Andor has everyone asking the same question – where are the Kenari subtitles?

News
By published

Some Andor scenes might be confusing

Andor
(Image credit: Lucasfilm)

One aspect of the new Star Wars show Andor might have you puzzled: where are the Kenari subtitles? In flashbacks scattered across the first three episodes, we see Cassian's childhood on his home planet of Kenari. English (or, in Star Wars lingo, Basic) isn't spoken on Kenari, but there are no subtitles to explain what characters are saying. Not even turning the subtitles feature on in Disney Plus will reveal what the Kenari words mean. 

"I wish we had some subtitles for the flashbacks. I wanted to know what they were talking about," says one fan on Twitter,  while someone else says: "'Speaking Kenari' okay but I don’t know know Kenari so could you please translate it in the subtitles lol" 

The choice not to include subtitles in the flashbacks is an intentional one, then, but it's not clear at the moment why that decision has been made. The easiest explanation is that it's all part of showing just how different Kenari's culture is to Ferrix, the planet Cassian lives on as an adult. It's obvious that being taken from Kenari as a child would have been quite the culture shock for the young boy. Plus, the storyline running through the flashbacks is easy to follow without understanding exactly what the kids are saying to each other. 

Andor may have only just premiered, but it's already introduced us to plenty of new characters. You can find out more about them all with our interview with the Andor cast and showrunner Tony Gilroy – and see Gilroy on Andor season 2 and episode 1's shocking opening scene, as well as Fiona Shaw on playing Maarva, for even more on the Star Wars show. 

Molly Edwards
Molly Edwards
Deputy Entertainment Editor

I'm the Deputy Entertainment Editor here at GamesRadar+, covering all things film and TV for the site's Total Film and SFX sections. I previously worked on the Disney magazines team at Immediate Media, and also wrote on the CBeebies, MEGA!, and Star Wars Galaxy titles after graduating with a BA in English.