'Andor' Explained: Where is Cassian's Home Planet of Kenari?

Andor premiered with its first three episodes on Wednesday, September 21, bringing a whole new chapter to the Star Wars franchise.

The Disney+ show follows Cassian Andor (Diego Luna) in the years before he joined the Rebellion, and before he took part in the mission to steal the Death Star plans alongside Jyn Erso (Felicity Jones) and a group of rebel fighters on Scarif in Rogue One: A Star Wars Story.

It also explores the character's origins, and the opening episodes introduces viewers to Cassian's home planet of Kenari.

'Andor' Explained: Where is Cassian's Home Planet of Kenari?

Kenari is a remote planet where the Empire used to mine resources, but an unnamed disaster led to the location being abandoned because it supposedly made the planet inhabitable.

Except, it did remain inhabited by a group of young people who speak their own language and appear to be all but cut off from the rest of the universe. Cassian, whose real name is revealed as Kassa, is one of these children (played by Antonio Viña), as is his sister Kerri (Belle Swarc).

Cassian's origins are told through flashbacks during the course of the three-episode premiere, with the show explaining how he came to be taken from his home planet and separated from his sister by the woman who would become his adoptive mother, Maarva (Fiona Shaw).

The first few minutes of the show also explains that Cassian has not forgotten how he was forced to leave everything behind, as he is still searching for his sister years later.

In these scenes there are no subtitles given to explain to viewers what Cassian and his fellow residents of Kenari are saying to one another, though their meaning is certainly easy to understand regardless.

In an interview with The Washington Post, Luna and showrunner Tony Gilroy explained why they wanted to have Cassian come from a planet like Kenari and why it was important for them to speak their own language separate from the Basic (the Star Wars equivalent to English) used by others in the universe.

Luna said of his character's origin story: "He's a refugee. He's a man forced to migrate and has to leave everything behind. And there's a hint of that in Rogue One. No one has his accent.

"Clearly, he comes from somewhere no one else has come from... we're talking about marginalized communities. We're talking about [what] oppression looks like. And obviously, there is a lot of parallels you can establish with the world [we] live in."

With this in mind the decision was made for subtitles not to be included in scenes set in Kenari, and Gilroy added: "My original, first, desperate, practical impulse was... I've got to explain his accent. That's the place I start.

"I want him to have serious childhood drama. I want him to be angry. I want him to be desperate. I also want to allow him to do some very unpleasant things along the way and yet you still not reject him."

The first three episodes of Andor is out on Disney+ now, and the show will continue to air weekly every Wednesday.