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If the first season of Disney+’s Star Wars series Andor deepened the political subtext of the franchise by introducing concepts like prison labor, series showrunner Tony Gilroy is prepared to make the second and final season even more intense by making the subtext text for the first time in almost 50 years and asking what the human cost of the Empire really is.

“What is the real effect of time — pressurized, painful time — on ordinary people that hopefully you care a lot about?” Gilroy told Empire magazine when talking about the core questions of the new season, premiering later this month. “What happens to their love affairs? Their relationships? Their homes? Their children? What happens to everything around them, if you’re thrust into this vice-grip of revolution? Those are the big tectonic moves of the second season.”

The idea has been touched on in the show’s first season — think about the climactic events of ‘Rix Road,’ the season’s finale — but otherwise have been purposefully ignored in a franchise that focuses more on the primary heroes and villains in a space adventure, rather than the everyday folk impacted by the fascistic situation they’ve found themselves in. But then… this sort of thing is exactly what made the first season of Andor so unique (and critically acclaimed), so perhaps we shouldn’t be too surprised to see such a timely topic coming up as the show returns.

Andor season 2 begins streaming April 23 on Disney+.

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