Disney and Lucasfilms' Star Wars Andor series will focus on Diego Luna's eponymous rebel spy before the events of Rogue One: A Star Wars Story. However, Alan Tudyk recently revealed that he is not expected to reprise his role as Cassian Andor's droid companion K-2SO in the Disney Plus series, at least not initially.
Directed by Gareth Edwards from a script co-written by Tony Gilroy, Rogue One chronicles the exploits of the rebel spies who stole the plans to the Galactic Empire's Death Star prior to the events of the first Star Wars film. Leading the mission alongside Felicity Jones' Jyn Erso was Cassian Andor, a rebel captain and intelligence officer who had initially been tasked with assassinating Erso's father Galen, the architect of the Death Star. Among the band of rebels was a former Imperial enforcer droid named K-2S0, who was reprogrammed by Andor and subsequently served as his comrade.
During Disney's investor presentation in 2019, Lucasfilm president Kathleen Kennedy confirmed Tudyk would reprise his role as K-2S0 in the Rogue One prequel series. Tudyk has since informed Collider that production on the Andor series is currently underway without him. However, Tudyk added that Gilroy, who serves as the showrunner on Andor, has plans for K-2SO to return should the series continue beyond the first season. "I'm going to be in the show. It's just that the story that Tony [Gilroy] is telling doesn't involve K-2SO until later on," Tudyk explained. "I can't be too specific, but I can definitely say that I'm not going to be in the first season."
While K-2SO was a CG creation, Tudyk was present on the set of Rogue One to provide the motion capture performance for the droid. However, Tudyk was required to stand on stilts in order to match the character's 7'1" height and the actor noted that he's a little concerned about doing so again if K-2SO's return in Andor occurs too far down the line. "I'll have to do the motion capture, and I turn 50 in March," Tudyk said. "So I hope they get to it soon, because I'm not going to be on stilts in, like, five years. I'm not doing it!"
Tudyk's comments indicate Disney and Lucasfilm are least considering producing multiple seasons of Andor as opposed to making the project a limited series, as is the case with Ewan McGregor's Obi-Wan Kenobi. The latter series follows the titular exiled Jedi after the events of Revenge of the Sith and reunites McGregor with prequel trilogy co-star Hayden Christensen, who reprises his role as Darth Vader.
Not every Star Wars project for Disney Plus will focus on familiar characters or eras in the franchise. For example, Russian Doll creator Leslye Headland is leading a series titled Star Wars: The Acolyte, a mystery-thriller set during the final days of the High Republic era, a time period that has yet to be depicted on screen.
Andor will be released exclusively on Disney Plus in 2022.
Source: Collider