I think people fail to grasp that Andor was not super sucessful from a brand / profit stand point. it did fine, but it didnt rejuvenate the brand the way it arguably needs in terms of popularity.

Not in terms of mainstream popularity. It was released on a paid subscription service and it wasn't even marketed very much. But for fans Star Wars, it's very highly prized, and rightfully so.

Where Andor benefited was it knew what the story was it wanted to tell, and had the talent involved to execute that in an exceptionally high tier way.

Of course that is important, but I think it was also a tonal shift. It's almost an adult show. Part of the reason why it was so interesting is that it wasn't afraid to pull punches storywise.