Andor episode 6 includes a tragic Rogue One Easter egg

Andor episode 6 spoilers follow.

We’re only halfway through Andor season one, and already it’s being praised as one of the best Star Wars entries yet — take that, The Book of Boba Fett.

Away from the usual wookiees and whooshing lightsabers of the Skywalker Saga, Andor follows in the footsteps of – or rather, walks ahead of – Rogue One: A Star Wars Story during the rise of the Rebel Alliance, as the Empire puts a Darth Vader-inspired chokehold on the galaxy.

Serving as a Rogue One prequel, Andor (as the name suggests) puts Diego Luna’s Cassian Andor front and centre. He’s joined by Genevieve O'Reilly as a returning Mon Mothma and Forest Whitaker reprising his role as Saw Gerrera.

Although Andor season one is set five years before the events of Rogue One, there have already been some winks to big-screen sister. If you were listening carefully in October 12's 'The Eye', you might have heard a tragic tie to Gareth Edwards’ 2016 movie.

Given the high body count of Rogue One — and the fact most of Andor’s characters haven’t appeared in the expanded canon — all bets were off on who would live and die during the group’s attack on an Imperial garrison.

Although we managed to avoid the "Bury Your Gays" trope with Vel (Faye Marsay) and Cinta (Varada Sethu), we lost Taramyn (Gershwyn Eustache Jnr) and the fate of Lieutenant Gorn (Sule Rimi) was left ambiguous.

Cassian himself made light work of the sneaky Skeen (Ebon Moss-Bachrach) in the aftermath, but it’s the death of Alex Lawther’s Karis Nemik that really tugged at our heartstrings.

While Cassian and co. escaped with the payroll, Nemik was crushed by a stack of their winnings and looked in a bad way. Although he was taken to the four-armed (and brilliantly named) Dr Quadpaw against the wishes of Vel, Nemik died on the operating table.

What makes Nemik’s death all the more tragic is an obscure nod to the fate of a similar fan-favourite in Rogue One. Posting on Twitter, fans noted that the last word Nemik said to Cassian was "climb."

A flustered Cas didn’t know how to evade a chasing squad of TIE Fighters, but thanks to Nemik, they escaped their attackers in the visually stunning Eye of Aldahni. Nemik saying climb seemingly mirrors the final thing K-2SO said to Cassian in Rogue One.

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In Rogue One, the rocking robot sacrificed himself under a hail of bullets and locked the doors to the data vault on Scarif. This allowed Cassian and Jyn Erso (Felicity Jones) to escape with the plans to the Death Star.

If it wasn’t for K-2SO’s sacrifice, we’d be looking at a very different Star Wars where Luke and the Rebellion wouldn’t have been able to take out the Death Star, Darth Vader would have succeeded and Sheev Palpatine would probably reign eternally.

Nemik’s death might not seem as important, but with 80 million Galactic Credits having just been scooped from beneath the Empire’s nose, the Aldahni heist has rattled the Imperial Security Bureau and is likely to fund the Rebel insurgence.

As one final act, Nemik gifted Cassian his manifesto, which he poignantly named "The Role of Mercenaries in the Galactic Struggle for Freedom." It proves that he’d always trusted Cassian, and while it might just seem like some shaggy book, it could be a key memento in helping recruit Cassian to the cause.

If it wasn’t important, then why would StarWars.com have updated its official databank to include a whole entry on Nemik’s musings? Remember, we’re still five years away from that doomed mission to Scarif in Rogue One, and right now, Cassian is just a merc for hire.

It’s unclear where we go next, but with Cassian poised to return to Stellan Skarsgård’s Luthen Rael on Coruscant, everyone’s motives will become clearer in the second half of the season.

As for K-2SO, a nod to his ultimate fate seems like a neat segue into the character’s potential Andor arrival. Despite Alan Tudyk warning that he won’t return as K-2SO in season one, Luna was recently asked by Total Film about the character’s timeline debut in season two and coyly said: "Our next season ends where Rogue One starts, so I think that answers everything!"

Sadly, we already know how K-2SO’s story ends, much like how we know what’s coming in Cassian’s gloomy endgame. Still, with another 18 episodes of Andor before the beaches of Scarif come into view, let’s enjoy the murky mercenary and his expanded circle of "Rebel scum" while we still can.

Andor airs weekly every Wednesday on Disney+.

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Tom Chapman

Tom Chapman is a pop culture-loving writer and NCTJ-accredited Broadcast Journalist with over seven years of experience covering the small and silver screen. 

Starting his career with a post at Movie Pilot in Berlin, Tom took on freelancing full-time with regular stints at Digital Spy, Screen Rant and Comic Book Resources.

These days, you can still find him covering all things Marvel and Star Wars at Digital Spy, while dipping his toe in bylines at Yahoo! and IGN. 

Tom likes to think his spirit animal is a cross between Gale Weathers and Olenna Tyrell.

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