The first three episodes of Andor Season 2 on Disney+ focus on the problems facing the nascent Rebellion, the Empire’s insidious plans to commit a planet-wide genocide, and, oh, yeah, a fancy Star Wars wedding.
**Spoilers for Andor Season 2 Episodes 1-3, now streaming on Disney+**
While Cassian Andor (Diego Luna) struggles to survive on Yavin IV and Orson Krennic (Ben Mendelsohn) plots to destroy the entire world of Ghorman, Senator Mon Mothma (Genevive O’Reilly) is honestly just trying to get through her daughter’s three day marriage ritual.
When we met Mon Mothma’s teenaged daughter Leida (Bronte Carmichael) in Andor Season 1, it was obvious that part of her interest in conservative Chandrilan traditions was simply to get under her liberal mother’s skin. Leida might think it’s super great to be a child bride marrying into a sleazy banking family, but Mon Mothma knows from her own experience, marrying Leida’s father Perrin (Alastair Mackenzie) at 16, that her 15-year-old daughter has no clue what she’s getting into.
The first three episodes of Andor Season 2 make a point to show us how Leida’s big fat Chandrilan wedding is Mon Mothma’s version of sacrifice for the Rebellion. The Senator is only reluctantly agreeing to this match because the groom’s father is rich and Mon Mothma needs loans from his bank to cover her own contributions to the cause.
However, Leida’s young age, ethereal styling, and choices also serve as a thematic mirror to another Senator’s teen daughter in the Star Wars galaxy at this time. Leida’s whole existence in Andor basically makes Carrie Fisher’s Princess Leia look that much more heroic in the original Star Wars trilogy.
We first meet Leida Mothma in Andor Season 1 Episode 5 “The Axe Forgets” and it’s immediately clear that she has a rebellious streak, although not in the political sense. She immediately rebuffs her mother’s attempts to chauffeur her to school, artfully pointing out that Mon Mothma is only volunteering to do so for appearances. Even when the Senator expresses it’s a low blow, Leida is able to once again tear into her mother’s priorities. “It’s always about you.”
As the first season goes on, we learn that Leida and her peers have decided that antiquated Chandrilan customs are all the rage, much to Mon’s chagrin. The senator doesn’t want her daughter pushed into a loveless marriage for social cache. Nevertheless, that’s the cage she finds herself backed into when she needs money for the Rebellion. Luthen Rael (Stellan Skarsgård) suggests she takes a loan from the thug-like Davo Sculdun (Richard Dillane). What does Sculdun want in return? A match between his teen son and the obliging Leida.
Andor Season 2 opens a year later and it’s time for Leida to marry Stekan Sculdun (Finlay Glasgow). Both the bride and groom are only 15-years-old and their first fight breaks out when Stekan refuses to hold Leida’s hand in public. “He’s a child,” Leida cries to her mother, naively unaware that she is still a child, too.
But Leida stubbornly goes through with the ceremony, even after her mother offers her a last minute chance to walk. In fact, Leida shoves Mon’s lifeline back at her, sniping that she wishes Mon, like her grandmother, was drunk instead of suggesting such a social faux pas for her sake. Nevertheless, it’s clear throughout the wedding that follows that Leida is both nervous and overwhelmed by what she’s doing. She does it anyway, choosing the path of following tradition for fashion’s sake (and to stick it to her mother).
Bronte Carmichael’s performance is excellent in Andor, balancing Leida’s precociousness with her naiveté. There’s this feisty fire constantly bubbling under her serene rich girl’s facade. This spirit, along with everything else about Leida, pointedly evokes Princess Leia. They have similar names, are canonically around the same age, and grew up as the defiant daughters of Senators embedded in the Rebellion. Leida and Leia even favor the same gauzy white gowns and brunette braids. But it’s where they’re different that matters the most.
Instead of funneling her disaffection into galactic politics, Leida has chosen to rebel against her mother. I mean, I get it. Mon Mothma’s too busy secretly scheming with Luthen Rael to topple an evil fascist empire to do the daily school drop off. Leida’s instead found affirmation by embracing the trend of tradition. It’s a very understandable and relatable path. More extraordinary, though? What her doppelgänger is up to over on Alderaan…
Watching Leida hew to the well-trod path of tradition makes what Princess Leia does with her life feel all the more heroic. Instead of looking for a good marriage, Leia is going to follow her adoptive father into the Senate. She’s going to not only align with the Rebellion, but become the face of it. Mon Mothma’s not going to execute Leida for giving her sass; the Empire’s going to literally try to do that to Leia in Star Wars: Episode IV – A New Hope.
As Andor repeatedly shows us, standing up to the Empire is an act of great courage and sacrifice. Mon Mothma has to sacrifice her dreams of pulling her daughter out of the patriarchal prison of child marriage to keep the Rebellion funded. Andor also shows us how easy it is to simply let systems control our fates without questioning them. Leida represents that. She also represents the type of pampered path Leia was expected to follow.
Leida’s story shows Star Wars fans that Princess Leia was an even bigger badass than we already realized.
Andor Season 2 Episodes 4-6 premiere on Disney+ on Tuesday, April 29.
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