Rogue One K-2SO Inspired By Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back

Rogue One: A Star Wars Story is set to hit theaters soon bring Star Wars fans a brand new story that occured prior to Star Wars: A New Hope.

Rogue One is set during a time when the Rebel Alliance was just beginning to form, the Empire started gaining an immense amount of power, and there were no Jedi.

The long-awaited standalone film also promises to introduce fans to many new characters as well as droids, like K-2SO.

In an interview with EW, John Knoll, the executive producer and visual effects supervisor for Rogue One explained that although K-2SO is a new droid, we've already met his cousins:

"He's tall, to intimidate people around him. He's sort of anthropomorphic, in that he's got two arms, two legs and a head, you know, et cetera… But then Kaytoo has a little bit more sinister aspect in his original design because he starts off as an Imperial enforcer droid."

He goes on to explain that K-2SO, who is now fighting with the rebels, is a direct off-shoot of the Viper droid that appeared Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back and the IT-O Interrogator, the spherical torture-bot unleashed by Darth Vader on Princess Leia in Star Wars: A New Hope.

"It's not the first time we've seen an Imperial droid. There's the Imperial probe droid and the sort of interrogation droid that have these black shells and a kind of sinister, evil-looking character to them."

We thought he looked familiar...

Rogue One: A Star Wars Story hits US theaters December 16, 2016. Directed by Gareth Edwards, it's the first of the new standalone features from Lucasfilm and Disney, which take place outside the core "Skywalker Saga" of films noted by an Episode number. Rogue Onetells the story of the small band of rebels that were tasked with stealing the plans to the first Death Star. The story spins directly off the opening crawl from the original Star Wars: Episode IV - A New Hope. In that crawl, it read: "Rebel spaceships, striking from a hidden base, have won their first victory against the evil Galactic Empire. During the battle, Rebel spies managed to steal secret plans to the Empire's ultimate weapon, the DEATH STAR, an armored space station with enough power to destroy an entire planet."

READ MORE: Does Jyn Erso Have a Major Star Wars Artifact in Rogue One? | Alan Tudyk Warns New Star Wars Droid K-2SO Could Be A Danger | Before K-2SO: A History of Star Wars' Most Killer Droids| Review: Incredible Star Wars Fan Film Hoshino Explores Nature of the Force with Innovation | It Was Donnie Yen's Idea for his Rogue One Character to Be Blind | Star Wars Rebels: Thrawn Returns in Iron Squadron Preview

Rogue One: A Star Wars Story hits theaters on December 16.