The Death Star Human Resources Department Newsletter: March 28, 2025
It's possible I've spoiled season 2 of Andor
Hello there
It’s a Friday night edition of the Death Star Human Resources Department Newsletter. It’s also what I’d call an Ewok-sized Death Star HR. It’s just a quick one this week, too much going on in the real world, something that’s been happening too often lately. But as always, I appreciate you reading and following along. There should be a fully armed and operational Death Star HR next week.
This Is Where The Fun Begins
I had a fun video for this ready to go, you’ll have to wait until next week. In it’s place, I received this coded transmission from Death Star HR and real life friend, the mysterious media droid known only as VI-DE0 FL0.
OK fine, hate on Orsen Krennic all you want. I mean, he was a war criminal after all. But there’s no way his operation security is that bad. Admiral Ozzel on other hand, absolutely the type of guy accidentally text the Rebellion and say “landing on Hoth, got the element of surprize. stupid rebs lol”
Is Darth Vader in Andor?
Hear me out. On Monday, Disney dropped another Andor trailer. Now, if the Mouse is following standard Imperial protocol, they’ll dump their garbage before they go to lightspeed several more little quick clips before the season premiere on April 22nd. You can see the trailer here. Like they always do, it’s a mix of footage that’s already been released plus some new stuff to keep it interesting.
You’ve watched the trailer? Decent chance if you’re a reader of Death Star HR, you watched it on Monday. But you’ve watched it again, and there’s no sign of our favorite heavy-breathing Sith Lord. So why the headline? Take a look at the 0:52 mark.
That’s fascist Barbie Dedra Meero seemingly having trouble breathing. Maybe the collar of her ISB uniform is too tight. Maybe she’s having a power lunch at her desk and is choking on Kapaio shrimp, waiting for Syril Karn to come give her the Heimlich. Or maybe, just maybe she ran afoul with a black-helmeted, ill-tempered enforcer for Palpatine.
I’ve been trying to decide if having an appearance from Darth Vader would be a nice surprise, or feel completely out of place in Andor. We did get the appearance at the end of Rogue One.
Also worth re-watching. I know there were people online who didn’t like that, felt it distracted from the overall tone of the movie. And while I get it, it changes Vader’s interaction with Leia from the start of the movie. I also believe they’re wrong. Think about how you felt seeing Rogue One in the theater, you had the darkened screen. Then you hear the breathing. Then you see the lightsaber. I still get chills.
Back to season 2 of Andor. As I’ve often said, it’s the least Star Warsy show out there. There’s far more emphasis on the “wars” and not much on the “stars.” In the sense that there’s very little of hokey religions and ancient weapons in season 1 of Andor. There’s just war. Or at least, the coming war. The Jedi and the Sith and magical powers don’t really fit into the whole vibe that Andor is going for.
On the other hand, Darth Vader is a potent symbol of the Empire. What better why to show the citizens of the Empire and Imperial employees that if they don’t go along, there will be problems. Like not being able to breath type of problems. Symbolism in big in the Empire. The gleaming white Stormtrooper uniforms. The red of the Emperor’s Royal Guard. Palpatine believes in going big as a show of force, even when there’s no need to. Sure, the AT-AT’s look cool and are certainly intimidating to any Rebels they might step on but surely Imperial Engineering could have built them in a way that they’d be just a destructive but less prone to getting tangled up by a tow-cable. When you design for vibes instead of practicality, things go wrong. See: Cybertrucks.
I’ve been thinking about it all week and I really can’t decide if Vader would show up. And would Disney let the proverbial Loth-Cat out of the bag and tip their hand like this as well. For whatever its worth, I did check Hayden Christensen’s IMDB page and there’s no listing for him playing Vader in Andor. Nor is there anyone listed as Vader on the Andor IMDB page. Doesn’t mean it can’t happen though. I guess I’d say I don’t think it’s likely, but out of any possible legacy character that could show up, Palpatine might be the most likely but I’d put Vader as the runner. Make 60/40 doesn’t appear versus appear.
This Day in Star Wars History
Keeping with the Ewok-sized Death Star HR this week, there’s only one entry we’re going to mention for March 28th.
Composer Joel McNeely was born in 1959. McNeely has two other Lucasfilm credits, he wrote the music for The Radioland Murders - which was referenced a couple weeks ago here in Death Star HR - and for nine episodes of The Young Indiana Jones Chronicles. But for the purposes of this newsletter, he was the composer for the Shadows of the Empire soundtrack. I’ve wanted to do a deep dive on Shadows of the Empire for a while, it was a pretty ambitious project from back in 1996. Shadows of the Empire was a book, videogame, series of action figures, and a soundtrack. It’s probably best remembered for the first level of the video game, which starts off with flying a speeder during the Battle of Hoth.
From the Depths of Wookieepedia
There’s not much better than when the Wookieepedia randomizer gives me some food from the galaxy far, far away. And this week, it’s Utoz! As far as I can tell, utoz is basically beer but in the Star Wars universe, specially served on the planet Sran. We had Legends utoz, but it’s returned to canon in a High Republic era audiobook.
Also, just from the little blurb, it might not be very good. The Steel Reserve of the Star Wars galaxy.
Droid: "How about a glass of utoz or vematoid."
Keller: "Which is better?"
Eyta: "Neither."
News From the HoloNet
Clive Revill, Voice of the Emperor in ‘The Empire Strikes Back,’ Dies at 94
A Tony-nominated Dark Lord of the Sith.
This will definitely be reviewed in the Death Star HR Book Club.
There’s One Star Wars Fan Theory Disney Will Never Make Canon
Make Darth Jar Jar canon, you cowards! Oh, it’s not that one?
That’s it for this week. If you like what I’m doing, please subscribe. I’ll catch you next week, and may the Force be with you.
I feel like Gilroy only adds legacy characters by (ahem) force, and Vader introduction isn't his style. Then again, Vader does appear in Rogue One. Given the tone of Andor, you could be totally right that she's being confronted by Vader, or just having a personal anxiety attack because she was called out in a conference call.
I feel like Vader in this show would be like when Dragons show up at the end of Season 1 Game of Thrones. Suddenly, this very down to Earth universe has a major fantasy element.
Exciting to see how they'll thread that needle!
You know, keep joking about Darth Jar Jar, and that’s what you’re going to get for “Andor.” Either that or Kylo Boomhauer.