James Whitbrook
We’ve known for a long, long while now—even before it was delayed into next year—that Andor‘s second season would see the seminal Star Wars show draw closer and closer to the days before the events of Rogue One. Now we know one familiar face (among several that have been teased) that will be helping lay out that path to the Star Wars prequel story.
Tonight at D23 Lucasfilm confirmed that Alan Tudyk would reprise his role as K-2SO in Andor season two in a behind-the-scenes reel shown to attendees. First introduced in Rogue One as Cassian’s trusted comrade, K2 is a crucial intelligence asset for Rebel Intelligence: a reprogrammed Imperial security droid who could leverage his Imperial exterior to infiltrate outposts and facilities undetected.
Of course, we’ve seen similar security droids since in Star Wars after Rogue One‘s release in 2016, if not K2 himself. They’ve appeared as enemies in Respawn’s Jedi action games, and one also memorably appeared in Andor‘s first season, when Cassian was menaced by one when stopped by Imperial patrols on the planet Niamos. But whether we’ll witness the very first meeting between K2 and Cassian, or jump ahead to a time where they already knew each other, is unknown.
Also confirmed during the footage was the previously-accidentally-revealed return of Ben Mendelsohn as Director Orson Krennic. Rogue One‘s villain and a lead architect on the development of the Death Star, we saw him meet an explosive fate in that movie, but just how he will factor into Andor remains to be seen.
Andor will return to Disney+ sometime next year.
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