Is Our Favorite Droid Buddy, K-2SO, in ‘Star Wars: Andor’?

There are a lot of great droids in the Star Wars universe, but K-2SO (Alan Tudyk) is among the very best. He made his Star Wars debut in 2016 in Rogue One: A Star Wars Story. Despite being a droid, audiences were struck with how humanoid K-2SO both looks and acts. The way that he walks with a noticeable stoop, boasts self-awareness, and banters with Cassian Andor (Diego Luna) sets him apart from other droids. His history is also quite interesting, considering that he was originally a security droid that served the Galactic Empire. However, Andor managed to reprogram him to serve the Rebel Alliances, thus, using the Empire’s own creation against them.

Meanwhile, K-2SO is aware that he is a reprogrammed droid and seems to accept it. In fact, he boasts quite a touching relationship with Andor, serving as his loyal sidekick. While Jyn Erso (Felicity Jones) is a bit uncertain about K-2SO, he joins her and Andor in their mission to intercept the Death Star plans from the Galactic Empire. While he proves to be a loyal ally to the team, as well as the comic relief of the film, his tragic fate is quite foreseeable considering his presence on the Rogue One mission. In the end, K-2SO sacrifices himself to allow Erso and Andor to complete their mission.

After his death in Rogue One, we didn’t anticipate to see K-2SO further in the Star Wars franchise. That is, until Disney began developing a solo series for Andor title Star Wars: Andor. The series takes place four years before the events of Rogue One and follows Andor’s evolution as a Rebel Alliance leader. Given that the series is a prequel to Rogue One specifically focused on Andor, will Andor’s most trusted friend and companion, K-2SO, also appear in the series?

Does K-2SO appear in Star Wars: Andor?

Unfortunately for fans of K-2SO, the droid will not be appearing Star Wars: Andor, at least not yet. Tudyk and Star Wars: Andor creator, Tony Gilroy, aren’t writing off K-2SO completely, though. This is because the series is going to run for 2 seasons. Season 1 will follow Andor when he’s as far away from the Andar of Rogue One that he can possibly be. As the season continues, it will track Andor’s slow integration into the Rebellion Alliance. Meanwhile, season 2 is going to get a lot closer to Rogue One and follow the events directly leading up to that film. Hence, K-2SO is a no-go for season 1, but may still show up later in the series.

When speaking to The Hollywood Reporter, Gilroy explained the reason for K-2SO’s absence:

From a storytelling point of view, there are multiple reasons. I would say, ‘Wait and see.’ It’s a story we are eager to tell. It’s difficult to carry an Imperial droid around with you and not draw all kinds of attention. It’s a difficult piece of luggage. When we do it, we’ll do it in a spectacular fashion as opposed to presenting it and ignoring it, or presenting it or hiding it, or the bad versions we would have been forced to do.

We have five years [before the events in Rogue One]. If he knew K2 back then there would be no journey to go through. We’re starting him so far away from the person who would know how to — or be motivated to — reprogram an Imperial droid.

Gilroy’s explanation does offer a logical reason for not featuring K-2SO in Star Wars: Andor yet. It certainly wouldn’t make sense for Andor to suddenly be accompanied by K-2SO before he has even decided to join the Rebel Alliance. Meanwhile, Tudyk has echoed Gilroy’s sentiment to simply wait and see, because though he won’t appear right away, K-2SO is still bound to appear at some point. Tudyk told Collider, “They’re shooting it [Star Wars: Andor] right now, I’m not in it. But, if it stays on the air, stories keep getting told, I’ll end up in there.”

Andor teases K-2SO’s return

Despite Tudyk’s and Gilroy’s adamance that K-2SO wouldn’t be in season 1, Andor’s 7th episode, “Announcement,” heavily teased his arrival. In the episode, Andor came face-to-face with a KX series droid, which is the type of droid K-2SO is. However, this droid wasn’t buddies with Andor like his pal K-2SO and aggressively grabbed him by the throat at one point after mistaking him for a Rebel. While some fans might’ve mistaken this as a K-2SO cameo, there’s no confirmation the droid is, indeed, K-2SO.

It isn’t going to be the K-2SO of Rogue One, as Andor hasn’t reprogrammed any droids or even joined the rebel alliance yet. We’re not sure if it’s K-2SO before his reprogramming either, largely because the credits lacked Tudyk’s name, meaning he wasn’t voicing the droid. Viewers must also remember that the Empire employed a lot of KX droids during its reign. Hence, the droid Andor crossed paths with was more likely a random Empire-employed droid rather than K-2SO. However, the introduction of the droids in season 1 foreshadows K-2SO’s appearance.

(featured image: Disney)