7 Years Later, An Overlooked Star Wars’ RPG May Hold The Answer To ‘Andor’s Mysterious New Drug

Star Wars has always been a full-formed world, full of virtues and vices. The Jedi are, of course, the height of virtue, but in order to prove that, they have to encounter the opposite. One of the best examples of this was in Attack of the Clones, when Obi-Wan Kenobi encountered a deathstick dealer in a club and used the Force to suggest he goes home and rethink his life.

But Star Wars’ relationship to illicit substances goes much further than just that, and the latest episodes of Andor prove that they’re far more pervasive than we first thought. But just how many times have we seen narcotics in Star Wars? The full story goes beyond just deathsticks and spice.

Warning! Spoilers ahead for Andor Season 2 Episodes 4-6.

In Season 2 of Andor, Bix (Adria Arjona) undergoes one of the most traumatic experiences a person can face, when an Imperial lieutenant takes advantage of his power and attempts to sexually assault her. It’s clearly not something that’s easy to get over, and in Episode 4 we see how Bix has been dealing with it while living in a safe house: by using a mysterious blue substance with an eyedropper that she claims helps with the nightmares.

Though we see this substance, we don’t hear it referred to by name. So what could it possibly be? In the non-canon Star Wars legends, there are a variety of psychoactive materials you can encounter, from Alderaanian snuff to Xyathone. But recreational substances are usually referred to as “spice,” usually mined on the planet Kessel. (Yes, spice was in fact inspired by Dune.) The most expensive variant of spice, however, was glitterstim, which was harvested through the webs of energy spiders, not unlike the spiders of Ghorman.

But the most likely candidate for what Bix is ingesting is actually something completely different, and something that exists in canon. The role-playing game Star Wars: Age of Rebellion released a sourcebook specifically for the Spy class entitled Masks and Cyphers. That book introduced a new substance, vutalamine, an anti-anxiety medicine that calmed the user’s mind for a 24-hour period.

However, this came with a price: vutalamine was also highly addictive and could cause suicidal thoughts, paranoia, and impairment in judgment — something Bix certainly seems like she’s on the way toward, even though she’s often the one calming down Cassian.

The Star Wars galaxy is incredibly vast, so it’s possible this substance could be something else entirely, but vutalamine has aided spies for more than a century by the time Andor is set, and Bix definitely counts as a spy. Will we see this actually be confirmed by the time Andor ends? Only time will tell.

Andor is now streaming on Disney+.