Andor Finally Confirms a Star Wars Character Rule the Movies Ignored

This Star Wars: Andor article contains spoilers.

In space, no one can hear you… urinate. Well, that’s what we’d always thought across the past 45 years of Star Wars. The galaxy has never been afraid to show us what the inside of a Tauntaun looks like, or a limbless Anakin Skywalker being charred on Mustafar, but apparently, seeing your favorite Jedi go to the toilet is a step too far. That was until the latest episode of Andor.

The gritty Star Wars live-action series has tried something new as a genre-defining spy-fi sci-fi that’s set in that sweet spot between George Lucas’ Original Trilogy and the Prequels. It’s starkly different in tone and scope too, less grand space adventure, and more a nitty gritty deep dive into the spark of Rebellion. In the hands of showrunner Tony Gilroy, Andor has explored the more mundane details of the galaxy far, far away, such as how the Empire files paperwork at its intelligence bureau. This relatively untapped corner of Star Wars history has even canonized its own version of cereal — called “crunchies” in this universe — with blue milk. But was anyone really expecting “The Eye” to make urine a major talking point?

After holding it in for two whole episodes, this week’s Andor finally got down to the Rebel heist at an Imperial garrison. There were casualties across the board, as the likes of the double-crossing Skeen (Ebon Moss-Bachrach) and lovable Karis Nemik (Alex Lawther) kicked the bucket. And it’s in the lead up to these major twists that the show addresses the latest Star Wars question no one thought they needed an answer to.

In case you missed it, the tense scene takes place while Vel Sartha (Faye Marsay) and Cinta Kaz (Varada Sethu) are hiding from a battalion of Imps, just before diving into a lake to infiltrate the enemy base. While boasting about their conquests, one of the Imperials pauses to relieve himself as the Eye of Aldhani kicks off in the skies above — just one of many ways Gilroy expertly mixes grandiose worldbuilding with the smaller details. Cue a disgusted Vel wincing at their vulgarity.

You might think this to silly a detail to even pay it mind, but it took no time at all for the Star Wars subreddit to kick off about this. One fan wrote, “Piss is now canon in Star Wars,” which led to another speculating, “Guarantee some Imperial gets shot on the crapper like in Pulp Fiction.”

If you want to get nitpicky, this isn’t technically the first time we’ve seen urination in Star Wars. “Refreshers” (bathrooms) are a common feature in the galaxy far, far away, and if you watched the Rebels animated series, you might remember when Wedge Antilles was interrupted mid-flow by AP-5. StarWars.com even mentions the awkward situation in a list of “5 Reasons We Love AP-5.” Choose Your Destiny: A Finn & Poe Adventure mentions that a First Order Star Destroyer has 1,822 bathrooms, while the Star Wars: Complete Locations reference book lists that Sheev Palpatine’s office has a private refresher. 

Use of the word “urine” first appeared in canon in a 2021 episode of the child-friendly Star Wars Galaxy of Creatures, where a voorpak left a purple puddle of on the floor. Going even further back into Legends continuity, we also saw stormtroopers using a urinal in the LucasArts video game Star Wars: Dark Forces from 1995. Be warned though, massive creatures called dianogas are known to lurk in refreshers, which might explain why Andor’s soldier choose to go outside. Given that Wedge’s inability to urinate came in 2 BBY – and Andor is set in 5BBY – does this unnamed grunt have the honor of claiming to be the first person to pee on the Star Wars timeline?

Bizarrely, this is also the second mention of bodily functions in a live-action Star Wars show since Disney+ started. The Mandalorian solved a similar mystery when the Mytrol (Horatio Sanz) said he needed to evacuate his thorax in the Razor Crest’s lavatory. The same series warned Mando to be careful because “everyone dumps their grey holds out,” but until then, many assumed Star Wars was alongside Star Trek with the whole “Nobody Poops” trope. If you haven’t heard of “Nobody Poops,” an episode of That Mitchell and Webb Look explained it, saying, “The film industry has increasingly failed to reflect reality as people live it. No one goes for a piss in Star Wars, you can watch the whole of Ghostbusters and no one brushes their teeth, and in Lost in Translation, nothing happens. At all.”

The fact is, we’ve been too busy with epic lightsaber duels, sneaky senators, and family dramas to hone in on the importance of going to the toilet. Still, in an episode where the most exciting thing going on in the Senate is Mon Mothma’s worries about the Ghormans, we’ve slowed things down enough to unearth these mysteries. It’s got us thinking though, was there a bathroom in the Millennium Falcon, or did Chewie simply blast out his massive deposits from an airlock? There’s a chance Andor will get to the bottom of this in due time.