Star War: Andor is an ensemble drama following several characters around the galaxy. Its title character is Cassian Andor (Diego Luna), a fledgling rebel who finds himself on the run from the Empire. He ends up in an Imperial prison under an assumed name (a risky proposition for someone on the run) and eventually meets Kino Loy. When they finally organize a prison escape, however, the inmates have to swim to shore in order to get out. Kino tells Cassian that he doesn’t know how to swim, and the two share a heartfelt moment. That’s the last audiences see of Kino, which led many to believe he died while the Imperials retook the prison.

RELATED: Star Wars: The Bad Batch Promotional Artwork May Have Spoiled Season 2

In an interview with The Hollywood Reporter, Gilroy talked about this scene. The question and answers go by fairly quickly, but when the interviewer asks Gilroy if he presumes Kino was executed after the prison break, Gilroy simply states, “I don’t know. He’s not dead. Is he dead? I don’t see him dying [in episode ten].” His comment could be taken as simply playing with the interviewer, but it certainly does seem to indicate Kino has a role in the story to come.

Gilroy also took the time to address a common fan criticism about the lack of the iconic Star Wars aliens on the show. “There’s already so much politics in the show to begin with, and we’re trying to tell an adventure story, really. So adding strong alien characters means that all of a sudden, there’s a whole bunch of new issues that we have to deal with that I don’t really understand that well or I just couldn’t think of a way to bake them into what we’re doing," Gilroy said. “You’ll see more as we go along, but it’s a legit question and one we’ll be answering as we go along. There is a more human-centric side of the story and the politics of it. There’s certainly no aliens working for the Empire, so that kind of tips it one way, automatically.”

Kino Loy is played by a very talented actor with some decent name recognition - Serkis even played Snoke in the Star Wars sequel trilogy. While Gilroy’s comments come across as somewhat tongue in cheek, it’s also true that, if an audience never sees a body or death scene, the character is usually alive. Kino played a big role in the series, so it’s even more likely that the character would have had a final send-off if he was, in fact, killed.

That being said, it’s probably pretty likely that fans will see Kino Loy again. The age of the Rebellion is just starting on the show, and the stories of many of these newly introduced characters are just beginning. While Cassian’s story ends in Rogue One, many of the ancillary characters have unknown fates, which may just play out in season 2 of the series.

Andor is currently airing on Disney Plus.

MORE: The 8 Best Things About the Star Wars Prequel Trilogy

Source: The Hollywood Reporter