Star Wars' Most Overlooked Droid is Finally Getting an Origin Story
The bot is back.
Andor is unique among Star Wars TV shows for taking its time. Sure, we’ve seen protagonists like Luke and Rey rise from humble origins, but Andor showed us Cassian Andor getting caught up in the opening moments of the Rebellion before it was even a formal movement. Andor isn’t just about the origins of Cassian but the Rebellion itself, and how it would grow into what we saw in Rogue One and A New Hope.
Andor Season 2, however, will pick up the pace a little. While Season 1 only covered one year, Season 2 will jump through four years until we reach the events of Rogue One. And in those four years, one of the best parts of that prequel movie will get a bigger role and a backstory to match it.
K-2SO was a hit as a wisecracking droid in Rogue One.
In a conversation with Entertainment Weekly, Andor star Diego Luna teased the return of K-2SO, the comic relief security droid voiced by Alan Tudyk in Rogue One. “You're going to see why K-2 is so important in Rogue One,” he said, “and how does he get to be such an important character for the Rebellion.”
According to Luna, Andor will change how viewers look at his first appearance. “I think people watching Rogue One, after watching season 2, are going to see a different film,” he said. “Everything will be signified differently knowing what had to happen for K-2 to be there. It's going to make you witness the journey of Rogue One in a different way, I think. And not just with K-2, but with many other characters. I think it'll be really cool.”
While the prospect of learning K-2’s origin story is exciting, hardcore Star Wars fans already know his backstory. In 2017, the one-shot comic Cassian & K-2SO Special showed how the duo met on the planet Wecacoe. K-2, an Imperial security droid, attempted to arrest Cassian multiple times, but became loyal to the Rebellion after having his memory erased.
K2 and Andor’s first meeting shown in Cassian & K-2SO Special was a bit confrontational.
That doesn’t mean we’ll see this encounter in Andor Season 2, as the series could easily rewrite their first encounter and leave the comic non-canonical. But regardless of how it plays out, fans can be assured that the essential role K-2 plays in overthrowing the Empire will be fleshed out in more detail.
Part of the appeal of Andor is that it gives the obscure nobodies of the Rebellion the stories they deserve. The martyrs and sidekicks of Rogue One are getting fleshed out, which will only make us appreciate them more the next time we rewatch Cassian and K-2’s adventure.
