What’s Going on With the Force Healer in Andor? Scene Explained

The scene with the force healer in the seventh episode of Andor is one of the most confusing parts in Season 2 so far. The history of healers and practitioners using The Force is not often seen in the main Star Wars movies and series. Couple this with the rather forlorn expression of the force healer, the spiritual vagueness of some of the dialogue, and Cassian’s inherent distaste for what he thinks is a scam, and it’s difficult to work out what exactly is going on without some context. So let’s dissect this short but important scene in Andor Season 2 and see what we can glean about Cassian’s future.

Who is the force healer in Andor Season 2?

The force healer, played by actress Josie Walker, in Andor Season 2 is deliberately unnamed, only referred in the credits as “Force Healer,” but she is a cook for the rebel resistance on Yavin who has the gift to cure ailments and wounds, though the healing only “sometimes works.”

Bix grabs Cassian to see the force healer due to him having a blaster burn that refuses to heal. A blaster burn is a scar left from being hit by a laser blaster gun (he’s lucky to have survived that). It’s unclear how he received the burn in the first place, but given that he’s becoming a leader in the rebellion, away from Luthen, a good guess would be that he was on a mission for the resistance when he got nicked. Either way, Cassian is doubtful about any kind of force healing, in part because his adoptive mother Maarva would have disapproved but also because he’s a skeptical person by nature, a trait someone like him needs to survive as a rogue agent and spy.

From what we can tell, the force healer likely isn’t faking anything about her abilities and looks to be force sensitive at the very least. She could identify that Cassian had an injury to his right shoulder without anyone having said anything about his wound, and Cassian has to begrudgingly admit that his shoulder is doing better after she touched his arm.

Interestingly, the scene seems to have benefited the healer more than Cassian. She reveals that she has had a crisis of faith, that it’s so easy to lose. She says “it’s been a very long time” since she sensed The Force with such clarity, and since her healing powers tend to come and go, it’s not hard to imagine that she has had doubts about them in the first place.

On top of that, the force healer is old enough to have experienced the Great Jedi Purge, or the Empire’s war against the Jedi, from 19 BBY to 3 BBY (Andor Episode 7 takes place in 2 BBY). She would have known about their continued assault against the Jedi and by extension anyone with force powers who might align with them. She had believed that her being able to feel the Force “had gone for good,” which is why she seemed rather downcast in her conversation with Cassian.

After Cassian leaves the healer after being spooked by her words, she tells Bix that he is different than most people who are merely shaped by the past. Instead, she senses that Cassian is “gathering as they go” and that “there’s a purpose to it.” He’s a “messenger” and there’s a “place he needs to be.” Those who have watched Rogue One: A Star Wars Story (2016) will know that what she says is true, that Cassian must grab the plans for The Death Star. Call it fate, supernatural determinism, or divine will — the healer senses that The Force is guiding him to where he is required to be. He would explain his survival due to luck, but that might not be all that’s happening.

In a romantically bittersweet moment, the healer also mentions to Bix that she is “the place he needs to be.” However, this leads to her decision to leave Cassian behind at the end of Episode 9, since she knows the rebellion has the best chance to win with him there and that he cannot yet rest and flee with her for some premature happy ending until that happens. As Bix has said before, if she’s going to sacrifice everything, they’d better win.