For the past few weeks, I’ve been able to think of little else but Andor. We’re approaching the end of Season Two at the time this blog goes live, and it has been a roller coaster to say the least. So how can we combine this complete Andor immersion with Star Wars Celebration history? With a deep dive into the recent past! Let’s take a look back at every time Andor has shown up in some capacity at Celebration.
(Please note this is as complete of a record as I could find in research. If I missed any appearances or mentions, please let me know! Check out all of the videos linked in the article on THIS playlist! As always, sources available upon request if not linked here in the blog.)
IT ALL STARTED WITH ROGUE ONE
Star Wars Celebration Anaheim 2015 ~On Sunday, April 19, 2015 at 11 AM, a panel was held on the Arena Stage called “Conversations with Gareth Edwards and Josh Trank”. Filmmaker Josh Trank (who was briefly attached to a possible Star Wars project) could not appear due to illness, which meant that this sort of turned into the first unofficial Rogue One panel (you can see some clips from the panel here). Now, the movie was still in pre-production, so only Felicity Jones was announced as a cast member, but this panel included a look at some concept art as well as a brief video that was shown three times. The clip included Obi-Wan’s quote about the Jedi from A New Hope as a TIE fighter speeds over a jungle planet and the Death Star looms overhead. Also included was a logo which called Rogue One an “anthology” film.
(Side note, in Chicago, Alan Tudyk told the story of originally meeting Gareth Edwards to discuss the role as K-2SO during Celebration Anaheim 2015, just an interesting bit of history. Hear it at timestamp 2:50 here.)
Star Wars Celebration Europe 2016 ~ The key art for this Celebration featured Cassian Andor and other Rogue One cast members, as the film’s approaching December release was a main focus for that summer event.
At 4 PM on Friday, July 15, 2016, Rogue One was the big panel of note in London. On the Celebration Stage (streaming to two overflow stages), Phasma herself Gwendolyn Christie hosted a panel for the upcoming Star Wars standalone film (you can watch the panel here). Director Gareth Edwards debuted a poster (below), which was given to attendees, before they brought out the actors.
The first actor to be brought on stage was Andor himself, Diego Luna, followed by many from the ensemble and concluding with the icon Ben Mendelsohn entering the theater in full Orson Krennic costume, flanked by Death Troopers. When asked about his character, Diego had his first official moment in the Celebration spotlight. “Hi, everyone,” he said with a smile, to cheers from the crowd. “I’ve been waiting for this night for a long time. This is actually what got me into the project, the chance to share this energy. It is fantastic.”
There was also a behind the scenes reel of Rogue One shown, which you can see here, and a quick clip of how the K-2SO motion capture was filmed (you can see it in the full panel video). Additionally, at this same Celebration was an exhibit of Rogue One costumes, including one of Cassian’s most iconic costumes from the film.
Star Wars Celebration Orlando 2017 ~ At this Celebration, there were a few appearances of Andor and Rogue One in general. David Collins hosted a panel about the music of Rogue One on Thursday, April 13, 2017 and that same day Doug Chiang hosted a panel about Rogue One’s production design. The next day saw a Making of Rogue One panel featuring Chiang, John Knoll, Matthew Wood, and Rayne Roberts from the story group. Also on Friday, there was actually a screening of Rogue One leading directly into a screening of A New Hope! Riz, Felicity, and Alan were also all at the event in one capacity or another.
Also at SWCO 2017, Andor and the rest of the Rogue One crew were featured in a few prints from the art show, as you can see below.
THE ANDOR SERIES IS ANNOUNCED FALL 2018
Star Wars Celebration Chicago 2019 ~ By the time we got to Chicago, the announcement of a series based around Cassian Andor had been out there for a few months. There were little bits of Andor and Rogue One throughout the event, mainly in the form of appearances by the great Alan Tudyk aka K-2SO, whose planned return in the Andor series was announced that very weekend . He did a panel on Sunday, April 14, 2019 which you can see here. He also stopped by the Star Wars live stage, and you can see that appearance here. Autographs and photo opportunities were also available with both Alan and Forest Whitaker.
There was also, of course, the mural covering the whole Star Wars canon, done by artist Jason Palmer. The Rogue One section of the gigantic piece of art, seen above, is stunning. The mural was also on sale in different sizes. A few other places you could spot some Andor themed stuff…a glass set sold in Chicago featured key art for the last few Celebrations including 2016, which featured the same art seen earlier in this article, and there was one piece of Rogue One themed art in the art show, called “Stardust” by Michael Pasquale.
Star Wars Celebration Anaheim 2022 ~ This Celebration began with the now legendary Lucasfilm Showcase on May 26, 2022, where Andor was among the many things that were featured. Diego Luna, Genevieve O’Reilly, Tony Gilroy, and producer Sanne Wohlenberg all came out on stage. When asked about returning to the character, Diego said, “When I was doing the film, I was living every day as if it was the last. I didn’t know this was happening, I didn’t even know this was possible.”
A poster was revealed and was given to everyone who attended the panel, complete with the original premiere date of August 31st (the release date was later pushed to September 21st, and official articles have been updated to reflect this). A teaser trailer (remember that first one?) was shown and released on YouTube the same day. Diego and Genevieve stopped by the live stage later that day, which you can watch here.
“ANDOR” SEASON 1 ARRIVED, NOW ON TO SEASON 2…
Star Wars Celebration Europe 2023 ~ This Celebration in London saw a large presence of Andor related things, from merchandise to cast appearances to the birth of a new Celebration tradition. The first notable thing is one of the badges (above), featuring art beautifully designed by Alice X. Zhang, that was also blown up to a large size for photo ops within the Celebration Store. Speaking of the store, I must mention multiple pieces of clothing that featured Andor themes and related designs, all of which can be seen below, and another pin set featuring Cassian, Dedra, and B2.
The weekend started with another Lucasfilm Showcase, which saw a whole bunch of the Andor gang on the Celebration Stage. Diego, Genevieve, Tony, Denise Gough, Adria Arjona, Kyle Soller, Muhannad Bhaier, and Joplin Sibtain were all there (see a little snip of their appearance here right at the beginning) joined by a fully functional B2EMO droid. They showed a clip of footage from Season 2 that acted sort of like a trailer, and you can watch a bootleg here! (I swear, I’m only sharing a bootleg for historical purposes and because the show is out now, lol, I don’t support filming when they tell you not to! I swear!)
That same day, ALL the Andor season 2 stars stopped by the live stage (you can see those clips here, here, here, and here) and both Denise and Andy Serkis were available for photo ops and autographs. A few panels focused on Andor as well, including a Behind the Magic VFX panel on Sunday April 9th and a Making Of panel on Friday April 7th (which you can find on YouTube).
Speaking of that Making Of panel, this Celebration saw the birth of a new tradition. In the same vein as the Running of the Hoods, we now have the Running of the Prisoners, as cosplayers dressed in Narkina 5 prison jumpsuits (sometimes with shoes, sometimes without, sometimes with floaties and goggles and other accoutrements) now run through the convention chanting “One way out!” This, of course, warrants it’s own blog post, but it’s notable here because the crew of prisoners was able to see the panel and got acknowledged by Diego himself. When someone mentioned that many of them ran in bare feet, Diego remarked, “To be honest, when it wasn’t a wide shot, I was wearing sneakers!” They also took a great group photo which I cannot find in good quality (send it to me please!) but you can see a clip of here.
Star Wars Celebration Japan 2025 ~ Andor was out in full force at Celebration Japan 2025, with the premiere of Season Two just days away. There was an Andor panel on Saturday April 19th at 10 AM to start the day, which you can see here at timestamp 11:55 in the Day 2 playback, and the crowd at the panel was treated to the first episode of season 2!
Everybody who was there for the panel visited the Live Stage, with lots of great chats and behind the scenes moments. That includes Diego, Alan, Tony, Adria, Genevieve, Denise, Kyle, and then Diego a second time. Photo ops and autographs were also available with either Alan or Diego!
(above backstage photo credit to @atwes)
Day 1 in Japan also had a panel on the Fan Stage at 4 PM called “Senator, Rebel, Chancellor: Who is Mon Mothma?” and I’d love to know who hosted that and if it was recorded, feel free to reach out to me! And the Running of the Prisoners happened again on Saturday, you can get a glimpse of them here as they took over the Celebration stage.
A little bit of art featured Cassian as well, with the tarot art from Dianne Vaznelis featuring both Jyn and Cassian on the “Justice” card (as someone who reads tarot, I fully approve) and Cassian also being featured on one of the badges, this one for the Crew (I saw that Crew badge going on eBay for hundreds of dollars by the way, wow) and Mon Mothma featured on the Exhibitor badge.
So there you have it! Following the birth of Cassian Andor from the very beginning to now, as we’ve almost arrived at the Season Two finale. Hopefully, the whole team behind Andor knows that they’re always welcome at Celebration and this won’t be the last we see of them!
Did I miss anything? Let me know! Send me an e-mail at intoalargerworldproject@gmail.com!
the celebration database 
