The Andor season 2 finale includes a neat, deep-cut Easter egg that references Star Wars director George Lucas' first-ever movie, which was released over 50 years ago.
In Andor season 2 episode 12, Dedra Meero is imprisoned by the ISB after it's revealed that she accidentally received top secret correspondence about the creation of the Death Star, but kept the information instead of reporting and deleting it, which allowed to rebels to find out about the Death Star when her computer was hacked.
One shot in the episode, as flagged by a fan on Twitter, shows Dedra captured on CCTV in her cell, with her identifying information on-screen. This is pretty much identical to a shot in THX 1138, which shows the titular character in prison.
Released in 1971, THX 1138 was George Lucas' debut feature film. The sci-fi thriller is set in a world where citizens are forced to take emotion-suppressing drugs and are controlled by android police. THX 1138 is played by Robert Duvall and is an employee of an android factory who finds himself in trouble when he accidentally stops taking his mandated drugs. Lucas followed up the film with 1973's American Graffiti and, of course, 1977's Star Wars: A New Hope.
Andor isn't the first time THX 1138 has been referenced in the galaxy far, far away, either. In A New Hope, Luke Skywalker says he's a prisoner transferred from Cell Block 1138 and Clone Marshal Commander Bacara, who appears in Revenge of the Sith and The Clone Wars, has the clone trooper designation CC-1138.
All episodes of Andor season 2 are now streaming on Disney Plus. For more, check out our guide to all the upcoming Star Wars movies and TV shows to add to your watchlist.
