A story change spared Rogue One’s battle droid from an ignominious end

When K-2SO kicked the bucket in Rogue One: A Star Wars Story, my best friend gripped my knee, leaned over and said "This film just lost its most emotive character."

Oh uh, spoiler alert, I guess: K-2SO doesn't survive Rogue One. In fact, nobody of note does, except for Darth and Leia. Well, anyway, as Disney and Lucasfilm prep Rogue One for its downloadable launch on March 28, they're kicking out all the stops and talking about all the alternate endings to the story.

One version had it that Krennic, the intergalactic Principal Skinner running the Death Star's construction, killed K-2SO, and this line got so far along that the scene was even filmed.

Alan Tudyk, who voiced K-2SO, told Cinema Blend that the original ending of Rogue One had Krennic destroying the droid. As development went along, the creators felt he deserved a more noble demise, and so a scene was constructed where K-2SO fends off a stormtrooper onslaught, ultimately and inevitably succumbing to their blaster fire.

Rogue One is available on digital HD beginning next Tuesday, March 28, and then on Blu-Ray disc April 4. Lucasfilm and the film's creators seem to be on a rehab tour for their movie, talking up all kinds of alternate story paths and endings for the characters even if no deleted scenes are going to be included with the disc. In any case, the film is the origin story of the most important character in the first Star Wars: The Death Star.