Andor Season 2 Episode 8’s major death was nearly very different

Andor Season 2 Episode 8 features a major Star Wars death, but how the scene plays out was nearly very different. Meaning SPOILERS ahead…

Andor has followed two through-lines featuring characters on both sides of the Star Wars conflict – the Rebels and those working for the Empire.

Syril Karn falls into the latter category, and his story draws to a dramatic close in Episode 8 of Season 2, where he comes face-to-face with Cassian Andor, the pair fight, and Syril is ultimately shot in the head.

But just before his death, he gets the upper hand and has an opportunity to kill his adversary, but one question stops him in his tracks: “Who are you?” The answer appears to give Syril a brief existential crisis, which is why and how he gets shot.

Why a single question breaks Syril in Andor Season 2

The question is a shock for Syril, as it means that the man whom he’s obsessed with catching/stopping/killing – Andor – has absolutely no idea who he is.

Kyle Soller plays the character, and tells Variety that the scene could have played out in multiple ways: “There were three or four different things Cassian was going to say, and they finally ended up on ‘who are you?’ Which I think was perfect because that breaks Syril in that moment. ‘Oh, my God. My obsession doesn’t even know who I am.’ How gutting is that?”

Soller then reveals what the alternatives were: “It was a short list: ‘You’ and ‘it’s you’ and ‘who are you?’ It just completely cuts him in that moment.

“If Cassian had said ‘it’s you,’ would Syril have had more resolve to do something or would he still have lowered his gun? I don’t know, but in terms of Syril’s arc, it just perfectly completes the journey being used by powers that are bigger than you in this huge machine and mayhem of life. You think you’ve made a difference, but you haven’t.”

For more Star Wars, you can also check out why Jimmy Smits couldn’t return for Andor, the details of Dr. Gorst’s perfect ending, the origins of the Ghorman language, and every Star Wars show in development.