Cassian's Encounter With An Imperial Security Droid In Andor Episode 7 Is A Far Cry From His Friendship With K-2SO

This article contains major spoilers for episode seven of "Andor."

In this week's "Andor," Cassian (Diego Luna) learns his house on Ferrix is no longer a home. After making an escape with Luthen (Stellan Skarsgård), the planet is under Imperial occupation and the citizens of Cassian's industrial town have turned against him. Newly equipped with the credits he earned from his siege on the Imperial garrison on Aldhani, he decides to make a run for it.

Towards the end of the episode, Cassian decides to go into hiding as a tourist on Niamos, a tropical beach planet that basically is a giant space Miami resort. But we know Cassian enough at this point to know that trouble always ends up finding him in the end. As he walks around the resort, a stormtrooper detains him, accusing him of being a rebel in disguise.

It's at this point we get to see the beginnings of a beautiful human/droid friendship. Sort of. As the stormtrooper chases a group of runners, he orders an Imperial KX security droid to watch over Cassian in the meantime, leading to a brutal interaction that's a far cry from his future friendship with "Rogue One" standout, K-2SO.

It's an odd sight seeing Cassian being forcefully choked by a droid that looks identical to our beloved K-2, and it's even odder hearing a deep, hostile voice behind the LED eyes. Compared to Alan Tudyk's goofy sarcasm in "Rogue One," the KX droid is expressionless and void of personality. "Andor" takes place five years before the events of "Rogue One," and as far as he knows, Tudyk has gone on record to say that he is not making an appearance as K-2 in "Andor," yet.

All of this context creates a false security, and then eventually a whiplash back to reality as we see the KX unit approach Cassian. It's a familiar shape, but a friend this droid is not.

However, the KX unit choking Cassian is actually an interesting parallel to the extended canon origins of Cassian and K-2's friendship, as it was presented in 2017's one-shot comic, "Star Wars: Rogue One – Cassian & K-2SO Special." In the special, Cassian lands on Wecacoe and gets in a fighting match with a KX unit. Once he's in a chokehold, Cassian is able to shut off the droid and then wipe its internal memory — reprogramming the droid to the K-2 we know and love in "Rogue One."

Whether or not this comic will stay canon is up in the air, as bigger projects have certainly retconned expanded universe comics before — and "Andor" creator Tony Gilroy has shown very little reverence for established canon thus far. But, considering a second season of "Andor" is already in the works, and one of the ultimate plans for the show is to eventually directly back into "Rogue One," it's pretty likely we'll see Cassian meet and reprogram a K-2 at some point over the course of the series. This exact encounter with a KX Imperial droid might not be the one, but it will add extra drama when the right time comes.

No matter what direction they decide to take it, we know droids are very much a subhuman class in the "Star Wars" universe, so it's nice to know that even though Cassian has seen the ugly side of a KX droid, he'll eventually learn to put that prejudice aside and give us one of the best human/droid companionships in the series.

It's been argued many times that prequels can't spark any intrigue or emotions if we know where the characters end up, but the way that this scene plays with our previous attachment to Cassian and his droid-partner-in-crime is a great counterargument.