Andor director Toby Haynes discusses mysterious fate of Kino Loy

One of the unexpected delights of Andor's first season was seeing the return to the franchise of Andy Serkis. Previously voicing and doiing motion capture for Supreme Leader Snoke, Serkis first showed up in episode 8 of the new Star Wars series as a prisoner/foreman named Kino Loy in a factory/jail on Narkina 5.

Diego Luna's Cassian spent a lot of effort over three episodes trying to convince Kino to escape. Kino finally agreed and helped lead the charge to break out of the prison. He actually made it outside and began his mad dash to freedom… only to discover that the facility was in the middle of an ocean. As others jumped off the ledge to their freedom into the water below, Kino simply said "I can't swim."

Lucasfilm Ltd. Andy Serkis as Kino Loy on 'Andor'

It was a heartbreaking turn of events. But what does it mean? WHAT HAPPENED TO KINO LOY?!?!? Andy Serkis provided no clues when he spoke to EW as a guest on the Dagobah Dispatch, so we had to go behind the actor's back and ask the man who directed the episode (and 6 of the 10 Andor episodes so far).

Toby Haynes also joined us on the Dagobah Dispatch and we posed the question directly: What was Kino's fate? "Oh my God, I wish I knew," laughs Haynes. "I'm a fan from here on, so whether he comes back in this season or not, I don't know."

But Haynes did drop some clues as to what he thinks ended up happening to the fan favorite. "I think it's open there with what happens to his storyline. He certainly wasn't killed. So we know that much. And then that's the interesting thing about [creator Tony Gilroy's] writing. If you're not dead, then who knows what's gonna happen to your character. So [his return] could happen."

Haynes also says he had no idea that brutal moment would come to pass on screen. "It was a surprise to us all," says the director. "I had to start work on [episodes] 8 and 9 without seeing the end of episode 10, so I didn't know that he couldn't swim until that point. So it was a real shocker when I read that script."

Alberto E. Rodriguez/Getty Images 'Andor' director Toby Haynes

Haynes says it also took Serkis a bit of time to find the perfect tone for the line: "The way that Andy played it, we were doing it where he's sort of angry and it's emotional that he's saying, 'I can't swim! I can't swim!' But then he just suddenly played it in this serene way where he was smiling and he goes, 'I've done all this and I can't actually get out, I can't swim. This is where we say goodbye.' I thought that was absolutely inspired and that was great working with Andy that he would just chuck ideas at it and you wouldn't know it until he was actually doing it. And so it was sort of thrilling."

The director shares tons of additional insight and intel on the series, including his easter egg nod to the original Star Wars film (did you catch it?), creating the look and feel of the factory prison, and capturing "the best closeup of my career" (can you guess what it was?). Haynes also reveals that he wants to film an entire series around one of the more colorful denizens of Jabba's palace. Listen to our full interviews with both Haynes and Andy Serkis on the latest edition of the Dagobah Dispatch to get a heaping helping of Star Wars awesomeness.

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• Diego Luna says Andor will be the end of him playing Cassian