And even the revolutionaries consistently disagree on what measures must be taken.
For Denise Gough, who plays methodical and Machiavellian Imperial security strategist Deedra Meero, those themes resonate strongly – and impart lessons that perhaps none of its characters ascribe to.
“It makes you think, wouldn’t it be amazing to be in a world where we all admit that maybe there's something other than this violence? That maybe the actual care of humanity is the best idea, as opposed to, like, wiping everybody out all the time?” says Gough.
Episodes one to three of Andor season two are out now, with three more episodes releasing weekly on Disney+ until May 13
The years Ramadan fell in May
Why seagrass matters
- Carbon sink: Seagrass sequesters carbon up to 35X faster than tropical rainforests
- Marine nursery: Crucial habitat for juvenile fish, crustations, and invertebrates
- Biodiversity: Support species like sea turtles, dugongs, and seabirds
- Coastal protection: Reduce erosion and improve water quality
The Voice of Hind Rajab
Starring: Saja Kilani, Clara Khoury, Motaz Malhees
Director: Kaouther Ben Hania
Rating: 4/5
The five pillars of Islam
Mohammed bin Zayed Majlis
Meydan race card
6.30pm: Maiden Dh 165,000 1,600m
7.05pm: Handicap Dh 185,000 2,000m
7.40pm: Maiden Dh 165,000 1,600m
8.15pm: Handicap Dh 190,000 1,400m
8.50pm: Handicap Dh 175,000 1,600m
9.25pm: Handicap Dh 175,000 1,200m
10pm: Handicap Dh 165,000 1,600m
Killing of Qassem Suleimani
OPINIONS ON PALESTINE & ISRAEL
COMPANY PROFILE
Name: Kumulus Water
Started: 2021
Founders: Iheb Triki and Mohamed Ali Abid
Based: Tunisia
Sector: Water technology
Number of staff: 22
Investment raised: $4 million
MATCH INFO
Osasuna 1 Real Madrid 4
Osasuna: García (14')
Real Madrid: Isco (33'), Ramos (38'), Vázquez (84'), Jovic (90' 2)
Zayed Sustainability Prize
Fringe@Four Line-up
October 1 - Phil Nichol (stand-up comedy)
October 29 - Mandy Knight (stand-up comedy)
November 5 - Sinatra Raw (Fringe theatre)
November 8 - Imah Dumagay & Sundeep Fernandes (stand-up comedy)
November 13 - Gordon Southern (stand-up comedy)
November 22 - In Loyal Company (Fringe theatre)
November 29 - Peter Searles (comedy / theatre)
December 5 - Sinatra’s Christmas Under The Stars (music / dinner show)
FIXTURES
Thu Mar 15 – West Indies v Afghanistan, UAE v Scotland
Fri Mar 16 – Ireland v Zimbabwe
Sun Mar 18 – Ireland v Scotland
Mon Mar 19 – West Indies v Zimbabwe
Tue Mar 20 – UAE v Afghanistan
Wed Mar 21 – West Indies v Scotland
Thu Mar 22 – UAE v Zimbabwe
Fri Mar 23 – Ireland v Afghanistan
The top two teams qualify for the World Cup
Classification matches
The top-placed side out of Papua New Guinea, Hong Kong or Nepal will be granted one-day international status. UAE and Scotland have already won ODI status, having qualified for the Super Six.
Thu Mar 15 – Netherlands v Hong Kong, PNG v Nepal
Sat Mar 17 – 7th-8th place playoff, 9th-10th place play-off
Company%20profile
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Sanju
Produced: Vidhu Vinod Chopra, Rajkumar Hirani
Director: Rajkumar Hirani
Cast: Ranbir Kapoor, Vicky Kaushal, Paresh Rawal, Anushka Sharma, Manish’s Koirala, Dia Mirza, Sonam Kapoor, Jim Sarbh, Boman Irani
Rating: 3.5 stars
Key facilities
- Olympic-size swimming pool with a split bulkhead for multi-use configurations, including water polo and 50m/25m training lanes
- Premier League-standard football pitch
- 400m Olympic running track
- NBA-spec basketball court with auditorium
- 600-seat auditorium
- Spaces for historical and cultural exploration
- An elevated football field that doubles as a helipad
- Specialist robotics and science laboratories
- AR and VR-enabled learning centres
- Disruption Lab and Research Centre for developing entrepreneurial skills
INFO
Some of Darwish's last words
"They see their tomorrows slipping out of their reach. And though it seems to them that everything outside this reality is heaven, yet they do not want to go to that heaven. They stay, because they are afflicted with hope." - Mahmoud Darwish, to attendees of the Palestine Festival of Literature, 2008
His life in brief: Born in a village near Galilee, he lived in exile for most of his life and started writing poetry after high school. He was arrested several times by Israel for what were deemed to be inciteful poems. Most of his work focused on the love and yearning for his homeland, and he was regarded the Palestinian poet of resistance. Over the course of his life, he published more than 30 poetry collections and books of prose, with his work translated into more than 20 languages. Many of his poems were set to music by Arab composers, most significantly Marcel Khalife. Darwish died on August 9, 2008 after undergoing heart surgery in the United States. He was later buried in Ramallah where a shrine was erected in his honour.
Killing of Qassem Suleimani
What drives subscription retailing?
Once the domain of newspaper home deliveries, subscription model retailing has combined with e-commerce to permeate myriad products and services.
The concept has grown tremendously around the world and is forecast to thrive further, according to UnivDatos Market Insights’ report on recent and predicted trends in the sector.
The global subscription e-commerce market was valued at $13.2 billion (Dh48.5bn) in 2018. It is forecast to touch $478.2bn in 2025, and include the entertainment, fitness, food, cosmetics, baby care and fashion sectors.
The report says subscription-based services currently constitute “a small trend within e-commerce”. The US hosts almost 70 per cent of recurring plan firms, including leaders Dollar Shave Club, Hello Fresh and Netflix. Walmart and Sephora are among longer established retailers entering the space.
UnivDatos cites younger and affluent urbanites as prime subscription targets, with women currently the largest share of end-users.
That’s expected to remain unchanged until 2025, when women will represent a $246.6bn market share, owing to increasing numbers of start-ups targeting women.
Personal care and beauty occupy the largest chunk of the worldwide subscription e-commerce market, with changing lifestyles, work schedules, customisation and convenience among the chief future drivers.
David Haye record
Total fights: 32
Wins: 28
Wins by KO: 26
Losses: 4
More on animal trafficking
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
Key figures in the life of the fort
Sheikh Dhiyab bin Isa (ruled 1761-1793) Built Qasr Al Hosn as a watchtower to guard over the only freshwater well on Abu Dhabi island.
Sheikh Shakhbut bin Dhiyab (ruled 1793-1816) Expanded the tower into a small fort and transferred his ruling place of residence from Liwa Oasis to the fort on the island.
Sheikh Tahnoon bin Shakhbut (ruled 1818-1833) Expanded Qasr Al Hosn further as Abu Dhabi grew from a small village of palm huts to a town of more than 5,000 inhabitants.
Sheikh Khalifa bin Shakhbut (ruled 1833-1845) Repaired and fortified the fort.
Sheikh Saeed bin Tahnoon (ruled 1845-1855) Turned Qasr Al Hosn into a strong two-storied structure.
Sheikh Zayed bin Khalifa (ruled 1855-1909) Expanded Qasr Al Hosn further to reflect the emirate's increasing prominence.
Sheikh Shakhbut bin Sultan (ruled 1928-1966) Renovated and enlarged Qasr Al Hosn, adding a decorative arch and two new villas.
Sheikh Zayed bin Sultan (ruled 1966-2004) Moved the royal residence to Al Manhal palace and kept his diwan at Qasr Al Hosn.
Sources: Jayanti Maitra, www.adach.ae
The five pillars of Islam
The years Ramadan fell in May
