The Empire isn’t or wasn’t “really” anything at all. It’s fucking fictitious.
I know lots of people say Andor is some sort of great political thriller and very deep and super thoughtful, but I just can’t get past the fact that it’s a Star Wars spin-off. The leader of this banality-of-evil fascist state is a cackling cartoon wizard.
Yes, we all enjoy a good science fiction allegory story. Requiring that it must be a part of a recognisable brand family in a corporate portfolio is the shitty part. Andor had no business being a Star Wars story, but if it weren’t then Disney would have never funded its production. That fucking sucks.