Posted in: Disney+, Star Wars, TV | Tagged: andor

Andor Showrunner on Scrapped "Horror Movie" K-2SO Origin Episode

Andor showrunner Tony Gilroy reveals that K-2SO's origin story was pretty dark and had "horror movie" inspirations before it was scrapped.

It was a highly anticipated reunion that fans were looking forward to in the Disney+ series Andor that saw Cassian Andor (Diego Luna) and his not-so-gentle giant K-2SO (voiced by Alan Tudyk) meeting for the first time in episode eight, "Who Are You?" in not-so-friendly terms initially. As the streamer has been releasing season two in three-episode blocks, May 6th saw episodes 7-9 that showed a turning point of the rebellion, with the unrest growing in Ghorman and the presiding Empire. As part of the scuffle, KX security droids attempt to quell the unrest. Amidst the chaos, one of the droids gets slammed by a vehicle into a side of the building and is split in two, incapacitated, before Cassian decides to take the droid with him to the rebel base at Yavin IV. It wouldn't be until the end of the following episode, "Welcome to the Rebellion," that a rebel engineer reprogrammed the imperial droid, and Cassian is greeted by that familiar voice, showing his displeasure with a pulse rifle pointed at him. It wasn't always like that, according to creator and showrunner Tony Gilroy, who initially had different plans.

Andor Creator Tony Gilroy on Initial Scrapped Plans to Introduce K-2SO

When we first hear K-2SO's voice, "Hello. If I have offended you, I apologize," he begins to Cassian. "If not, I'd appreciate you pointing that elsewhere" before Cassian lets his guard down. "Dan Gilroy wrote an amazing, entirely self-contained episode that was episode 209," Tony told Entertainment Weekly, referring to his brother and Andor writer. "It was an amazing episode that was like a horror movie." The introductory episode was meant for episode nine, which is what "Welcome to the Rebellion" became. "It was the K2 story," he said. "They had to bring this huge, ugly tanker ship to Yavin, and there was a KX unit that was trapped inside there, hunting. It was sort of like a monster movie with K2 on it. It was really cool."

Gilroy admitted that the idea was scrapped due to budgetary limitations. "We could not afford to do it," Gilroy said. "It was made clear that it was out of the range, so we had to abandon that and consolidate things." The consolidation was Mon Mothma's (Genevieve O'Reilly) speech in front of the senate, which outed her role in the Rebellion as the Empire scrambled to cut feed to her speech, but not before the point was made.

When we get to Gareth Edwards' Rogue One in 2016, it is already established that Cassian and K-2SO had already developed that chemistry together before their ragtag squad got assembled for their valiant suicide mission to steal the Death Star plans. For more, including how various production issues from the pandemic, Gilroy's resourcefulness throughout both seasons, why it made sense for Adria Arjona's Bix to leave to make room for K-2SO, and what to look forward to in the final stretch, you can check out the entire interview. The final three episodes of Andor premiere on May 13th on Disney+.

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