"What a Festive Evening" is the sixth episode of the second season of the American science fiction political spy thriller drama television series "Andor". It is the eighteenth episode of the series overall; it was written by Beau Willimon and directed by Ariel Kleiman.
"What a Festive Evening" was released on Disney+ on April 29, 2025 as part of a three-episode block also including "Ever Been to Ghorman?" and "I Have Friends Everywhere", and received generally positive reviews from critics and audiences alike.
Plot.
Cassian insists to Luthen that the Ghorman Front is an inexperienced insurgent cell, and is resentful that Luthen secretly made contact with Bix to persuade her to return to action. Luthen chastises him for his short-sighted vision, insisting that an insurgency on Ghorman would be a boon to their efforts even if it proves calamitous. Vel and Cinta, sent by Luthen to aid the Ghorman Front, fully reconcile and rekindle their romance. The heist, secretly documented by Syril to Dedra and Partagaz, is successful, but one of the fighters disobeys Vel's orders and brings a blaster, only to accidentally kill Cinta when a passerby interferes, devastating Vel. At Sculdun's Investiture party, Krennic and Mothma get into a debate over the ethics of rebellion, unintentionally giving Kleya more time to extract her bug from Sculdun's collection, after forcibly roping Jung into the scheme. Bix breaks into Gorst's new office and uses his own torture device on him before leaving with Cassian, who remotely blows up the facility.
Production.
Writing.
The episode was written by Beau Willimon, in his sixth writing credit for the show, and directed by Ariel Kleiman, after directing the previous five episodes of the series. During an interview with "TVLine", "Andor" showrunner Tony Gilroy said he treats the kiss between Vel and Cinta as "a regular thing" and described their relationship something which connects to bigger themes "about revolution and what it costs you to be involved in it, and the kind of courage it takes" and defended the death of Cinta, saying that if people don't die, "it would really be disingenuous", while adding that calling for Cinta to die was "tough decision to make, tough phone calls to make to the actors".
Varada Sethu, who plays Cinta, told "Variety", in an interview, that she was glad to see that "people cared about Cinta in the way that I care about her", calling it heartwarming, and saying Cinta's death was "cleverly done and...truthful in how people experience death", while saying it is "shocking", she predicted that Cinta would "die in the rebellion", and adding that if Cinta and Vel had survived, they would dream of going "into hiding somewhere if they could" but would actually "end up staying in the rebellion". In an interview with "Elle", Sethu said that the death of Cinta "made perfect sense" while tragic and clever, adding that she could "fangirl about this show forever" noted that the kiss scene between Vel and Cinta was "a bit...off-the-cuff" and called the relationship between Cinta and Vel as a real and flawed which is a "mirror into the world".
Casting.
By March 2023, Benjamin Bratt had been cast for the episode in an undisclosed role, later revealed to be Bail Organa, replacing Jimmy Smits in the role. In "What a Festive Evening", marking his second appearance on "Andor", Ben Mendelsohn reprises his role as Orson Krennic from previous "Star Wars" media, including "Rogue One" (2016), in which he served as the main antagonist.
Music.
The original score for "What a Festive Evening", as with nine other episodes of the season's twelve, was composed by Brandon Roberts, replacing Nicholas Britell, the composer for the show's first season, due to scheduling conflicts.
The soundtrack for the episode was released alongside that of the other two episodes in its block on May 2, 2025 via Walt Disney Records as part of the second of four volumes of the second season's original score.
Release.
"What a Festive Evening" was released on Disney+ on April 29, 2025 as part of a three-episode block, alongside "Ever Been to Ghorman?" and "I Have Friends Everywhere".
Reception.
Critical response.
The review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes reports a 100% approval rating, based on 7 reviews.
William Hughes of "The A.V. Club" gave a positive review, writing "This episode was tense, occasionally funny, well-acted, and with a couple of stand-out moments." Mike Redmond of "Pajiba" also gave a positive review, summarizing that "Instead, we're literally speed-running through this season because here's the very depressing reality: It's already halfway over". 
The death of Cinta Kaz in the episode received mixed reactions from critics and fans. Some critics called her death a "misstep", a "slap in the face" which furthers the "emotional arc of her white counterpart", furthers "regressive tropes" like bury your gays, reinforced the franchise's bad track record for LGBTQ characters, and said that fans were "rightfully upset", while calling inclusion of Cinta Kaz and Vel Sartha a "step forward". "PinkNews" and "Den of Geek" reported that fans were "rightfully upset" with the death of Cinta, with a "mixture of heartbreak and rage", and asserting that the series was deploying negative tropes in the process. Other critics and commenters said that the death of Cinta was a "painful reminder of how rarely our stories are allowed to be fully told", and was heartbreaking, following a trend of how "queer relationships often get written in Hollywood".
Critics for "Gizmodo", "TheGamer", and "Polygon" gave a different view. They argued that the death of Cinta did not follow negative tropes, but that treating queer characters as full characters requires "sometimes...putting them at risk" and has queer characters being "treated the same as straight ones", with her death treated with weight rather than pure "shock value", with no character safe from death in the series. These critics acknowledged that the franchise has work to do when it comes to "introducing prominent LGBTQ characters", criticized the queer representation in "Star Wars" as "incredibly bleak", called her death "bitter", "retrograde", and praised Vel's speech to the one who killed Cinta.