K-2SO's Origin: "I'm Not Paying Attention to That." - Gilroy

In Andor Season 2, Episode 8, fans were stunned as the fan-favorite droid K-2SO was violently torn in half by a Ghorman vehicle—only for Cassian Andor to scoop up the pieces and haul them to Yavin for reprogramming. The emotional and gritty reintroduction of the iconic droid marked a major shift from his previously established origin in Marvel’s 2017 one-shot comic, Cassian & K-2SO Special 1. Now, showrunner Tony Gilroy is shedding light on why the show deliberately rewrote canon.

“I was annoyed to find out that somebody in the interim had written an origin story for K-2,” Gilroy confessed on the Happy Sad Confused podcast. “I thought, ‘No, I’m not paying attention to that.’”

Despite Gilroy’s general respect for canon—as evidenced by Andor’s careful alignment with Rebels and Rogue One—he opted to overwrite K-2SO’s backstory with a narrative that better served his creative vision. Originally, his brother Dan Gilroy had penned a “horror movie” episode to explain the reprogramming of K-2SO, but it was scrapped due to budget constraints after Lucasfilm condensed the show’s four-season plan into two.

While some fans appreciate Andor’s “higher authority” in the canon hierarchy, others feel that the decision needlessly erased an existing part of the lore. Suggestions have been made that a simple retcon—like Cassian’s fabricated backstory about being from Fest—could have preserved continuity without contradiction.

Still, for most fans, the storytelling weight of Andor continues to justify its bold creative choices.