During Season 1 Of Andor, Where Is Jyn Erso In The Star Wars Universe?
There will be spoilers for "Andor" Episode VIII – "Narkina 5."
In the eighth episode of "Andor," Luthen Rael meets with Saw Gerrera on the remote and freezing rock known as Segra Milo. Edrio Two-Tubes stands guard over Saw Gerrera's base and Luthen meets with him to discuss business and there's no mention of Saw's adopted daughter, Jyn Erso (played by Felicity Jones in "Rogue One: A Star Wars Story"). She's nowhere to be seen. So where is she at this point in the timeline, five years before the Battle of Yavin and where can we find out more about that?
You dumped me.
In "Rogue One," on the planet of Jedha just before the Death Star tests its super laser against it, Jyn confronts Saw about his departure from her life. "The last time I saw you," she tells him, "you gave me a knife and a loaded blaster and told me to wait in a bunker 'till daylight."
As they argue in that exchange, she reveals that she was 16. At the time of her death on Scarif, weeks prior to the Battle of Yavin, Jyn is somewhere between 21 and 22 years old. Which means five years before is almost exactly when "Andor" takes place and is around the same time Saw dumped her. She was causing suspicions among his cadre and they were afraid of getting sold out, which is exactly what happened. By the time Saw meets with Luthen Rael on Segra Milo, he's only very recently had to abandon Jyn.
But where is that story documented?
Rebel Rising
In her book, "Rebel Rising," author Beth Revis documents this exact situation. Where "Andor" and, later, "Star Wars Rebels" follow Saw Gerrera after that moment, "Rebel Rising" gives us everything leading up to and beyond the moment where Saw dumps Jyn. She's a clever forger and is put to use by Saw in that skill and it's that ability that saves her and gives her names to go by. She's later arrested and sent to a labor camp under an assumed name (Liana Hallik), which is something she has in common with Cassian, who is sent to Narkina 5 under the name Keef Girgo.
On the planet of Tamsye Prime, Saw and Jyn were on a mission to a scout a munitions factory leftover from the Clone Wars. She forged everyone's scandocs and she herself was running under the name "Kestrel Dawn." One of Saw's other fighters, a man named Tallent, suspected Jyn's true identity and betrayed them. It was here on this planet that Saw dealt with Tallent and dumped Jyn in a cave with a knife and a blaster.
With her ability to forge documents, pilot ships, and fight, Jyn takes the name of "Jyn Dawn" and escapes Tamsye Prime to the planet of Ponta and builds a life for herself there, romance included.
It's not to be, though, and she's pretty quickly forced to take up a life of crime to survive. Then, she ends up in the Wobani labor camp where we catch up to her in "Rogue One."
New episodes of "Andor" air on Wednesdays on Disney+.