R2-KT, the pink R2 unit created for a young girl dying of cancer in 2005, will actually make it to the big screen. The droid will reportedly be seen in Star Wars: The Force Awakens.
The droid was created for Albin Johnson’s daughter, Katie, who was diagnosed with a brain tumor in 2005. Johnson is the founder of the famed 501st Legion group, so Katie’s story circulated around the Star Wars fan community. R2 builders began working on a special pink R2 unit for Katie, but soon found that the droid wouldn’t be done before Katie died. So, an R2 builder quickly painted a completed R2 unit for her to watch over her as she slept.
Katie died just before her specially built R2 unit was finished. However, her story has stuck with Star Wars fans and R2-KT even appeared The Clone Wars movie. The 10th anniversary of R2-KT was recently celebrated.
Johnson told My Geek News that he has heard that R2-KT will appear in the final cut of The Force Awakens.
“Mary Franklin of Lucasfilm asked me to pitch the idea to Kathleen Kennedy (Lucasfilm President), and after hearing the story of our pink ambassador of hope Lucasfilm requested we ship her off to London early last year,” Johnson wrote. “Quick repairs were made and off she went for six months.”
The Force Awakens opens on Dec. 18. Hopefully, R2-KT is easy to spot.