Meet K2-B4: The Star Wars droid inspired by Kobe Bryant

As many of you know, Monday, May 4, is Star Wars Day — May the 4th, be with you. What you may not know is that there is a character is the Star Wars inspired by late Los Angeles Lakers Kobe Bryant: a droid by the name of K2-B4.

K2-B4 — voiced by Ashley Eckstein, who also voiced Ashoka Tano — made her first appearance in “The Citadel,” the 18th episode of the third season of “Star Wars: The Clone Wars.” K2-B4 was a T-series tactical droid, or T-1, used by the Confederacy of Independent Systems during the Clone Wars. Her colors were purple and gold to match the Lola Sayu system, where the defense fleet that she was assigned to was in the outer rim, but there was another not-so-subtle reason for her colors and her name, according to StarWars.com:

K2-B4’s colors also work well as the droid’s name is a nod to crew members who are fans of the Los Angeles Lakers. When K2-B4’s animation model was created, the Lakers won the championship. Kobe Bryant’s number 24 translates to K2-B4.

While that’s obviously very cool for people that hold the Lakers and Star Wars in the highest regard, it is a little disappointing that the same person that came up with K2-B4 didn’t also sneak in a droid named “POO-34.” Get it? POO-34?

K2-B4 appeared in three episodes of “Star Wars: The Clone Wars,” all of which where in season three. “Star Wars: The Clone Wars,” which first aired on Cartoon Network in 2008, released its series finale on Disney+ on Monday. All seven seasons are available to stream on Disney+.

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