Andor

The Star Wars series Andor really gets at something that was the focus of the spy series, The Agency: that real heroism is not like they commonly depict it in movies or on television. There is a profound sacrifice, particularly the extreme loneliness of clandestine work. The empire and its crushing controls and surveillance renders us all lonely, separate monads. There is no recognition, no award, no ceremony for our work; just endless sacrifice, the pouring out of the self into a hole so deep that it may never be filled–not by us, at least. “I burn my life to make a sunrise that I know I’ll never see,” says Luthan. That’s the price. As they said on the Agency: “The price is surviving totally alone. Forever.”