Alan Tudyk Says K-2SO is the Opposite of C-3PO in 'Rogue One'

Much like the original trilogy, Rogue One features a tall, impeccably British robot; but unlike the amicable C-3PO, actor Alan Tudyk says K-2SO is not a droid you want to mess with.

We didn’t know much about K-2SO, the token droid member of the rag-tag Rogue One team, but Alan Tudyk sat down with StarWars.com to give more details about the emancipated Imperial combat droid.

It turns out, “Kaytoo” joined the fight with Jyn Erso (Felicity Jones) and Cassian Andor’s (Diego Luna) team in a rather unorthodox manner. From the recent Rogue One trailer we know Andor has been recruiting for the Rebellion in the mysterious holy planet of Jedha. Somewhere along the line, before enlisting Erso, Andor, somehow, infiltrated an Imperial facility and stole one of their big bad droids.

Tudyk said:

Kaytoo was formerly an Imperial droid, so he used to be on the other side. He was a security droid and then Cassian, Diego Luna’s character, who owns Kaytoo, has done a memory wipe and reprograms Kaytoo to be a Rebel with the Alliance. Through that process, Kaytoo’s personality changes. I approached it as if he were freed, almost like a governor on an engine that holds the personality back. The Empire was much more of a regimented world where youre much more forced to be in servitude of the Empire, which historically is the case. When he is reprogrammed, his personality comes out, which is a bit odd.

As for his personality, don’t let the posh British accent fool you. K-2SO is definitely not programmed for human-cyborg relations — unless those relations are violent. When the Rogue One: A Star Wars Story: Official Visual Story Guide leaked, we learned Kaytoo is an “enforcer droid,” a combat-ready robot who would crush you instead of reminding you he knows six-million forms of communication.

Tudyk, who created the character in a motion-capture performance, referenced a scene in the Star Wars Celebration panel footage to explain Kaytoo’s seemingly bizarre, post-reprogramming attitude toward Jyn (at about 27:00 in the above video). Tudyk said it’s what made Kaytoo somehow more human:

You see Felicity Jones’ character hand me a bag, and she and Diego Luna’s character walk off. And I stand there holding the bag for just a moment, and I just drop it, because I’m not into holding her bag. [Laughs] C-3PO would definitely hold the bag and watch over it. Kaytoo is maybe a bit too honest. At that moment, he’s willful. It makes him a really fun character. For me, it made him much more human

Tudyk, who most famously played Wash in Joss Whedon’s TV series Firefly and the film Serenity. He’s currently starring in, writing, and directing the web-series Con Man on the Comic-Con HQ streaming service. Its second season comes out sometime later this year along with Rogue One, which hits theaters on December 16.