Andor: An Important Character Wasn't Added To Star Wars Until Rogue One Reshoots

The penultimate episode of Andor's first season was released this week, and the show's second and final season is expected to go into production soon. The series takes place five years before the events of Rogue One: A Star Wars Story, so there are some characters from the film who have already appeared in the series. In addition to Cassian Andor (Diego Luna), the show also follows Mon Motha (Genevieve O'Reilly), and we've also seen the return of Forest Whitaker as Saw Gerrera. During Cassian's time in prison on Narkina 5, he also met Melshi (Duncan Pow) who will later join the Rogue One team that gives their lives for the Rebellion on Scarif. Melshi is an important part of Cassian's story, but Pow recently revealed to The Playlist that he didn't join Rogue One until reshoots. 

"I had a part in Rogue One originally as a fighter pilot," Pow explained. "I was involved with the original production in various capacities early on, and then I came in for the reshoots, and all of a sudden, after having a conversation with Tony [Gilroy] about Buddhism, funnily enough, I found that the character of Melshi had been written into some of the stuff in Rogue One and that's how it came about initially... I really came on board [in a more significant way] in the reshoots. Sometimes in life, you're in the right place at the right time."

"You always kind of hope," Pow said about coming back for Andor. "So, when I first heard about Andor, I was really optimistic that I might be able to be involved, and yeah, Tony called me up just as I was about [to go on holiday to South America], and he said, 'Hey, go and have fun and we'll catch up when you're back in London.'" He added, "I remember [Tony] asking, 'Are you in shape?' and I said, 'Of course, I'm in shape,' I haven't spent all of lockdown in the backyard with my mum, drinking gin and tonics," he laughed. "So, I had a very short period of time to get in shape."

Is Alan Tudyk's K-2SO Droid in Andor?

While one Andor episode did feature a KX unit, Cassian's trusty droid sidekick K-2SO, who was voiced by Alan Tudyk in Rogue One, hasn't appeared on Andor yet. Unfortunately, the show is not expected to feature the beloved droid in Season One, but he could be popping up in the future. During an interview with Collider last year, Tudyk spoke out about appearing at Disney's D23 announcement of Andor in 2019 and admitted that he is unlikely to show up in the first season of the show.

"They're shooting it right now, I'm not in it. But, if it stays on the air, stories keep getting told, I'll end up in there," Tudyk explained. "I'm in all these announcements for the show, and I had suggested at D23 when we announced in the show, that it be called K2 Fast K2 Furious: The Cassian Andor Series and, um, that's not happening, it's called Andor!"

The season finale of Andor drops on Disney+ on November 23rd.