WARNING! Spoilers ahead for Andor season 2, episodes 7, 8, and 9!

Star Wars’ best new show, Ghorman Massacre and its fallout in the Imperial Senate. The episodes have been hailed as some of the best Star Wars television ever, and it’s hard to disagree. Tony Gilroy's storytelling is unprecedented in the franchise, and there’s no doubt Andor will be praised when awards season comes around.

Mon Mothma's story continues in a "fourth episode" for this chapter; Star Wars Rebels season 3, episode 18, "Secret Cargo." This tells the story of Mon Mothma's defection and escape from the Empire. Andor did a good job avoiding significant contradictions, writing around Rebels, and there's a straight narrative throughline. That said, there are several changes - some minor, some major, all worth noting.

5 Mon Mothma’s Senatorial Speech Was Changed

And Likely Made Better

Tony Gilroy and Genevieve O'Reilly have openly itted Mon Mothma's stirring speech is a retcon, with Gilroy itting that his brother Dan - who wrote Andor episode 9 - struggled to make it work. "Danny's like, 'Do I have to stick to this f--ing speech?'," Gilroy recalled in a rather impolitic manner. Andor decided to split Mon's speech, revealing she gave two - one of which was offscreen for Andor.

This change can be attributed to the two shows having different target demographics, but it also makes sense that Andor wanted to have its own version.

This change can be attributed to the two shows having different target demographics, but it also makes sense that Andor wanted to have its own version. It’s also possible that the version of Mon Mothma’s speech that Ezra Bridger, Zeb Orrelios, and Hera Syndulla listened to aboard the Ghost was altered by the Empire as part of a propaganda smear campaign against Mon Mothma. They did listen to it via the Holonet, and Andor has shown what an effective tool propaganda is, so this change, while a pretty big one, isn’t of much consequence.

4 Andor Never Mentioned Having To Unite Different Rebel Cells

This Was Completely Omitted From Andor

There's a reason Mon Mothma had to give her Rebels speech; she was trying to unite different rebel cells to form the Rebel Alliance. This was the second speech Erskin Semaj referenced while in the safe house in Andor season 2, episode 9. However, the part about bringing together different rebels was completely omitted. Since Andor is more about small, individual acts of Rebellion, it makes sense this wasn’t mentioned. It’s unclear if Andor will address this speech or its effects at all, but it doesn’t seem likely.

3 Bail Organa Wasn’t On Coruscant When Mon Gave Her Second Speech

Andor Showed Bail Staying On Coruscant

While Bail Organa didn’t have a line in Rebels season 3, episode 18, he did appear alongside General Dodonna. They appeared while Mon Mothma gave her second speech, which helped unite the Rebels and officially form the Rebel Alliance. Originally, it was assumed that this appearance showed them on either Yavin 4 or Dantooine, but Andor has just made it clear that Bail Organa stayed on Coruscant after Mon Mothma’s defection. While it’s certainly possible Bail had made a quick trip to a Rebel base somewhere like Dantooine, Andor mentioned that General Dodonna was on Yavin 4 during this time.

Benjamin Bratt was recast as Bail Organa for Andor season 2, as Jimmy Smits was unavailable due to scheduling issues.

While this is truly of no consequence, it does raise the question of when Bail Organa actually leaves the Senate to the Rebels. We know from Rogue One: A Star Wars Story that Bail eventually appears on Yavin 4 before going back to Alderaan, where he’s eventually killed by the Death Star. With General Dodonna being on Yavin 4 already, it shows that the timeline of events may have shifted slightly to move things up a bit.

2 Mon Mothma’s Hair Was Completely Different In Rebels

Could She Have Gotten A Haircut Before Boarding the Ghost?

When Mon Mothma appears in Rebels, she’s donning the pixie cut audiences know from when she appeared in Rogue One: A Star Wars Story as well as the original Star Wars trilogy. It’s hard to mistake Mon’s bright head hair, and it’s hard to imagine her hair much shorter than what we’ve seen so far in Andor, but it’s possible that she quickly cut her hair while aboard the transit that was supposed to bring her to the Rebel base.

The cut could’ve been symbolic in that she was cutting her ties to the Empire, or even a way to minimally disguise her. However, it’s possible that Andor didn’t want to change Mon Mothma’s hair and that her arc in Andor simply didn’t include a haircut. Andor’s final arc may show Mon Mothma with the hair we see her don in Rogue One, especially since the final arc will lead right into the film, but it also doesn’t have to. The important part is that the audience in both Andor and Rebels knows that this character is the same person.

1 Rebels Shows Mon Mothma Arriving on Dantooine

Not Yavin 4, Like in Andor

Andor never shows audiences Mon Mothma’s actual arrival on Yavin 4 at the end of season 2, episode 9, it’s just implied that she’ll get there. However, in Rebels, it was never the plan for Mon Mothma to go to Yavin 4; the plan was always for her to go to the Rebel base on Dantooine. At that point in the Star Wars timeline, Dantooine was a much more developed base and was more suited for making tactical decisions, though it would be decommissioned once Yavin 4 was up and operational.

Andor made it clear multiple times that Mon Mothma would be going to Yavin, and made no mention of Dantooine. So while we don’t know where Mon Mothma actually went at the end of Andor season 2, episode 9, it’s implied that the Ghost crew took her to Yavin instead of Dantooine. This further breaks Rebels continuity if true, since Ghost crew like Ezra Bridger didn’t go to Yavin until Rebels season 4. It’s possible that Mon Mothma boarded another ship after arriving on Dantooine and then made her way to Yavin, but there’s no real way to know.

While Andor season 2’s Ghorman Massacre arc retconned some things from Rebels, all the changes were minor, and not anything that really takes away from the storytelling in either show. While Star Wars fans love when canon continuity is kept, getting such a good bout of storytelling should forgive the retcons. Ultimately, keeping the story told in Andor separate from the one told in Rebels was the right move, and the retcons weren’t a big deal.

New episodes of Andor premiere Tuesdays at 9 PM EST/6 PM PST.