‘Andor’ Creator Shares Details on Scrapped K-2SO ‘Horror Movie’ Episode

The second season of ‘Andor’ finally brought us the moment we’d been waiting for—the first meeting between Cassian Andor and the sharp-tongued droid K-2SO. In episode 8, during the brutal Ghorman massacre, Diego Luna’s rebel hero crosses paths with Alan Tudyk’s reprogrammed Imperial droid in a tense, chaotic scene.

K-2SO, sent to crush protesters, nearly ends Cassian’s life before a rebel transport pins the droid down. Cassian drags the powered-off K-2SO to Yavin, where it’s rebooted into the sarcastic ally we know from ‘Rogue One: A Star Wars Story.’ It’s a bold introduction, but Tony Gilroy, the show’s creator, recently shared that this wasn’t the original plan.

Gilroy had a wilder idea for K-2SO’s debut—a standalone episode penned by his brother Dan Gilroy that would’ve felt like a horror movie. Picture this: Cassian and rebels hauling a massive tanker ship to Yavin, unaware that a deadly KX-series droid was stalking them inside. The episode, meant to be the ninth of season 2, was crafted as a self-contained monster flick, with K-2SO as the terrifying predator. It was a fresh, dark vibe for ‘Andor,’ a show already known for its gritty take on the Star Wars universe.

Sadly, the episode never made it to production. The reason? Money. Gilroy explained that the ambitious concept was too expensive to pull off. Disney and Lucasfilm, tightening their budgets after the free-spending days of streaming’s early boom, couldn’t justify the cost. This wasn’t the first time the Gilroy brothers faced this.

For ‘Andor’ season 1, Dan wrote an Aldhani episode imagining a huge festival with thousands of people. Post-Covid realities slashed that crowd to just 150, forcing a complete rewrite. The K-2SO horror episode met a similar fate, a casualty of a shifting industry where studios now pinch pennies instead of building blockbuster-sized sets.

The decision to scrap the episode reshaped the season. Mon Mothma’s big senate speech, originally planned for episode 10, was moved earlier to fill the gap. Still, Gilroy is grateful to Disney and Lucasfilm for backing ‘Andor’ despite the financial squeeze.

The show, a prequel to ‘Rogue One,’ follows Cassian’s journey from rogue to rebel leader, with Luna delivering a raw, grounded performance. K-2SO, voiced by Tudyk with dry wit, is a fan-favorite for his blunt humor, but Gilroy noted he’s tricky to write for. In ‘Rogue One,’ the droid often stays behind because his towering frame and loud personality steal focus.

Keeping K-2SO out of ‘Andor’ until episode 8 was a risky move. Tudyk himself was initially bummed, and some fans grumbled about the wait. But Gilroy insisted on delaying the droid’s entrance to make it count. When K-2SO finally appears, it’s not just a cameo—it’s a pivotal moment that shifts Cassian’s world. As Bix, played by Adria Arjona, exits the story, K-2SO steps in, turning Cassian’s home into a chaotic new chapter.

The scrapped horror episode would’ve been a daring departure, but what we got still packs a punch. ‘Andor’ season 2, streaming on Disney+, continues to carve its own path, blending spy-thriller tension with Star Wars heart. Whether this K-2SO introduction hits the mark is up to us to decide, but it’s clear the team poured everything into making it memorable, even if the monster movie version stayed on the cutting room floor.