What is BBY? A Guide to the Era of ‘Andor’
Other shows give you a ticking clock, but Andor, which has just returned for its second and final season, provides a ticking calendar. This is encapsulated in “BBY 4,” which is displayed at the beginning of Andor Season 2, episode 1. Casual viewers might not recall the previous time setting from Season 1, episode 1, which was marked as BBY 5.
Get ready for more time jumps: The second batch of Season 2 is set in BBY 3; the third in BBY 2; and the final three episodes, releasing on May 13, will cover the events of BBY 1, coinciding with the beginning of Rogue One. However, Andor doesn’t explain this enigmatic acronym, leading many to mistakenly think the “Y” stands for year. In reality, BBY means Before the Battle of Yavin — a reference to the climactic destruction of the Death Star in the 1977 Star Wars film, later rebranded as Episode IV: A New Hope in 1981. The BBY and ABY (After the Battle of Yavin) dating system has since been utilized for various Star Wars books, comics, and other media. For example, The Empire Strikes Back is set in ABY 3, while Attack of the Clones takes place in BBY 22, though neither film explicitly mentions these timelines.
As Lucasfilm’s creators pondered the BBY and ABY system, they found it increasingly confusing within the Star Wars universe. After all, the Empire didn’t fall until the events of Return of the Jedi (ABY 4). Wouldn’t the new Galactic Republic choose that as its key date? One company veteran humorously critiqued the BBY dating system in a now-deleted tweet: “‘I know! Let’s make a calendar based around our second-greatest victory!’ — The Rebels.”
The canon reset by Lucasfilm in 2014 effectively rendered the dating system obsolete, as it designated previously published novels and comics as part of a separate timeline called Legends. Nonetheless, the system remained popular among fans and was frequently referenced in online discussions. When director Tony Gilroy set out to create Andor as a prequel to Rogue One, he needed a way to mark his time jumps for viewers. Hence, BBY made sense since Cassian Andor (Diego Luna) dies in Rogue One, just days before the Battle of Yavin — solidifying BBY in the on-screen narrative for the first time. The first three episodes of Andor Season 2 will premiere on April 22, with new episodes available every Tuesday.
