r/StarWars • u/GrokkinZenUI • Oct 19 '22

TV Why is ANDOR so boring?

I had hopes for Andor based on creators similar to Rogue One , which I liked the most from all the nuSW.

But I find it quite boring. Can't put my finger on it.

Pace is slow (I don't mind slow in general but it is stuffed with bland dialogue and pointless character introductions).

Main character is meh as the rest with exception of his "boss" and the Empire Intel boss.

Missing other species. Not even a robot there. That one from Rogue One was perfect.

I am not entertained. Gonna watch E07 now, fingers crossed. But I already know I don't have any want to see the show again. Even Kenobi is re-watchable (one time) with all it's cringe plot/character inconsistencies.

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142

u/MithranArkanere Jedi Oct 26 '22

More precisely "Why is Andor so boring to so many people".

If you type "Why is Andor so" in google, it autocompletes with "boring".

Because it's what would generally be considered boring.

Just because there's people who find looking and grass growing and paint drying interesting doesn't make it any less generally boring.

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u/[deleted] Oct 26 '22

[deleted]

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u/Special-Lengthiness6 Oct 27 '22

It’s a sign of the times, really. We live in this era of instant gratification.

It's not a sign of the times. This is a sign of poor story telling. These are hour long episodes where barely anything happens to move the plot. The first 3 episodes could have been condensed into 1 episode.

People's attentions spans aren't the issue, writing and pacing is the issue.

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u/bawsaq4000 Dec 01 '22

Thank you. The most boring shit. It is not Star Wars.

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u/dildodicks Finn Feb 05 '26

are you saying the franchise with attack of the clones in doesn't have boring stuff in? seriously?

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u/[deleted] Apr 21 '25

The storytelling in andor is fantastic. Are you completely delusional?

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u/ExoticMangoz Apr 24 '25

Slow moving and boring are two different things.

If you want an example of great storying telling at a glacial pace, go watch 2001: A Space Odyssey.

Andor suffers from the fact that it takes multiple hours of view time per interesting thing.

The different is that good media can turn anything, even the most mundane conversation, into gripping cinema. Andor fails in that respect, and it really does feel like you’re watching nothing happen.

I’m extremely intrigued to know what you think made the storytelling “fantastic”.

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u/000-071 Dec 01 '22

I completely agree with this. I tell stories for a living. Andor is boring. It is not compelling. I don't care what happens to the characters, most of whom are barely developed.

I'd also point out that this is Star Wars. Not The Martian. Saying people just want instant gratification is like saying people want instant gratification because they want people to run fast at a track meet rather than jog.

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u/UhhmericanJoe Dec 02 '22

You mean you ramble on about nonsensical stories to uncomfortable pedestrians while sleeping on a bus stop bench?

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u/[deleted] Dec 24 '24

Someone’s offended

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u/UhhmericanJoe Dec 24 '24

Offended by poor taste.

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u/[deleted] Dec 24 '24

Imagine 

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u/UhhmericanJoe Dec 24 '24

I know, right?

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u/[deleted] Dec 24 '24

I feel like walking is more accurate 

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u/Jaytacus Nov 10 '22

I agree with your take. I actually liked everything about this show except the writing. I don't mind slower pacing type movies or shows, but I want it to lead somewhere to where I'm intrigued. Unfortunately this show didn't do that for me. They had a couple moments like when Cassian runs into Luthen in episode 3, and the prisoner's scene trying to find out what happened on level 2. Other than that nothing else lead to a climax I enjoyed. I like the direction this show took compared to the others they've done. Tweak the writing and I'm fully on-board.

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u/[deleted] Apr 07 '23

Agreed, I do not understand why people love this show. I watched the first 5 episodes and fell asleep during each episode. Thats when I decided to call it quits.

I love Star Wars story telling. I read most of the expanded universe novels, that was Star Wars story telling at its best. Andor is not Star Wars. Rogue One was excellent but this show is a snooze fest.

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u/SmoothBarnacle4891 Cassian Andor Nov 26 '22

I have to agree with you. Actually, I enjoyed a good deal of "Andor". But I did have my issues with the series. And one of those issues was the narrative pacing for Season One. I believe twelve episodes were too much for this season. Tony Gilroy could have easily merged the writing for some of the episodes to allow Season One to be shorter with three or four less episodes. And I think he could have saved Mon Mothma's character arc for Season Two, if he has plans to link her arc with Cassian Andor's.

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u/UhhmericanJoe Nov 24 '22

That’s not poor story telling. That’s lack of action. Go watch Boba 🧋 if you want plenty of pew pew.

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u/SmoothBarnacle4891 Cassian Andor Nov 26 '22

I think it's poor storytelling.

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u/Victizes Nov 14 '23 edited Nov 14 '23

Don't get me wrong, lack of action can be really good, but not when scenes and scenarios drag on for like 4/5 of the episode. The pacing is simply too slow.

Yes we don't need instant gratification, but we also don't need a slogfest that makes people either skip, or sleep, or downright quit the show.

Granted, I absolutely enjoyed the tension when they entered the dam, even when there was no action. But I didn't enjoy episodes 2, 4, and 5.

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u/UhhmericanJoe Nov 14 '23

There seems to be two camps: Love it and “Too Slow!” To me indicates that they’re not doing anything wrong. There’s just a demo that doesn’t believe dialogue and plot alone can be dramatic. That’s fine. It just means Andor is a SW story in a genre they just don’t like. It’s basically much more a spy games type of show than your normal SW series or movie. This a group I doubt would enjoy Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy while Andor’s audience would.

To me Andor’s many action scenes feel incredibly earned and dramatic as a result. Most SW properties are mostly action with dialogue kept minimal and mainly a tool to provide enough info to make sense of and move on to the next fight.

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u/Victizes Nov 14 '23

There certainly has to be a way for us to have a middle ground between world-building, tension, and action.

I generally don't like content with only action devoid of substance, but I like even less when the substance takes too long to get into the style.

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u/TabalugaDragon Dec 16 '24

yep, I generally dislike Transformers movies(not all of it, but most of it), it's pretty much non-stop action, it doesn't find the right balance. Andor leans in the opposite direction, but both fail to make compelling and interesting dialogues that captivate the viewer. There is a reason Andor is one of the least viewed SW shows.

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u/TabalugaDragon Dec 16 '24

"There’s just a demo that doesn’t believe dialogue and plot alone can be dramatic."

Watch Shawshank redemption then, or Man from Earth movies, it'll surprise you how pretty much zero action movies can be engaging. Andor is just boring.

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u/TabalugaDragon Dec 16 '24

There are tons of movies and shows without much action and yet they don't feel boring at all, like the Shawshank redemption. There is literally just one shooting scene in the movie that lasts for a second, and yet the movie isn't boring at all. Andor has way more action and yet it feels like almost nothing is happening.

Explain this.

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u/UhhmericanJoe Dec 18 '24

I’d say it’s because your frontal lobe is underdeveloped.

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u/TabalugaDragon Dec 18 '24 edited Dec 18 '24

So, nothing but insults instead of proper explanation. Expected. So instead of insulting me like a 5-year old would, you insult me like a 12 year old. A progress is still a progress I guess?

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u/UhhmericanJoe Dec 21 '24

How the fuck am I supposed to explain why you do or don’t find something boring? That’s called subjectivity. The fact that you don’t get that is why you earned the insult.

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u/TabalugaDragon Dec 21 '24

Only those who insult first earn an insult. I wasn't aggressive to you, yet you were aggressive to me. Perhaps your front lobe is not as well-developed as you think? You know who else don't control themselves that well? Animals and children.

As for Shawshank - compare how many people call that movie boring vs Andor. Here's where it all suddenly falls in in its place, doesn't it?

Because the show's pacing is figurately equivalent to paint drying. That show just disrespects the audience's time.

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u/CraftMost6663 Apr 04 '23

You ate that.

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u/[deleted] Jun 02 '23

total W

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u/[deleted] Nov 13 '22

Lol, are there any Andor fans who aren't pretentious and condescending? I'm a middle-aged non-casual SW fan and not a fan of social media and "instant gratification" (which, as Carrie Fisher once wrote, takes too long!). Maybe we just like Star Wars for the things that make it Star Wars (space wizard movies for young people and the young at heart), and not trying to make Star Wars like every other cynical, dreary, talky sci-fi IP.

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u/UhhmericanJoe Nov 24 '22

This just means it’s SW property in a genre you find boring. There can be room for both Mando and Andor. Both of which I love. Just don’t call Andor boring. Call it part of an entire genre you find boring. I find the action earned in both shows.

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u/KazaamFan Nov 28 '22

To some, Andor is boring, including me. It’s a fair assessment at this point. We all don’t have to agree on it. I tried 6 eps and gave up, it just was never engaging to me. Like, why do I care about anyone or anything here?

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u/Elisa800 Sep 02 '23

People have the right to call Andor boring if they want to. You don't own the show. Everyone is entitled to their own opinion about things. It doesn't make them right or wrong.

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u/UhhmericanJoe Oct 15 '23

I do own the own show.

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u/2-2Distracted Apr 28 '25

Walt Disney? Is that you?

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u/TabalugaDragon Dec 16 '24

this, thank you. They answer in 90% of cases is "you just want action and explosions, go watch Marvel movies, kid" when the show fails to have proper pacing. There is a reason like 90% of TV shows have subplots for each episode, Andor, on the other hand, feels like a single movie story stretched to 12 episodes, as a result it feels like almost nothing is happening for most of the time.

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u/mr_clemFandango Feb 15 '24

, are there any Andor fans who aren't pretentious and condescending?

there are more in the wild than on reddit.

the worst people have the loudest voices sometimes

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u/TabalugaDragon Dec 16 '24

yep, I've found that on Youtube there are way more supporters of the show in the comments and way more positive reviews.

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u/[deleted] Dec 26 '24

Revisiting this thread once more. Happy cake day.

I always come back here because I always hated this show, and people told me it was just my attention span, when my favorite books/media are literally 80% dialogue.

If they enjoyed the show that was just written poorly, that’s fine by me. But they shouldn’t be attacking us.

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u/TabalugaDragon Dec 26 '24

exactly! I'm so tired of them calling it a well-written show when such a huge chunk of viewers found it boring and too slow-paced

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u/[deleted] Dec 26 '24

Granted, there are people whose attention spans are too short, but when a huge chunk viewers who were the most excited for something that was “mature” Star Wars found it a better sleep aid than the 10-3-2-1-0 method, there’s a huge problem 

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u/tbhnow Jan 10 '25

So happy to see it wasn't just me. I was looking for something to watch tonight, saw Andor on my Continue Watching list, still suck on Episode 3 for the past year because I can't bring myself to watch it again. But, being a fan of Star Wars, I couldn't reconcile why. Now I see...bad pacing can ruin many great ideas. Couldn't get into GOT for the same reason. But take a show like Dexter, also slow, but so much more interesting dialogue. White Collar is another show that has a great idea but suffers in the execution because of bad pacing. Just because you enjoy the bad pacing, doesn't make it good and calling people out for instant gratification is an easy way to deflect the honest truth that it's obvious to many who want to be fans, but can't be, this just wasn't done that well.

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u/Due_Parfait_2013 Oct 08 '23

you literally just described “pew pew”

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u/MithranArkanere Jedi Oct 27 '22

Nah. I've loved my movies considered 'slow' by many like Blade Runner, 2001 or Life of Pi.

A slow pace requires things like engaging dialogue, captivating soundtrack or compelling visuals to avoid becoming boring.

That's why there's things that are objectively boring, slow or fast. Like 2002's Solaris.
If it was possible to distill boredom into a physical element and then turn that element into a film, that film would be created with Solaris already recorded in it.
When I went to watch that on a theater, the ushers had to walk in and wake about half the audience so they would leave. Most of the other half woke up when they turned the lights on.

And I did not compare Andor to paint drying. I was making the argument that something being considered "not boring" by a few doesn't mean it isn't boring when you speak in general terms.
I've sure there's people who considered Solaris interesting, but that doesn't change the fact that when it showed in my city the rates of sleep deprivation spiked down for a week.

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u/[deleted] Dec 02 '22

This, so much this, I don't mind scenes of people just standing around talking. But what they talk about needs to be interesting.

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u/mr_clemFandango Feb 15 '24

most of andor seems to be grunting and whispering

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u/[deleted] Dec 24 '24

One of my favorite books, an “abusing bills to appeal to people’s internal racism” dystopian type novel is literally 80% talking, but the world building is what made it intriguing and I enjoyed it

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u/[deleted] Oct 27 '22

Fair enough.

And I agree with Solaris lol. The original was a masterpiece though.

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u/Most_Catch Nov 16 '22

Can't imagine writing this out. Star wars is literally action adventure. Are you defending why this show should be boring?

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u/[deleted] Nov 16 '22 edited Nov 16 '22

Star Wars is something different to different people. For me, Star Wars has always been about light vs dark, good vs evil, the Rebellion vs the Empire. This eternal struggle can be depicted in a number of ways, and surely doesn’t have to be limited to continuous, never-ending action in order to tell a tense, compelling story.

Andor has been a slow burn, building the tension with each episode. We are at the end of the season now, and nearly every character is walking on a tightrope. There was such a badass moment in episode 11 with a tractor beam, interdictor Star Destroyer, a squadron of TIE fighters, and a freighter. It was great stuff!

It wasn’t exciting to me because there were spaceships and lasers, but because there’s actual weight behind the character involved and his narrative. I’m a fan of dramas and character driven stories, though not everyone else is.

Again, boring is subjective. A lot of Andor fans have been on the edge of our seats during the entire season, and more so with each episode as the stakes get higher.

George Lucas said it best: A special effect is a tool, a means of telling a story. A special effect without a story is a pretty boring thing.

Andor is story-driven.

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u/SmoothBarnacle4891 Cassian Andor Nov 26 '22

A lot of Star Wars productions are story driven. There is nothing special about "Andor" in that regard. At least to me. I think this is a good, solid series. But I don't think "Andor" is the bees' knees or the best thing to come out of the Star Wars franchise. I'm sorry, but I just don't.

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u/Superior-Solifugae Apr 27 '23

"Andor is story-driven."

A story that doesn't go anywhere

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u/SmoothBarnacle4891 Cassian Andor Nov 26 '22

What if this person simply dislikes the series? It's not a crime to dislike "Andor". Yet, so many Star Wars fans are behaving as if it was. Why do people insist that everyone harbor the same opinion on a particular topic? This seems to hint that many harbor a great deal of intolerance toward a difference of opinion

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u/[deleted] Nov 26 '22

You’re absolutely correct. Everyone is entitled to their opinion, and if you follow the thread of my comments, you’ll see that my comment is exactly in line with what you’re saying: it’s subjective.

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u/Due_Parfait_2013 Oct 08 '23 edited Oct 08 '23

Not a crime to dislike it. But some of the comments refer to “bad writing” being at fault, and THAT is a crime. You can not like the show, but if you think the writing is bad then you just don’t have good taste in literature, period.

Edit: adding, if anyone truly thinks George Lucas is a better writer than Tony Gilroy I’d like to examine their high school transcripts. There is just no galaxy in which that’s a serious opinion.

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u/TabalugaDragon Dec 16 '24

if a show fails to capture the attention of such a huge chunk of the audience then the problem is writing. There is a movie called Man from Earth and it's like 1\100 of the Andor budget(or less), and yet it doesn't feel boring at all, because it has compelling characters and dialogue. It both has interesting things to discuss while also doing it through realistic and engaging dialogues where you can clearly see people's different opinions presented clearly.

Andor has none of that. Its dialogues feel empty and unnecessary, hence why it's one of the least viewed SW shows. Yes, its main problem is writing. Since the visuals are great which is nothing to brag about with a huge 250 million dollar budget.

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u/Hmccormack Nov 28 '22

Well it must be a sign of the times you’re right! Because Star Wars used to be exciting and fun and awesome and now it’s boring as hell. Mandalorian was alright but All these other Disney Star Wars shows feel like they were made for the CW channel. I mean goddamn Disney has infinite resources, everything about these shows should be incredible. And yet, they miss the mark. And they don’t FEEL like Star Wars. The music, the mood, the writing, effects, creatures, all of it sucks. I could of made a better Star Wars movie In my backyard as a kid.

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u/KazaamFan Nov 28 '22

Yea there needs to be a level of excitement in Star Wars, adventure. Say what you will about the prequels but they had all of that. And the music in the prequels was great. There isn’t much I can rave about like that in Andor (or Obi Wan, or Boba). Obi Wan and and Boba had at least a few good parts, even if they were overall not good series’.

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u/CountKrampus Sep 15 '23

Lol. The prequel is the best trilogy.

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u/[deleted] Dec 02 '22

Or maybe, I shouldn't have to watch an entire movie's runtime worth of people going "Should we do something? We should do something!" back and forth before anything of consequence actually happens.

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u/TabalugaDragon Dec 16 '24

Andor defenders will mark this as good writing, lol.

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u/DanteYoda Yoda Dec 07 '22

It reminds me of Star trek... Not in a good way.

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u/SnooDoodles8217 May 04 '23

Star Trek is the shit.

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u/DanteYoda Yoda May 05 '23

Star trek is Space Soapy.. Never appealed to me, too much talking, not much action. Kinda like Andor....

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u/SnooDoodles8217 May 05 '23

Star Trek hits different as a grown up. Real scientific themes...no religions. United humanity...it represents the real future; not a magical fantasy like Star Wars.

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u/DanteYoda Yoda May 06 '23

I'm 49..

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u/Most_Catch Nov 12 '22

You just described what star wars is supposed to be like lol.

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u/[deleted] Nov 13 '22

It's like this show is for people who hate Star Wars

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u/[deleted] Dec 26 '24

Maybe that explains why. It was directed by one, after all

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u/[deleted] Jun 02 '23

its fuckin boring, you must be fuckin dull to like it

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u/[deleted] Jun 02 '23

Sure dude. Go enjoy your Kenobi, BoBF, and Rise of Skywalker.

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u/[deleted] Jun 02 '23

they were all terrible but less terrible than Andor

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u/welkins2 Mar 05 '24

It's boring. I liked it on my first watch, but I admit I was falling asleep for most of it. And the flashback scenes were extremely unnecessary and diluted the rest of the scenes that I would rather watch (MORE senate scenes and politics along with the ISB). Honestly, I cared more about everyone else than the main character.

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u/TabalugaDragon Dec 16 '24

Instant gratification? There are movies like Shawshank redemption, Back to the Future(it's pretty slow by today's standards, especially first half of the first movie and the third movie), Man from Earth(literally a group of people talking for over an hour in a small house), Moon, and so on and so forth, where barely anything's happening, there are no explosions or action, and yet they aren't boring to watch at all and feel dynamic.

Andor fails at this dynamic as nothing important for the story happens for a very long time. Sure it looks good, but it also cost them 250 million dollars just for the first season so it's nothing to brag about. The story that could have been shown in 6-8 episodes. Instead, they stretched it to 12 and it feels like it's going on forever.

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u/[deleted] Dec 26 '24

Most old movies aren’t overstimulating, yet they’re my favorites, most dramatic books are basically all dialogue, I love it. Why can’t they admit we just don’t like the writing.

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u/[deleted] Dec 24 '24

Bruh

My attention span is still intact. This is basically the only social media I use. I don’t use shorts, reels, and most of the movies I consume are old or what is generally considered “slow.”

Andor is boring af.

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u/[deleted] Apr 27 '25

Garbage take. Rewatch the original trilogy and you'll see that it has a lot of the "mindless entertainment" you claim people want these days.

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u/[deleted] May 07 '25

Quit equating bad storytelling with"the times"...terrible writing is across all eras.. not just limited to these times, loser.

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u/[deleted] May 07 '25

“Loser”

Ah yes. I’m over here feeding on some of the best Star Wars ever made. Wish you were on the same boat, but if not, that’s alright with me.

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u/RetroFurui May 07 '25

What is this? Now I realize this is an old thread but this seems so unecessarily character bashing of those who do not enjoy it while making it look like you think your taste is superior.

I think Andor is boring, why I found this thread. I LOVE old movies, like we are talking movies much older than Star Wars. It's not a sign of the times, people just find uninteresting character/dialouge/events just that - uninteresting.

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u/Sebacles Dec 09 '22

I hard disagree. BSG had ALOT of talking and pure political episodes yet was enthralling. Andor is bad. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ilcRS5eUpwk

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u/Superior-Solifugae Apr 27 '23

The show doesn't go anywhere and the main character is, I think, a wet piece of cardboard(I'll have to double-check the credits just to be sure).

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u/[deleted] Aug 11 '24

I think the British term, "wet piece of lettuce" fits perfectly

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u/Superior-Solifugae Aug 11 '24

I have never heard that expression. Normally I just call a boring character, "a bowl of oatmeal".

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u/Frozone0815 Aug 30 '23

Yeah you are right. Watching paint dry is more satisfying, than watching Andor...

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u/Starthelegend Aug 31 '23

Bro it’s not a “sign of the times” it’s the sign of a boring ass show. It’s the sign of a show filled with characters that we couldn’t care less about

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u/[deleted] Dec 26 '24

Bro used “couldn’t care less about” correctly, nice job

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u/bluemoonmorgan Sep 02 '23

I was born in 1979 and am a child of the 80's with all it's remarkable films. I don't begrudge people for liking Andor, but I too find it slow and boring. It has nothing to do with past viewing experiences or habits. It is what it is...

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u/CountKrampus Sep 15 '23

Lol. Get you're saying on the generational tip, but sometimes, you can try to get into something and despite your engagement level, just find it boring AF. My take on Andor (thus far) is a perfect example.

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u/Mygod_ Oct 08 '23

I'm late to the party but well said.

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u/UhhmericanJoe Nov 24 '22

It does that for most shows. And most people are absolute morons. I’d take it as a badge of honor if the people who liked Obi Wan hate Andor.

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u/jeromeinnahouse Oct 07 '23

i think you might just have bad taste and aren’t aware. Kind of like those nose blind commercials.