The rebellion has begun! Andor is now streaming on Disney+, following the fan-favorite rebel in a tale set five years before the events of Rogue One: A Star Wars Story, and we’re watching. Join StarWars.com every week for Andor Analyzed, in which we list the best moments from each episode.

Spoiler warning: This article contains story details and plot points from the ninth episode of Andor, “Nobody’s Listening!”

The fascism of the Empire is in full bloom.

As Andor continues with “Nobody’s Listening!” — a title pulled from powerful dialogue mid-episode — our heroes are suffering the full wrath of the Empire. A sobering installment that depicts the harsh realities of living under the Imperial regime, “Nobody’s Listening!” still, in the end, offers a glimmer of hope and rebellion. Here are five highlights.

1.

This is a Monday to celebrate for Star Wars fans.

Today, Disney+ announced the cast for The Acolyte, an upcoming Star Wars Original series from Lucasfilm. Joining the previously announced Amandla Stenberg (The Hate U Give) are Emmy Award-winner Lee Jung-jae (Squid Game), Manny Jacinto (Nine Perfect Strangers), Dafne Keen (His Dark Materials), Jodie Turner-Smith (Queen & Slim), Rebecca Henderson (Inventing Anna), Charlie Barnett (Russian Doll), Dean-Charles Chapman (1917), and Carrie-Anne Moss (The Matrix).

Lucasfilm also released the first behind-the-scenes image from the series, which you can check out below.

Amandla Stenberg, Lee Jung-jae, and Leslye Headland behind the scenes of The Acolyte.

The Acolyte is a mystery-thriller that will take viewers into a galaxy of shadowy secrets and emerging dark-side powers in the final days of the High Republic era.

The problem was Han Solo’s lips.

For three months, Hannalee Pervan and her mother, Catherine, had carefully planned out how to create a 6-foot-tall, 3-foot-wide sculpture of Solo encased in carbonite using the tools of their trade from One House Bakery in Benicia, California. After the bakery closed for the day, mother and daughter worked side by side for four weeks, baking three massive batches — 30 kilos each — of a special yeastless dough, rolling it into thin sheets reminiscent of fresh pasta, and then racing up the stairs from the bakery’s ovens to the loft where they would assemble their masterpiece.

The underlayer was forgiving, a rock-solid form with a high-protein flour and high sugar content to give the carbonite base its shape. Upon discovering she was the

StarWars.com is shining a light on those who truly give the saga its power: the fans. In the StarWars.com Fan Spotlight, we’re honored to tell their stories.

During the pandemic, Jacquelyn Smith found herself returning to two comforts, Star Wars books and baking, while taking care of her mother who passed away from cancer last year. “She was a voracious reader, and when she read I picked up reading novels again,” she tells StarWars.com. “My pre-order of Light of the Jedi arrived just a few days before she died, and although it was weeks before I could bring myself to read it, I found solace and comfort in the story and characters. Star Wars is ultimately about hope, and that’s just what I needed, what we all need in trying times.”

Imperial stalwarts Dedra Meero and Syril Karn aren’t your typical minions of the Empire.

The Andor antagonists are fierce and nuanced, two characters that at once read as villains and regular people making dangerous decisions in the quest for power. And together, they could be a potent force to track down Cassian Andor and the burgeoning rebellion. But actors Denise Gough and Kyle Soller seem to be nothing like their characters. In a darkened room on the interview circuit, the two keep erupting into laughter as they try to describe their on-screen counterparts, now appearing in the series streaming on Disney+.

“Super fun!” Gough suggests.

“Yeah. Really polite. Really like into, you know, crafts,” Soller offers.

“They have hobbies! So chill,” Gough counters.

“They meditate a lot. You know, they’re really well-balanced, well-adjusted

Jedi Knight Vildar Mac wasn’t ready for this.

Vildar and his Padawan, Matthea Cathley, arrived on Jedha looking to secure a stolen piece of religious art. Instead they found a world in turmoil, as Force believers clashed in the streets, and a new enemy — with Vildar suffering a vicious attack from a mysterious being, one purporting to be a practitioner of long-forbidden Force techniques.

As the story continues in Marvel’s Star Wars: The High Republic #2, Padawan Matty desperately attempts to revive her master…

The High Republic #2 arrives November 9 and is available for pre-order now on ComiXology and at your local comic shop.

Visit Lucasfilm’s official hub for all things Star Wars: The High Republic at StarWars.com/TheHighRepublic.

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