Alan Tudyk Reveals K-2SO's Rogue One Backstory

One of the most complicated characters in Rogue One isn't even human.

The movie introduced the droid K-2SO, an Imperial robot turned Rebel ally, played by Alan Tudyk. Unlike the eternally altruistic R2-D2 and C-3PO, K-2SO is a little darker, more cynical, and a lot more sarcastic.

In a recent interview with Comicbook.com, Tudyk and animation supervisor Hal Hickel opened up about what they knew about K-2SO going into production.

"The backstory was pretty limited," Tudyk said. "Knowing that he was in the Empire, he was sort of reborn when Cassian gave him his reprogramming. He was enslaved, in a way. He was more of a stoic character. He had to follow orders. Basically, he just scurried around. He did lots of security stuff. He had a big bunch of keys that hung off his belt."

But it was the changing of sides that afforded Tudyk the opportunity to give K-2SO more personality. "Once the memory wipe came into play, that's what I really latched onto for the character, as far as he could just speak his mind, whatever came across his circuits," Tudyk said. "A lot of that was in the script, and then [director] Gareth [Edwards] really encourages the actors to take it and move it even farther beyond."

And although K-2SO looks exactly like other droids in his line, Hickel said there's a reason he's depicted as dirtier, and more dinged up.

"You glimpse another enforcer droid in the Imperial facility and we had him look really spotless," he said. "No paint chips or anything, whereas K-2 is all scratched up. We actually considered whether they [the Rebels] might even completely remove the Imperial insignia on his shoulder. We decided to keep it, it's kind of scratched up, but you can still see it. We figured the Rebels are kind of rough and tumble and they're not going to be too precious about it. But we did give it lots of history, scratches and dents, to really communicate that he had seen a lot of action with Cassian."

Of course, it's a good thing K-2SO still had his original logo. It came in handy when he, Jyn (Felicity Jones), and Cassian (Diego Luna) sneak into the Imperial base. Go back and see for yourself: Rogue One is available now on Blu-ray and DVD.

As we gear up for next week's annual Star Wars Celebration, take a look at some Rogue One easter eggs that slipped right by you.