[This article contains spoilers for Andor's Season 1 finale]Before K-2SO (Alan Tudyk) came into Cassian Andor's (Diego Luna) life, there was another droid fretting over the man's questionable decisions. In the 3-episode premiere of Tony Gilroy's critically acclaimed series Andor audiences got to meet B2EMO, a highly stressed out, and bright red salvage assist unit who has been part of the Andor family for many years. Ahead of Andor's jaw-dropping season finale, Collider's own Steve Weintraub had the opportunity to speak with Tony Gilroy about a wide variety of Andor-related topics, including the scene-stealing droid B2EMO and the man who brought him to life.
Casual Star Wars fans may not know that most of their favorite droids are technically puppets. While they may not look like iconic Jim Henson puppets, the droids are operated by highly-skilled puppeteers who help to develop all of their little quirks and movements, but they rarely get to lend their own voices to the characters. For instance, throughout the sequel trilogy, BB-8 was brought to life by puppeteer Brian Herring, but the character was voiced by Ben Schwartz and Bill Hader. In The Mandalorian, IG-11 was a combination of practical puppeteering and motion-capture work by the late Rio Hackford, and the character was voiced by Taika Waititi.
With Andor, however, Gilroy revealed that he decided to keep the voice performance of B2EMO's puppeteer Dave Chapman after he performed the dialogue on set. As he explained, "You try to figure out different strategies: What should we do when you're playing scenes with the actors? Should we have another actor off-stage or should Dave do it or should we have, whatever, should we have the script supervisor, what are we going to do? And so Dave just started doing it right away and that seemed to be the most efficient system, and it's the best timing for the actors." Gilroy went on to share how they went on to audition voice actors for the character, but he didn't feel like they brought anything new to the role, saying:
Well, we got deep into the show. We were always going to replace the voice, that was always the plan. But, we got to a certain point, we brought in a bunch of voice actors who auditioned for the part and then Johnny called me up one day and went, "I don't think any of these people are better than what we have." And he goes, "Not only that, but I'm not sure you're aware, but we don't have any ADR for B2, like nothing, like a couple of off-camera lines where we need help, not because we're replacing something that we don't like." So, I called Kathy [Kennedy] and it was approved, and I called Dave Chapman, and he'd been doing this for I think 15-20 years. He's a puppeteer, and he's done it a million times and been revoiced, and expects to be revoiced. I got to call him up and go, "Dave, we're going to keep your voice." Man, those calls were just so much fun to make, and he was really overwhelmed. So, that's a cool thing about it, I guess.
While the puppeteers behind other droids have certainly made appearances at conventions, Gilroy also spoke about how the decision will ultimately change Chapman's life in a very fun way, "Beyond all the immediate stuff, it also means that for the rest of your life you can go to a convention and sign cards if you want to make money. It has all kinds of ramifications, he's B2."
Will B2EMO Return in Andor Season 2?
Gilroy revealed that he doesn't plan to kill anyone off between the season finale and when the series returns after a 1-year time jump, and implied that everyone who made it out of Season 1 will likely return, which means B2EMO, right? In the finale, Cassian loaded Bix (Adria Arjona), Jezzi (Pamela Nomvete), Brasso (Joplin Sibtain), Wilmon (Muhannad Bhaier), and B2EMO onto his ship to get them out of Ferrix, much to B2's chagrin. However, as Season 2 ramps up the stakes and expedites the collision course towards Cassian's tragic fate in Rogue One: A Star Wars Story, Gilroy will be tasked with introducing another droid into Cassian's life, who might make B2's presence obsolete. Now that's something to be too emo about.
The entire first season of Andor is streaming now on Disney+. While you wait for our full interview with Gilroy, check out our interview with Diego Luna from before the premiere.