While Rogue One: A Star Wars Story is a prequel heavy with fan service and cameos, its own prequel, Andor, is the complete opposite. Sure, the series focuses on Rogue One alum Cassian Andor (Diego Luna) and a handful of other characters from the film, but it deploys its cast with surprising restraint. Part of that has to do with its dedication to proper storytelling: showrunner Tony Gilroy has been vocal about resisting the urge to make distracting references, so that this tale of the Rebellion can stand on its own.
Andor keeps major figures like Leia Organa off-screen, and that’s for the best. But what about the Rogue One characters many fans expected to see, or even hear mentioned, like Felicity Jones’ Jyn Erso? While Jyn’s dad, Galen (Mads Mikkelsen), earns a name drop in the final episodes of Season 2, Andor avoids any mention of Jyn, skirting over questions fans have had for years. Even Cassian’s trusty droid companion, K-2SO (Alan Tudyk), plays a drastically reduced role in the series, a far cry from the relationship established in comics and novels. Rogue One diehards might take some issue with Gilroy’s choices, but to hear Gilroy tell it, he had Rogue One’s best interests in mind when crafting a satisfying end for Andor.
In an interview with Entertainment Weekly, Gilroy spoke about the challenges of balancing Andor’s story with Star Wars’ continuity. The series does feature Rogue One characters like Mon Mothma and Saw Gerrera, and even recasts the role of Bail Organa to keep him around. Minor players like Davits Draven and Ruescott Melshi also factor into Andor, but Gilroy claims that any more cameos might have overwhelmed — or even disrespected — the story he wanted to tell.
“I couldn't think of a way to get anything else from Rogue One, really,” Gilroy told EW. “I always thought, ‘Oh my God, I’m going to have to deal with Tivik the spy! Should I deal with Galen Erso? And was there anybody else?”
Though Gilroy does get away with a brief mention of Tivik — the rebel informant who meets Cassian at the very beginning of Rogue One — he ultimately chose to keep the film and show as separate as possible. “In the end, I realized if people didn’t absolutely have to be there, they shouldn’t,” he said. “And it would’ve been lame to bring Jyn back as a cameo. That would’ve been really disrespectful in a way. I’d rather honor Rogue and keep it straight.”
As for K2’s reduced role in the series, Gilroy was writing from experience. “[Limiting] K-2SO came from the experience of making Rogue, to be honest with you,” he told The Hollywood Reporter. “From the very beginning, that was one of the most difficult parts of the original conversation — how long I was going to have to delay [K-2SO]? Because what can you do with him?”
Gilroy says that while K2 is a “fantastic” character that provides opportunities for some “hysterical” comic relief, he otherwise sticks out like a sore thumb. “He’s a really, really difficult piece of equipment to carry through a story. The limitations on him are huge,” he said. “I don’t want people to go back and diagram Rogue, but just within that movie, there are two or three or four places where we are hiding him — where he has to stay on the ship or can’t go somewhere.”
Bringing a hulking KX droid on what should be clandestine spy missions didn’t make much sense to Gilroy, which explains the choice to introduce K2 near the end of Andor Season 2. It also aligns with his rule for other Rogue One cameos: K2 didn’t need to play a role in earlier chapters of Cassian’s story. It could have been fun to see the characters interact, but in a series about the nitty-gritty of a revolution, there’s not much room for fluff.
