Andor is an entry in Star Wars that stands above most with its sophisticated take on the origins of the Rebel Alliance. The ambitious series was initially planned to cover five seasons, but it will now end with the upcoming second. This season, each three-episode arc will time jump one year as it leads up to the events of Rogue One: A Star Wars Story. Rogue One served as the first appearance of Cassian Andor, who was also accompanied by K-2S0, a modified KX-series security droid.
K-2SO’s wittiness and memorable design made him an instant fan favorite to Star Wars fans as a new addition to the franchise. The first season of Andor was originally going to feature Cassian’s trusted sidekick, but after plans changed, he will now make his Star Wars return in season two. The relationship between Cassian and K-2SO is one of the most exciting things set to unfold in Andor season two, but that story may become a controversial one based on how the Star Wars canon operates.
What’s the Current Canon Backstory for K2-S0 and Cassian Andor in Star Wars Canon?
- Duane Swierczynski wrote while Fernando Blanco illustrated Rogue One – Cassian & K-2SO Special 1 for Marvel Comics.
- The Rogue One prequel issue came out on August 9, 2017.
- The story took place less than two years before the events of Rogue One.
When Disney took over Lucasfilm, the studio made a major change to connect all the different mediums of the franchise. This meant books, comics, video games and more would now be part of the same canon as the films and shows. After the release of Rogue One, the backstories of the characters in the film began to flesh out in other stories. Therefore, the story of how Cassian came across K-2SO for the first time occurred in the comic Cassian & K-2SO. The issue came from writer Duane Swierczynski and artist Fernando Blanco.
In the single comic book issue, Cassian heads to the planet Wecacoe with two other spies in search of a decommissioned Imperial cruiser with security protocols on board. When they accidentally set off an alarm on the ship, they encounter a KX-series security droid. Cassian is eventually able to reprogram the droid, who then helps them escape. The two spies who joined Cassian on the mission stay behind to help him escape the planet on another ship with the security droid, who later becomes K-2SO. Moreover, Cassian can fulfill his mission since security protocols were inside K-2SO.
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Andor Season Two Trailers Hint at a New Story
- The Andor season two trailers indicate a new version of how Cassian met K-2SO will occur at some point.
- Rogue One star Alan Tudyk returned to portray K-2SO in the live-action Star Wars series.
Despite already being part of the Star Wars canon, it seems Andor season two will tell a different version of the story that occurs in the comics. Based on the footage released from Andor season two so far, it seems Syril Karn will encounter several KX-series security droids and Andor will likely reprogram one of them to ultimately create K-2SO. As far as how Syril factors into it remains unclear, but it is certainly going in a different direction than the comic. In season one, Cassian encountered KX-series security droids who went on to arrest him. When Cassian runs into them again in the second season, there’s a good chance he will have a plan to navigate them.
“Yeah, man, the bar is high. No, I knew it. Just by delaying it off the first season, the controversy of that. Nobody was happy about that. I don’t think Disney was happy about that, I don’t think the fans were happy about that. But there was a reason for it, a really, really good reason for it. But it does mean that I definitely have to deliver on the meet-cute, so we’ll see how it goes. We’re happy with what we have.” — Andor creator Tony Gilroy on Cassian meeting K-2SO in season two.
The second season will probably feature many scenes between Cassian and K-2SO to further flesh out their backstory beyond their first encounter since they had a strong relationship at the start of Rogue One. The comic book story detailed the original version of how Cassian and K-2SO met, but since Andor is a live-action Star Wars series, Tony Gilroy and the show’s creators will probably tell their own version of the story and find a way to work it into the grand story they are telling.
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Lucasfilm Has Retconned Canon Star Wars Stories Before
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Andor Season Two Release Schedule |
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Episodes 1-3 – April 22nd |
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Episodes 4-6 – April 29th |
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Episodes 7-9 – May 6th |
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Episodes 10-12 – May 13th |
As much as Lucasfilm tries to connect all of its Star Wars stories to create a straightforward canon, it’s a near-impossible task when there’s so much new content continuing to come out. Early on in the Disney era of the franchise, Lucasfilm announced all the previous Expanded Universe stories would fall under the Legends banner to pave the way for new creators so they could have more creative freedom. However, over time, the new Star Wars canon became full of countless stories, and Lucasfilm was beginning to run into the same issue it did when it first relaunched the Star Wars franchise. Therefore, creators like Dave Filoni have disregarded some of what’s happened in published stories to tell their own stories.
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Filoni notably retconned the Ahsoka novel with the final season of The Clone Wars series. Meanwhile, the Kanan: The Last Padawan comic was also overwritten when he appeared in the first episode of The Bad Batch, where the events of Order 66 go down differently. Since there is currently a canon version of how K-2SO and Cassian meet, it’s pretty much a foregone conclusion the second season of Andor will follow in the footsteps of what Filoni has done in the past.
As incredibly lived-in and believable as the Star Wars universe is, it’s important to remember it’s still a franchise that has to deal with behind-the-scenes circumstances. George Lucas was never someone who cared too deeply about the Star Wars canon and allowed books and comics to do their own thing for the most part. He understood that creative freedom was important when telling a story. Additionally, Star Wars is a living and breathing mythology with an account of events at the mercy of the storyteller. Still, the new Star Wars canon has allowed for the franchise to remain as connected as ever before.
Andor season two is set to overwrite a comic book story that came out in 2017, when the idea of Disney+ didn’t exist, along with the concept of the Rogue One prequel, made for a much smaller audience. Since Gilroy played a huge role in Rogue One‘s post-production, he deserves to tell the origin story of how K-2SO and Cassian met for the first time, even if he has a different version than the one that occurred within the comic. These situations will continue to happen since Star Wars isn’t going away anytime soon. The Star Wars canon may not be as neat as it was in 2014 after the relaunch, but it still carries a ton of weight and adds more depth to the rich Star Wars tapestry. As Lucasfilm continues to be more flexible with the canon, there could also be a chance for published stories to receive adaptations in the future. But in conclusion, Andor has featured some of the strongest writing in Star Wars, so while the Cassian and K-2SO origin story might break canon, the new version will most probably make fans forget about this retcon.
