The final arc of Andor season 2's timeline, though, moved events much closer to Rogue One.

The final arc of the show took place mere days before Rogue One began, meaning several tie-ins and connections between the two projects could be found. Some were more overt, be it the Andor season 2's best performances making a single line from Rogue One even better than it already was.

Andor Season 2's Final Arc Highlights Kleya's Effectiveness

Kleya Made Fools Of The Imperials

In Andor season 2, episode 10, Luthen - after attempting suicide - is taken into custody by Dedra Meero, who wishes to heal him and torture him for information on the Rebel Alliance. Kleya, knowing that Luthen's secrets must be kept, sneaks into the hospital. She dispatches several guards, blows up Imperial transports, tearfully detaches Luthen's life machine, and leaves without being caught.

Season 2 positioned Kleya as the true leader of Luthen's Rebellion, with several moments showing how reliable she is...

This entire sequence, coupled with the flashbacks about Kleya and Luthen's backstory, highlights just how effective Kleya can be. Despite always being depicted as an intriguing character in Andor, season 2 positioned Kleya as the true leader of Luthen's Rebellion, with several moments showing how reliable she is. Be it the scene from Andor season 2, episode 6 where she removes a listening device from a piece of art that could see them get caught or her infiltration of the hospital, Kleya singlehandedly knows how to make the Imperials suffer.

A Good Rogue One Line Links To Kleya's Andor Story & Is Now Much Better

Spoken By Cassian, Of All People

What drew a connection between Kleya's scene in Andor season 2, episode 10 and Rogue One for me was a line spoken by Heert in episode 11. The ISB agent was assigned to survey the scene, stating that he was told there was a team of three that attacked the hospital, which his colleague confirms is the current theory. This only underlines just how effective Kleya was, as she managed to cause enough damage to the Empire that its agents thought multiple people were on the offensive against them.

When hearing this line, I immediately think of a similar line from Rogue One. In the final assault on Scarif in that movie, Cassian tells Melshi to take men and blow up several docking stations in order to "make ten men feel like a hundred." This line was exemplified by Kleya in Andor, only on a smaller scale. Now, the two lines are intertwined to me, making that moment from Rogue One much more impactful, as we know the soldiers of Star Wars' Rebel Alliance can truly be that effective.

Andor's Many Subtle Links To Rogue One Only Improve The Star Wars Movie

Rogue One Is Much Better Now - And It Was Already Great

This link between Kleya in Andor and Cassian in Rogue One just goes to show how the former is improving the latter. Rogue One was always a good movie, with many of its bigger, epic moments landing exceptionally well. From the space battles and shootouts to the Death Star scenes and its major cameos, Rogue One's grander scenes were always enjoyable.

After Andor, though, the smaller moments of the film have been improved too. Every scene featuring Cassian, for instance, now has heaps of dramatic context. Then there are small lines like "Rebellions are built on hope" or the aforementioned line Cassian says to Melshi that now have explanations or companion scenes in Andor. The list goes on, proving just how strong Andor is thanks to how it makes smaller moments from an almost 10-year-old movie mean so much more than they once did.