Andor Episode 10: What happened to Kino Loy?

Andor Episode 10 is both triumphant and tragic for Kino Loy – so, what happened to him, did he die, or will we see him again? Let’s dig in.

Kino Loy (Andy Serkis) was introduced in Andor Episode 8. While he’s a prisoner on Narkina 5, he’s also the manager of the other inmates working in Unit 52D, competing with other managers to get the highest output until he can go home.

In Episode 9, we saw him butt heads with Cassian (Diego Luna) over his rebellious hopes and plans to escape. However, when an elderly prisoner was euthanized and he found out about a floor of prisoners who were “fried”, he established an alliance. “Never more than 12.”

Episode 10 is what you’ve been waiting for: the great escape – alas, it doesn’t go quite to plan for Kino Loy, so let’s break down what happened and if we should expect to see him again.

Andor Episode 10: What happened to Kino Loy?

Kino Loy is crucial to Cassian’s plans for the escape. He’s known as a leader, and even though the prisoners may resent him, they’ll also listen to him. “Play it how you want, but I’m gonna assume I’m already dead,” he tells them all, upon learning they’re never getting out.

The next day, Cassian and Kino execute their plan: they burst a water pipe, which freezes the floors before the guards can fry all of the inmates. Kino shouts “Fight!” and the inmates begin hurling pieces of metal from their workstations, before climbing up to the corridors and taking over the prison.

Cassian and Kino eventually make it to the mainframe of the prison, where Kino takes control of the intercom and rallies everyone together. “I’d rather die trying to take them down than die trying to give them what they want,” he tells everyone. “Take charge and start climbing… run, climb, kill.”

Soon, they all reach the way out of the prison – a doorway looking out to the ocean, with no route of escape other than leaping out into the water and swimming to the nearest shore. This is fine for everyone… except Kino. “I can’t swim,” he says to Cassian as he’s pushed off into the water.

Andor Episode 10: Did Kino Loy die?

Ultimately, we don’t know if Kino Loy is dead. We never saw him jump, and so it’s unclear if he was shoved off the ledge in all the commotion or if he stayed in the prison. Considering all of the guards were left terrified, there’s a chance he may have found an alternate way to escape – but it seems unlikely.

Serkis has spoken about his return to Star Wars after playing Snoke in the sequel trilogy, but he hasn’t hinted at the future of his character.

He told Slash Film: “Look, he is used to living now and has been incarcerated for such a long time. He’s used to a brutal existence, which really revolves around punishment or reward. Punishment by electrification and a reward by getting flavor in your food. He just wants to keep his head down. He’s not interested. He’s got a family that he wants to get back to.

“He’s in this totalitarian nightmare, so he is closed down. But when Cassian starts to question the strength of the Empire, and actually sees that there are holes in it, once the realization happens that, in fact, that maybe he will never be released, that is intolerable to him.

“It’s like a trigger switch that enables him to then stop thinking about just himself and his release, and think about all the other people who are suffering on this ship with him. He starts to think about the greater good, and how he might enable and affect a journey out of there alongside Cassian.”

Andor Episode 11 will be available to stream on November 17. You can sign up for Disney+ here.