The first season of Andor took moments to show the small ways the Empire oppresses its people. Season two’s premiere episodes continue that thread, with the darkest example so far coming in episode three, “Harvest.” Spoilers and a content warning for discussions of assault below.
On a farming settlement, Cassian’s old friend Bix Caleen (Adria Arjona) is still recovering from her torture on Ferrix last season. The Empire’s come for a routine inspection (and to find undocumented workers), and an officer has taken a particular interest in her, asking when her “husband” is coming home and casually noting comms have been blocked. He then forces himself on her, resulting in her killing him in a blow to a head and a declaration to the man’s subordinate: “He tried to rape me.”
In an interview with the Hollywood Reporter, Tony Gilroy—the show’s creator and writer of this season’s first arc—said it felt “organic and right” to incorporate the scene, which is part of Bix’s “difficult path” back to herself pre-torture.
“I get one shot to tell everything I know or discovered about revolution and battles, with as many incidents I can get in there without having the story tip over,” he explained. “I mean, let’s be honest: in the history of civilization, there’s a huge arterial component of it that’s rape. […] Armies and power throughout history have committed it.”
Star Wars has previously touched on sexual assault via Leia’s slave outfit and mentions of Qi’ra’s backstory in Solo, but it’s never shown an attempted assault. Gilroy noted the “very clear” limits of sex and violence Andor is allowed, but otherwise, Disney had no pushback on the scene.
In a separate interview with Variety, Arjona recalled a mix of emotions reading and filming the scene. On one hand, she admitted being “really scared” beforehand, but she considered it “really fucking powerful” to get to do it in this franchise. “Bix is in the most vulnerable state she can possible be in, and someone tries to take advantage of her,” she said. “We’ve heard that story many times. The fact that Tony gave it to Bix was a big honor—and it was right.”
There was “so much power” felt in declaring the attack an attempted rape, added Arjona, and advised for “any woman, for anyone, when you have a stranger, a male stranger, in your own space, everything becomes survival.”
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