He’s a legend in the genre space, and a talent who is very, very welcome in the GFFA and speaking with The Playlist, Alan Tudyk looks back at K-2SO and his involvement in season 2 of Andor and further, a decade back to Rogue One when his ad-libs added even more sauce to the droll KX droid.
AT: When I worked with Diego, especially in “Rogue One,” Gareth Edwards’s directing style was much looser. I’d do the lines as scripted the first couple of takes, and then I was free to do whatever I wanted, because they didn’t see my face. So, I’d do funnier versions or pushed K-2SO’s sarcasm even more.
But then every single line I said had to be re-recorded later. That gives you another opportunity to change the line — to add lost information, to avoid clunky phrasing, or to try new versions of a joke. Sometimes I’d forget which version ended up in the movie, because I remembered my favorites.
TP: Do you have an example?
AT: Yeah — there’s one with Jyn Erso where in the movie I say, “I think it’s a bad idea.” My favorite version of that line was, “No one likes you.” That’s the one I remembered, and I was surprised it wasn’t in the movie [laughs].
TP: Were a lot of your ad-libs kept in “Rogue One”
AT: Yeah, they did keep them. They were open to it. But on “Andor,” it was a lot less — due to the writers’ strike. I started work when the strike began, so the script was more or less set, and you couldn’t really play with it too much on the day.
Although I did change one, K-2SO walks across a bridge to kill everyone and save Cassian. An Imperial says, “Are you with us?” The line was written as, “I am a KX unit. Serial number 5692.” It didn’t seem to do much. So, I just said, “No,” and killed him. That just seemed right. Later, in voiceover, as Tony Gilroy says, you get another bite at the apple, and everyone agreed—it was a committee of people, because nothing is overlooked on that show— that “No” was the right choice.
