Fighting The Dark.

Kleya was Axis all along, and someone on here has already pointed out that Dedra's fixation on Luthen meant she completely overlooked Kleya, details about how Paak had spoken to a woman. Luthen starts to slip, and Kleya tells him to get his shit together. The future he burns his decency for is Kleya's. The thing that makes it stop is choosing to leave a life that's no longer serving him for Kleya. Cassian wants to run, and Kleya reminds him what they're fighting for. She is the axis Axis spins on. It's incredibly refreshing to have the show acknowledge that wholeheartedly by its conclusion.

The show is called Andor, but the last episode begins with a clear shot of Kleya's face. The last three episodes aren't just about the Death Star plans, and I think in the original vision for the show, they probably would have been, but now, they're centered around Kleya. Saving Kleya (another thing someone else said on here). And I don't think that would have happened the same way without Elizabeth Dulau putting so much intentionality into the character.

The humanity was always there, of course, but in the most urgent moment, the thing we've been building to for two seasons, and the ending we always knew was coming, Andor slows down and says "but this one person's life is worth saving." That choice to save her speaks to the heart of the show. Cassian is the heart of the show, but I think Kleya, for all her deliberate denial of community, is the love. Cassian chooses to put the entire galaxy at risk waiting for her. Even after she's given him what he needs. Even though they almost die without anyone knowing. The whole galaxy on the line for Kleya. When you save people, you save the galaxy. You can and must do both at the same time.

I just wonder how much of that ending we would have gotten without Elizabeth Dulau. Sure, other people wrote and imagined it, after they were like "oh shit what else can she do?" And then she did it. Listening to her talk about her process too, she's so intentional, just like Kleya. I will never stop giving her flowers. The last three episodes of Andor have fundamentally changed me. Kleya has fundamentally changed me in ways I can only attempt to describe. I am not only coming home to myself but imagining and creating a life I never would have dreamed of, acting with the kind of intention I hope would make Kleya proud. She was always with me, but this show brought her back after 10 years. It helped me remember the part of myself I had to kill to be safe. Kleya brought her back to life. She is an axis in my very soul, inseparable from everything I will go on to do.

FANTASIA (1940)

Rhea Seehorn and Karolina Wydra, 2025