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Even the most casual fan knows that Andor, the titular character of the series many consider the best Star Wars story ever told, first appeared (and died!) in 2016's Rogue One: A Star Wars Story. They also know that the Galactic Rebellion in which the character fights first appeared in pop culture in the first Star Wars movie, in 1977. But how many fans, casual or passionate, know that the chasm of extra lore created in the years between those two began with a handful of fans that sought to turn Star Wars into a roleplaying universe?

In this week's edition of the Pop Cultural Precursors substack, readers learned the story of The Star Wars Roleplaying Game, the first piece of media to seriously expand on the Star Wars universe after the original films. The tale is a wild one for many reasons, among them the fact that, at the time of the game's creation, just not that many people were into Star Wars. The original movies and not-exactly-canon cartoons had come and gone in the public consciousness, and for what is now one of the biggest money makers in the history of entertainment, the future was looking as bleak as the Tattooine wilderness.

Fortunately, a host of unlikely factors led to game developers The West End taking on the massive task of fleshing out the Star Wars universe, predominant among them being a deep love for the franchise among its employees. In particular, the substack post makes mention of editor Bill Slavicsek, who had seen the original in theaters a reported 38 times. Passion like Slavicsek's had the West End team plumbing the depths of the knowledge that already existed about the Star Wars franchise (pre-internet, mind you!) for stuff to add to their tabletop roleplaying game. But what they couldn't find, they had to make up.

And make up they did.

Compared to the original trilogy of films, The Star Wars Roleplaying Game is a breathtaking expansion of lore, from the science of spaceships and lightsabers to the specifics of unnamed alien races from the films (fun fact, it was Slavicsek who named Twi'Leks, the race of beings to which Rebels' Hera Syndulla belongs). Among those lore additions was a beuracratic breakdown of the Empire - a transformation from the quite homogenously evil baddies of the OG trilogy to the complex, inter-fighting organization we find in Andor. 

In fact, it was from these details of the Empire's inner workings that we got Imperial Security Bureau, crucial to Andor's plot.

Star Wars: The Roleplaying Game was released in 1987, and in the following years, other crucial expansions of the universe would trickle into the market. Timothy Zahn's Thrawn trilogy would give us a look at a post-Empire world, not to mention introduce one of the biggest bads of the Star Wars canon. A regularly-updated Guide to the Star Wars Universe would follow suit, expanding even further on the RPG's concepts (that Guide, by the way, was written by our pal Bill Slavicsek). Even before Star Wars returned to theaters with The Phantom Menace in 1999, it had already become a rich, staggeringly large playground for future generations to play in. And while we can't say that playground 

Like the rebelling against a Galactic Empire, fleshing out Star Wars is a massive taks that required generations of passionate individuals. But we have to tip our hats to the folks that, like Andor himself, were brave enough to be there when it didn't look like it would work.

Andor season 2 premieres on Disney+ April 22.

Get to know, understand, and love the Star Wars franchise more with our Star Wars watch order, guide to all the upcoming Star Wars movies & TV shows, and all the Star Wars movies and Star Wars TV shows ranked.