Official disclaimer: I have never been a Star Wars fan in any serious capacity in all these years that I consumed popular culture, except when the original trilogy first came out and wowed us all with its special effects. Right from the start though, I also felt that I was watching something more of a sword and wizards kind of fantasy story cast in space than an actual science fiction that (I believed at the time) Star Trek was. (Now why should that matter? I dunno, teenagers don't normally think things through before they commit to an idea, do they?)
I started Andor solely on the basis of the word of mouth and tro be frank, the first season came and went and I found myself still on the fence. I could see that there were glimpses of interesting storytelling going on but not being plugged into the world (I haven't watched Rogue One or any of the more recent incarnations of the franchise). That said, I decided since the series officially ended in season 2 and it was not going to be dragged on forever, I decided to keep going.
And boy, was that the right thing to do. Andor season 1 is the set up, and season 2 is the payoff. The characters that appeared out of nowhere (did I mention I wasn't plugged into the lore all that much?) gained some serious depth, their motives became layered, the plot became more intricate and interconnected. That was one helluva storytelling exercise, and mature storytelling at that. There are no fairy tales here.
It has been talked about as a dissection of fascism or at least authoritarian rule. There's plenty of that for sure, but there is also the ideas of how individuals connect to causes, how that impacts them, what it means to put yourself on the line for something bigger than you despite your reservations about who's taking you there and how they're going about it. The whole thing was absolutely believable at a human level top to bottom.
So ... fine ... I'll watch Rogue One just so that I can close this story, but I will probably get disappointed because it will probably be a letdown after this.
As you may have figured out by now, I highly recommend it. Get through season 1, which is not bad at all, but the goods are served amply on season 2. (It's on Disney+, obviously).