Andor prequel explores Saw Gerrera’s radical resolve
What do you sacrifice?
Star Wars stories can move from Jedi mythology to the covert work of spies, soldiers and partisan fighters. For viewers who connected with the grounded tension of Rogue One and Andor, the Reign of the Empire novels offer another look at the people resisting Imperial control.
The trilogy follows Mon Mothma, Bail Organa and Saw Gerrera during the years of occupation before A New Hope. Rebecca Roanhorse’s Edge of the Abyss, published by Random House Worlds, is the second instalment. The book is set one year before Andor, after the three protagonists have lived under Imperial rule for 13 years.
Its story begins after an attack at the Blossom Festival goes wrong. The fallout exposes a more calculated Imperial threat: beyond suppressing established opposition, the regime is influencing a younger generation, including Mon and Bail’s teenage daughters, Leida and Leia.
An excerpt from Edge of the Abyss brings Bail and Saw together on Alderaan. Their conversation turns to the failed events on Inusagi, the people lost during the conflict and the consequences faced by those who remain.
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Reign of the Empire: Edge of the Abyss excerpt
Bail reaches a discreet meeting point in disguise, checking the street before entering a shabby shop. The shelves carry local Sweetsea merchandise, while a young cashier with Houk features pays little attention to him.
The instructions are deliberately vague. Bail has no password, signal or clear direction, and he cannot tell whether he is being summoned by Saw or led into a trap. The cashier eventually signals him to remain quiet and indicates a staircase behind the counter.
Bail climbs to a neglected storeroom, where boxes and memorabilia crowd the floor. Saw Gerrera stands by a dirty window, watching the festival crowds below. Their reunion is edged with sarcasm: Saw remarks that Bail has aged, while Bail notes that both men have changed since their last face-to-face meeting a decade earlier.
Saw insists that staying alive is reason enough to accept the effects of age. His attention soon returns to the people celebrating outside. He is angered by their ordinary lives and loud support for the festival teams while other people fight and die for freedom.
Bail defends Alderaan’s peaceful character, but Saw warns that its calm will not last. Bail takes the comment as a threat and challenges Saw over the reason for the meeting. Saw explains that Bail’s operatives were careless and exposed, then asks whether he has heard about Inusagi.
The failed operation was intended to show the Empire that replacing a planet’s leadership with a compliant governor would carry a cost. Saw compares Inusagi’s fate with the possibility of Alderaan’s queen being reduced to a figurehead, pointing to Naboo as a warning.
Bail imagines Imperial forces occupying his home and promises that Alderaan would resist. Saw replies that the people of Inusagi also fought back and that his group joined them when they were asked for help. It is an unusual admission from a man who has often rejected the idea of cooperation between rival resistance factions.
That alliance did not save Inusagi. Bail lists the consequences: Imperial raids, the expulsion of foreign students, restrictions on peaceful protest and martial law in the capital. Saw accepts that the planet has been lost, arguing that his fighters did what they could.
The disagreement becomes personal. Bail accuses Saw of provoking a community and leaving local people to endure the reprisals. Saw answers that he has no safe home, is wanted across the galaxy and is treated as a criminal even on worlds he has never visited. His life, he says, is defined by consequences.
When Bail asks about the comrades he lost, Saw names Maia, who died, and Nankry, who was captured. Nankry knows the details of Inusagi’s resistance, including safe houses, supply caches, sympathetic donors and information about the Partisans. Saw fears that Imperial interrogators will now learn everything she knows, including the location of the Library.
Reign of the Empire: Edge of the Abyss by Rebecca Roanhorse is scheduled for release on 11 September 2026.
Its focus on compromised missions, divided resistance groups and the personal cost of rebellion places Saw Gerrera firmly among Star Wars’ most uncompromising anti-Imperial figures. Readers interested in the wider galaxy can find the Reign of the Empire trilogy through the approved book listing.
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