Disney+‘s Andor just aired a shocking sexual assault scene, and it’s causing a rift among the Star Wars fandom.
The assault happens during the third episode of the show. Bix (Adria Arjona), one of the rebel fugitives, is hiding out on Mina-Rau, an agricultural planet, when the imperial army arrives to conduct an inspection, looking to round up any undocumented people. Before she can get out, Imperial Lieutenant Krole (Alex Waldmann), a soldier who previously showed a concerning amount of interest in Bix, catches her. That’s when the assault occurs.
At first, Lieutenant Krole offers to keep quiet about Bix’s status as an “illegal,” but only if she agrees to have sex with him. She refuses, and so he attacks her. It’s brutal and horrifying to watch. Eventually, Bix gets the upper hand, killing the Lieutenant with a wrench.
What Bix says next leaves no room for misinterpretation in viewers’ minds about what just unfolded.
“He tried to rape me!” she screams in horror.
Immediately after the episode aired, division stirred amongst the Star Wars fandom. Some fans found the scene to be out of place in their “family friendly” sci-fi adventure series. They claimed that the scene was too “political,” as Bix is a political refugee and undocumented citizen who gets attacked at the hands of a fascist imperial soldier.
It goes without saying, but the parallels between what is happening in Andor and the fascist immigration policies currently being enacted in America are crystal clear. The only difference between the two of them is that the imperial troops in Andor are just space ICE.
“I don’t want to see a rape in Star Wars,” one person wrote in a post on X. “Idk why this is a thing being pushed on me to have to want to be cool with.”
A few comments under the post agreed, claiming the rape should be “implied” not shown.
However, other Andor fans disagreed, posting on social media that anyone who thinks the series is apolitical hasn’t been paying enough attention.
A Redditor even pointed out: “if you were surprised the story went there, my guess is you’re a guy.”
Some Andor fans even began to troll the viewers who didn’t grasp why Tony Gilroy, the show’s creator, would include a storyline about assault in a show that’s centered on fighting authoritarianism.
In an interview with The Hollywood Reporter, Gilroy explained why the attempted rape of an undocumented fugitive was necessary to include in the show.
“I get one shot to tell everything I know—or can discover, or that I’ve learned—about revolution, about battles, with as many incidents and as many colors as I can get in there, without having [the story] tip over,” Gilroy said.
He went on to explain: “I mean, let’s be honest, man: The history of civilization, there’s a huge arterial component of it that’s rape. All of us who are here—we are all the product of rape. I mean armies and power throughout history [have committed rape]. So to not touch on it, in some way … It just was organic and it felt right, coming about as a power trip for this guy. I was really trying to make a path for Bix that would ultimately lead to clarity—but a difficult path to get back to clarity.”
Regardless of which side of the argument Andor fans fall on, one thing is for sure: No one will forget the scene anytime soon.
