Andor Season 2: This Will Be An Ending Long Remembered
What Do Bix Caleen and Tony Soprano Have In Common? A Dive Into Clayton's Head Canon
***WARNING! THIS ARTICLE CONTAINS SPOILERS FOR THE ANDOR SEASON TWO FINALE!***
In the Great Endings Hall of Fame, they’re clearing wall space and readying a shiny plaque for showrunner Tony Gilroy and the creative team behind Andor.
They’re going to hang that plaque in the same gallery as some of my favorite finales: Better Call Saul, Newhart, Six Feet Under, and Scrubs (which I maintain ended at season eight) to name a few. I’d love to hear yours.
With a precisely-crafted story, MANY powerful emotions, visuals, music, editing, and everything else, Andor perfectly wrapped up a stellar two-season run while perfectly teeing up brand new appreciation for my favorite sequel-era film: Rogue One: A Star Wars Story.
But let’s talk about that last shot in episode 12. It hit me like an emotional ton of banthas. Like all of her work on the series, Adria Arjona plays the final scene to perfection, with the gravity of everything Bix has experienced— the good and the very bad—etched into a heartbreaking performance.
As Bix stands quietly among the wheat fields of Mina-Rau comforting her child, she stares into the distance with a look of contentment and even a slight smile. But then, she turns her eyes, then her head, to look at something that catches her attention. There’s a wonderfully subtle change in her expression, too. (Another nod to Arjona’s fantastic acting skill.)
What, or who, was Bix looking at?
As the credits rolled, I couldn’t help but be reminded of another great TV ending. Since 2007, fans have been arguing over what Tony Soprano saw that night sitting in a restaurant as Journey’s Don’t Stop Believin’ blared. Was it his daughter? An assassin? The screen abruptly cut to black, so we’ll never know. (That cut to black by the way, which both Andor and The Sopranos share, always suggests to me that there’s more to the story. A slow fade out feels like an ending, a cut feels like a “to be continued”.)
Anyway, here’s the ridiculous piece of head canon that I’ve been pushing in group texts with my Star Wars friends for the last 12 hours.
I doubt I’m alone here, but in my mind, Bix was absolutely looking at Cassian (Diego Luna). I believe he took the advice from Vel (Faye Marsay) to reconnect with Bix, despite his earlier reluctance.
“Don’t wait too long,” are Vel’s parting words to Cassian.
I think, maybe he didn’t. On his way to meet Tivik at the Ring of Kafrene, I maintain Cassian made a quick detour to see Bix and meet their child. The reunion was necessarily abbreviated, but I believe it helped steel Cassian even more to the cause, while raising the already considerable personal stakes even higher.
So why would the topic of Cassian’s family never come up in Rogue One? He alludes to it talking to Vel.
“She wouldn’t be safe with me,” he says.
Just like Obi-Wan Kenobi’s advice to Luke upon learning he had a twin sister, Cassian knew he had to bury his feelings. He becomes hyper focused on the Rebellion, knowing he had to commit and now fight even harder to take down the Empire.
There is, however, at least one moment in Rogue One that I think Cassian might be thinking his family.
On Eadu, as Cassian takes aim at Galen Erso through his rifle scope, his finger dangerously close to the trigger, I think he gets a flash.
Seconds away from assassinating Erso— the father of his (reluctant) new ally Jyn— I think Cassian gets a flash of his own family back on Mina-Rau. That, combined with lingering doubt about Erso’s true role in creating the Death Star, causes Cassian to push his rifle to the side.
Maybe there are similar moments I’ll spot when I rewatch Rogue One in the next few days. Maybe not.
And look, I acknowledge there’s no way to know for sure whether Cassian ever stopped in Mina-Rau, or whether Tony Soprano met a violent end that night in the restaurant. Maybe as a dad myself, seeing his child is something I want for Cassian.
Tony Gilroy has said, according to Decider, that Cassian did NOT meet the child.
With all due respect for Mr. Gilroy, I’m sticking with my theory and pretending I didn’t read that article. The magic is in the mystery of not knowing, and letting everyone come to their own conclusion.
In my mind, Bix was smiling at Cassian. He was standing just outside the frame, and smiling right back.
Don’t stop believin’.
I watched Rogue One IMMEDIATELY after the finale, and looked for clues that could not possibly have been planted there since filming wrapped on the film a decade ago. But I like your theory. I will ask Tony Gilroy tonight at a Q&A tonight in NYC, and cite you! Stay tuned...