Many Star Wars fans are still questioning why K-2SO’s original origin in the comics was significantly changed in Andor. In Episode 8 of Andor Season 2, we find the K-2SO security droid being severed in half by a Ghorman vehicle and Cassian taking both pieces so that it can be reprogrammed and put together again at the Yavin rebel base. Fortunately, showrunner Tony Gilroy has finally explained why he decided to ignore how Cassian and K-2SO met in the one-shot 2017 Marvel comic called “Star Wars: Cassian & K-2SO Special #1.” Here’s why he decided to ignore the established Star Wars canon for the android’s origin story.
Why did Andor alter K-2SO’s canon origin from the comics?
Gilroy explains that he was “annoyed to find out that somebody in the interim between Rogue [One and Andor] had written an origin story for K2.” He immediately thought, “No, I’m not paying attention to that,” in an interview on the Happy Sad Confused podcast.
This is despite the fact that Gilroy usually tries to deal with canon and says he is “really sympathetic” to it. We can see this in how Andor ensures that the events after Mon Mothma’s speech still line up with Star Wars Rebels and that the narrative flow between the ending of Andor and the beginning of Rogue One fit smoothly.
He also shares that his brother and writer on the show, Dan Gilroy, had created a different origin story for K-2SO that was meant to be a self-contained “horror movie” episode. However, this was scrapped due to budget reasons, likely when the executives of the show said that they would have to condense four seasons that were originally planned into season two instead.
Retcons in the Star Wars universe don’t happen frequently, so the complete rewrite of K-2SO’s storyline is a rare incident. Due to the narrative powerhouse that is Andor and the idea that it has “higher authority” in the Star Wars timeline, many fans are seemingly fine with the change.
However, some fans are still understandably annoyed that a piece of canon was effectively steamrolled, even if the comic wasn’t as critically well-received as Andor, and that there could have been an easier way to resolve the conflict. For instance, Cassian’s original backstory was that he was from the planet Fast, but that was turned into a cover story when it was decided that he was actually from Kenari. An elegant solution like this would have helped bridge the show and the comic more seamlessly.
