Andor’s Wullf Yularen has Star Wars history beyond his low-key cameo

Disney Plus’ Andor has stubbornly refused to directly nod to much of the Star Wars universe or fluff the audience with Easter eggs. Sure, there’s TIE fighters and the Empire; Mon Mothma is there, seeding rebellion. There are some fun droids, even a glimpse at the KX droid model that’s the same as K-2SO from Rogue One. But that’s mostly it, keeping a narrow vantage point on the early days of the Rebellion.

But episode 7, “Announcement,” features a Star Wars crossover that may have flown under the radar: When the Empire officials are being given their marching orders, they receive a speech from Col. Wullf Yularen (Malcolm Sinclair).

Wullf Yularen was first introduced in The Clone Wars, though he “appeared” in Star Wars: Episode IV – A New Hope as an unnamed character who walked past a disguised Luke Skywalker and Han Solo. He would later be dubbed Wullf Yularen by a Star Wars card game, before appearing as a recurring character in The Clone Wars and later Star Wars Rebels. In Clone Wars he was the strait-laced officer assigned to serve with the impulsive young Jedi Anakin Skywalker.

Image: Lucasfilm

Wullf’s presence in Andor is the relatively rare direct pull from the Star Wars canon, a bit of fan service showrunner Tony Gilroy wanted to avoid wherever possible.

“We didn’t want to do anything that was fan service,” Gilroy told IGN in September. “We never wanted to have anything… the mandate in the very beginning was that it would be as absolutely non-cynical as it could possibly be, that the show would just be real and honest.”

Ultimately, Andor is about more than just its Clone War connections, even if it’s nice to see ol’ Wullf pop up again to remind us who we’re dealing with.