Despite the story happening right before the events of A New Hope, Andor I think proves that you can make a show this good set in the Star Wars universe and just create new characters and stories that intertwine with bigger events and have the new stuff be 10 times more fascinating than you expected

Like yes they need the kalkite for the Death Star, but you don't actually NEED to know that part. The most interesting parts of Andor aren't Member Berries, they're usually brand new (for the show) characters or brand new narratives and plot points.

This isn't Solo figuring out how the nail down every detail of the Kessel Run, this is a new story that had limitations on when it could happen because it's called Andor and is still a prequel at the end of the day, but most of the meat of the show was invented for this show.

I'm saying that while Andor always had a strict limit for how much story they could tell (even if they had unlimited seasons to do it), you can apply this approach to any era of Star Wars and make a compelling narrative The promise of the Star Wars universe is still there even if Andor is a prequel

There’s so much play in the joints between ANH and Empire, or Empire and Jedi, that you could tell some awesome stories in those gaps that don’t have to touch Luke/Leia/Han/Vader

The West End Games Star Wars TTRPG focused on the four years between A New Hope and the Empire Strikes back. Four years after the opening salvo, with uprisings and unrest breaking out all over the galaxy. That could be milked for a couple of movies, no?

That would be a fascinating time for me: how does the galaxy react to a secret planet-killing space station obliterating Alderaan only to be destroyed by a ragtag rebellion?

The Death Star was supposed to be a show of force to "keep the outlying systems in line". And then it was almost immediately destroyed, showing those same systems, and everyone else, that the Empire *could* be fought. As the kids say "Let's fucking go!"

God, that's a good point. Literally the worse possible outcome for the Empire. It showed the galaxy that the Empire is a threat unlike anything ever seen before, but it's one that isn't undefeatable if they act fast. Yeah I'd watch the fuck out of stories in that era

I can’t remember, do they ever really address how much time passes between the Battle of Yavin and the attack on Hoth?

Being a Star Wars nerd whose brain has marinated in this stuff for most of my life, I'm pretty sure it was like one or two years, but they never say that in the movies lol (Also it's entirely possible with some careful planning that timeline can be massaged through retcons)