Andor is one of, if not the, best media that Star Wars has ever spawned. It was poignant, hopeful, scary, and tense, but in the end, it was absolutely beautiful. Cassian’s story played out over two terrific seasons and culminated in the fantastic Rogue One, and we alllll know what happened there. He went out like a boss, watching Scarif get blown to smithereens, and himself with it. He’s a God damn hero.
But, who was the real hero? The final arc of Andor Season 2 tells the story of Kleya Marki (Elizabeth Dulau), Luthen Rael’s “Shop Assistant” and apprentice Rebellion leader… or so it seemed. Those last three episodes revealed that Kleya was actually a big driving force behind the actions of Axis, more of Luthen’s partner than we ever thought.
Her origins were remarkably similar to Cassian’s: a refugee, saved by a caring yet morally ambiguous parental figure. Whereas Cassian had Mama Maarva, Kleya had Luthen. Their parallels are astounding, and that has led people (me included) to speculate whether they were saved from the same planet. I.e. Kleya was Cassian’s sister.
Although Tony Gilroy has refuted this claim, I find it disappointing. Kleya should have been revealed to be Cassian’s sister. I know, I know. You’re thinking, “Who is this idiot?!” But hear me out. Here are the reasons why.
Kleya looks like she is a very similar age to what Cassian’s sister would have been, and she was also rescued from a volatile situation by an outside influence, just as our titular character had been. We are never shown the planet where Kleya meets Luthen (although maybe it looks a lot drier, and the sky orangier than Kenari looked in flashbacks), and it wouldn’t take a huge mental leap to imagine that it was the same place.
There are timeline inconsistencies that would allow nitpickers to tear this apart, but, honestly, we still don’t know for sure it couldn’t happen that way. Lore is lore until we discover something new. Even if it wasn’t the same planet, any family of Cassian is going to be as sneaky and manipulative as Kleya becomes, right? It might not have been her first stop on the way to Rael apprenticeship.
Not only that, but the siblings were originally named Kassa and Kerri. Kassa became Cassian, not a million miles away from his original name, and Kerri is fairly similar to Kleya. I mean, they both start with a K, and they have two syllables and five letters. When changing your name to hide, it makes sense not to change it significantly. Nobody goes from a Kerri to a Yolanda, do they?
One of Andor’s biggest hanging threads is the fate of Cassian’s sister. Hell, it was his biggest motivator in the first season, and it’s barely mentioned in the second, aside from an esoteric dream sequence in the last arc that was rudely interrupted by K2SO. One of the show’s biggest mysteries was dropped from a great height straight onto its head, where it died a sudden death.
Having Kleya fill that gap would tie that storyline in a little bow. Because, for all I love Cassian’s story, Kerri’s return without him around in some capacity would be hollow as f*ck. Great, she’s back; now what would you do with her? What made her interesting was Cassian’s relationship to her and how that drove him to do the things he did, which set off that ridiculous chain of events in Season 1. With Kleya filling that role, she’s interesting in her own right. That’s good character building right there, instead of just creating a hollow female character that is defined by a more complex male character.
Kleya is extraordinary, more so than Cassian in some respects, so I’m not saying she needs it to be compelling. However, Cassian’s sister does. Make her mean something.
So, up until now, maybe you’ve had the impression that I wanted Kleya to be revealed as Cassian’s sister, then they have this magical reunion that gives us hope for their ongoing relationship before the events of Rogue One play out. You’d be damn wrong! I wanted the revelation to be shown to the audience only. If the viewer knows that the person Cassian had been looking for had been under his nose the WHOLE FREAKING TIME, then it makes it infinitely more tragic.
It’s definitely more harrowing than Bix’s end. Her conclusion is sort of insulting. For such an important part of the show, having her leave the Rebellion because she was too distracting for Andor, who she thought was some sort of Messiah figure, left a bitter taste in my mouth. Could she not have been the strong character she’d always been and just said, “Nah mate. We stayin’. We’re needed here. I’m needed here.”? No, she left and went to live on a farm with Cass Jr.
Now, is it a tragedy that Andor didn’t know about his child? Sure, but he’d probably be the first person to tell you that he wouldn’t be cut out to be the kind of father that Bix and the kid needed, especially with the threat of the Empire looming. But a sister he’d been searching for almost his entire life was right in front of him for years, and he hadn’t realised? That sh*t is heartbreaking.
Here’s the kicker. For Kleya, it wouldn’t matter whether Cassian was her brother or not. She had been committed to the Axis cause for longer than she could remember. There’s no way she would risk their mission for trivial familial relationships. She demonstrated that when she killed Luthen, her father figure. If Kleya knew she was related to Cassian, it may have given extra weight to her words in the final arc when he came to the rescue. “It would be you, wouldn’t it?” It could have had a veiled deeper meaning.
Cassian, on the other hand, would be a little more unpredictable, and that’s why, if Kleya had known, she would not have told him. However, it stands to reason that it might not have changed much for him because he FORGOT THAT IT WAS HIS OVERRIDING MOTIVATION IN SEASON 1.
Ahem. Apologies.
Cassian’s series narrative shows him growing into the catalyst for the victory against the Death Star. He slowly but surely becomes a company man, as it were. All entanglements aside from the Rebellion slid away. By the end, he’s so in that there was no way out, and I’m not sure even his long-lost sister would change that.
Kleya Marki should have been revealed to be Cassian’s sister. It makes sense, it ties up loose ends, and it makes an original series character more important. Crucially, if it was done right, it wouldn’t have changed much of the excellent conclusion to the story. Tony Gilroy said he wouldn’t want it to cheapen the character, but I don’t agree with his assessment of that choice. Having Kleya be Cassian’s sister would only deepen the tragedy and enhance the series.
What do you think? Should Kleya have been Cassian’s sister? Or was it perfect just the way it was?
