Star Wars: Andor Season 2 is going to be pulling some pretty osbscure Star Wars lore into official canon – via a new style of TIE Fighter that’s making it’s live-action debut in the show. The recent Disney+ content preview for 2025 included a few quick looks at Andor Season 2 – including a scene where Cassian Andor (Diego Luna) is up to his old tricks, hijacking an Imperial TIE Fighter ship. Eagle-eyed Star Wars fans soon noticed that this specific design of TIE wasn’t “new” at all – it’s the TIE Avenger model of the ship that appeared in the 1994 PC computer game, Star Wars: TIE Fighter.
Star Wars: TIE Fighter was a space flight sim game, which was the sequel to the 1993 game Star Wars: X-Wing. TIE Fighter was set just after the infamous Battle of Hoth at the start of The Empire Strikes Back – and ends just before the Battle of Endor at the end of Return of the Jedi. The game let players fly various space missions in the Star Wars Universe, in story that saw two Imperial Admirals trying to betray the Empire by either alligning with Rebels, or taking out the Emperor.
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The TIE Avenger was a ship that modeled after Darth Vader’s iconic TIE Adavnced x 1 fighter from the original Star Wars film A New Hope – so it was definitely a notable addition to the TIE Fighter game. Like so many things in Star Wars, the TIE Avenger (and other variant models) have become more and more iconic over the years, even though the model technically wasn’t ever an official part of Star Wars canon. Now, thanks to Andor Season 2, it will be.
It’s nice to see Star Wars: TIE Fighter and the entire Star Wars: X-Wing game series getting some acknowledgement. The games hit at a key time for both the Star Wars franchise and gaming, opening up the lanes of possibility for how fans could get further immersed in the franchise, and how Lucasfilm’s brand could be expanded into home entertainment.
Storywise, this is the kind of Easter egg that Andor showrunner Tony Gilroy execls at. It’s not too overpowering as to distract from the show, but it’s also a reference that works organicaly in the context of Andor, which will see Cassian Andor infiltrating the Empire, in search of leads on its secret super-weapon (the Death Star). In fact, the TIE Avenger Andor steals could be one of the first of its line – meant for Vader himself. Hopefully, the Sith Lord isn’t there when the theft goes down…
Star Wars: Andor Season 2 will premiere on Disney+ on April 22nd.
