It was actually refreshing to talk to a star of a Star Wars movie three months after its release – which, in this case, is Alan Tudyk, who played wiseacre former Imperial droid turned Rebel hero, K-2SO – because, finally, we don’t don’t have to be worried about the dreaded spoiler. (And, yes, there are many Rogue One spoilers ahead if that’s something you’re still worried about.)
In fact the first words out of Tudyk’s mouth is, “everyone dies” – almost as if he’s been wanting to get this off his chest since he first started talking about Rogue One back in December. (Rogue One will be available on digital platforms on March 24 and Blu-ray on April 4.)
Ahead, yes, Tudyk talks about how everyone dies; the legacy of K-2SO as the popular, funny droid who dies in his first movie; what he remembers about the scenes he was in that never made the film; and he’s very adamant that he’d like to be in the new Han Solo movie.
We don’t have to worry about spoilers now.
Everybody dies.
Look at you go.
Everybody just totally dies.
Honestly, this is better than having to worry about spoilers.
Yes, absolutely. It was something that I know a lot of us were worrying about as we went in. Just from shooting the movie, from finishing shooting until it was released – that hopefully people wouldn’t start talking about it, it wouldn’t leak and become a big deal. Because it is such a great surprise in the movie to watch all the people you’ve met and are enjoying – it’s against all odds. It’s a big Star Wars thing. Can we do it? I say we go! Let’s do it! We are strong! We are mighty! And then we all die. [Laughs.]
The more I think about it, it is really bold to make a franchise movie and literally kill off everyone. And especially your character, he could have been around forever.
Killed off the cash cow. Oh my God! That is so un-Disney! I’m with you.
When you first read this, were you like, “You don’t see that every day”?
Yeah, I love that about it. I mean, I’d love to be in as many Star Wars movies as they make – which is a lot, it seems like, but I think it’s also really cool. It’s a very heroic death, and sad. I mean, all the things you want from a death! You know, he gets to say goodbye. “Goodbye.” I mean, it’s beautiful. It tugs at your heartstrings. He helps the cause. He gets a gun, finally. He kills a bunch of Stormtroopers. It’s a great, it’s a very heroic death. So I was happy. If I was the only one who was still alive, I’d feel, I don’t know, it would feel like a cheat.
What do you think K-2SO’s legacy is? Usually the popular droid gets more than one movie. And Rogue One will always be the first of these new offshoot movies.
Yeah, we would watch footage – Gareth Edwards, breaking with the secrecy of the first one in J.J. Abrams’ The Force Awakens – where everything was literally under lock and key. The script, there was one in a safe somewhere that if you had to read it, you had to go get the safe and sit in a room and there were guards and all kinds of mainly just psychological safeties in place to scare people. We watched. We got to see some of the footage as we went. So we got to talk about it and the main thing everybody was saying was, “This looks really different.” It was fun, it was exciting, but it does look different. As far as K-2’s legacy, how will he live in people’s memories?
Well, he’s got some of the best lines in the movie…
Yeah, man, I got really lucky. Not only did he have some good lines, then as we went, we all got along so well we really were having a good time. You know, six months, you travel all over the world and you start to get a rapport. And a lot of it was Felicity and Diego and me. So we were just playing around on set and a lot of our improvs ended up in the movie. And I’m a smartass from way back, and so my smartassery really jived with K-2’s, and so we captured some genuine funny moments that happened between us.
Gareth Edwards recently explained a lot about some of the cut scenes we saw in the early trailers. Is there a scene you loved that you wish people had gotten to see?
Well, I wish I got to see where Jyn is running out on that ledge.
The TIE fighter scene?
Yeah, the TIE fighter shows up. I don’t remember that. I don’t know what that is! I would like to know! Part of my wanting to share with people that is that it’s my own selfish “want to know what the hell that is,” because that was cool.
There is the one scene in some early footage where we see you without any CGI running across the beach.
Oh, yeah. Well, yeah, that took place and that is not in the movie, for sure. The good thing about that is, we didn’t immediately go into the base, which is good.
Gareth was saying, originally, the group had to go to a different building that wasn’t connected.
Yeah, so we had to cross outside and it meant for a lot of running. But what it mainly meant for me was that I got to go to the Maldives. And Diego got to go to the Maldives. And one night we lived on these boats, came home, and I got to swim with a whale shark that just happened to come along.
Really?
Yeah, it was amazing. And we bonded a lot during that time because we lived together. It was like we were camping – as opposed to everybody going into their own hotel rooms and their own flats, since we were in London, and hanging out mainly on set. We ate dinner together, ate breakfast together – we all shared a table. It made for a really great experience. So that stuff, you mainly just miss us running around. It’s not a big deal.
The Han Solo movie takes place before Star Wars and before Rogue One. So with these movies that are set before Rogue One, we could see K-2SO pop up, right?
I would like it. I don’t think it’s possible, because I think they’re done with the Han Solo one, aren’t they?
Oh, no. They just started filming.
They just started? That would be cool.
I’m not saying you’re in that one, I’m just saying maybe in the future…
No, I want to be in that one, man.
Okay, good.
I want a Cassian and K-2 movie where we see who they were beforehand. And see the story of Cassian finding K-2 and who was K-2 back when he was in the Empire and all of that. So there’s a lot of stories. Now that they’re telling these different stories, there’s a lot of opportunities to branch out. I’m pushing for that one! That one sounds good.
I’m rooting for you.
Thanks, man. Thank you very much.
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