Though the Star Wars TV series Andor stands alone reasonably well as its own political-intrigue drama about the fomenting of revolution amidst increasing fascist rule, it’s also positively packed with connections to other bits and pieces of Star Wars lore, from the original trilogy to the prequels and sequels to the cartoon-series offshoots. Its closest ancestor, of course, is Rogue One: A Star Wars Story, the 2016 one-off film that introduced the character of Cassian Andor (Diego Luna) as one of the leaders on a daring mission to steal plans to the Empire’s Death Star, thus facilitating the attack that serves as the climax of A New Hope (also known as Star Wars, the original film).

With this prequel to a prequel (that’s also a sort-of sequel to another prequel), there are a lot of narrative threads to track, and the last few episodes of Andor bring the series right up to the beginning of Rogue One, just as that movie ends moments before the beginning of A New Hope. As such, the show spends some time in its final installment discussing an unseen character called Tivik. Cassian has found out about an Empire super-weapon – the Death Star – and needs more details, while the Rebel Alliance (including senators Mon Mothma and Bail Organa) is skeptical about whether anything will come of this. But eventually, they come around to Cassian’s conviction that this thread should be pulled further, and as the series launches into its final montage checking in on various characters who are still alive, that’s what Cassian is up to: slow-mo walking to his ship, where he and the snarky droid K-2SO will head off to the Ring of Kafrene, where they will meet up with Tivik.

So who is this guy? Played by British actor Daniel Mays, Tivik is not someone who actually appears in Andor (which is worth noting because the show has a lot of characters, some with just a handful of scenes). He’s actually a character you might remember from Rogue One, because he’s our introduction to Cassian – in the sense that minutes into the movie, we see Andor kill this guy in cold blood.

Cassian’s intro in Rogue One indeed happens about nine minutes into the movie, on the trading outpost Ring of Kafrene, a relatively seamless transition from the Andor series. (Well, except for the fact that there are more eclectic alien creatures in this brief tour of the trading post than there are in some entire arcs of Andor.) In the scene, Cassian nervously travels down some Kafrene alleys and meets up with Tivik (Daniel Mays), who is sporting some sort of arm injury and already agitated from waiting. He’s ready to rush back to Jedha, where he has been embedded with the revolutionary Saw Gerrara, and feeding information to Cassian. (Saw and Cassian are broadly on the same side, but Saw is estranged from the Rebel Alliance, something shown in Andor, though the divide seems more dramatic in Rogue One, a slight continuity blip between the two near-contiguous projects.)

With great fuss, he imparts his news: An imperial pilot defected to Saw the previous day, and can corroborate what Cassian has heard about this mysterious weapon, a “planet-killer.” When stormtroopers accost the pair, Cassian shoots them, which only panics Tivik further, as he doesn’t believe he’ll be able to make a quick escape with his injured arm. Cassian evidently agrees, and puts him down as you might a dog, shooting Tivik dead in the back to keep him from Empire capture.

It’s a jarring intro to Cassian in Rogue One; in the context of Andor, his treatment of Tivik becomes an echo of other moments from the series. In the very first episode of Andor, Cassian murders Drezzer, a security guard who threatens him, in cold blood, illustrating his willingness to kill to bolster his own safety. More notably, Cassian’s split-second decision to kill Tivik rather than risk capture (for either of them) recalls Luthen’s actions in “Make It Stop,” the tenth episode of Andor’s second season. At the opening of that episode, Luthen meets with his longtime informant Lonni Jung, and first learns about the Death Star. Jung, like Tivik, is extremely nervous, and arguably with greater cause; he’s embedded in the Empire, not just a rival revolutionary group, and wants protection from Luthen. Instead, with the information extracted and the knowledge that Jung has already sent his family away, Luthen shoots him (off-screen), and leaves his body on the bench where they met.

In both cases, the rebels must divorce themselves from human compassion in order to further their cause and not leave loose ends. By some measures, the Andor scene feels like a more nuanced replay of the one from Rogue One, where it’s not entirely clear why Tivik, who asked Andor to meet him and does not have to keep up Empire appearances, is so deeply paranoid and troubled from the jump. But the Andor scene also improves the Rogue One scene by association; instead of focusing on Tivik’s nerves, the scene feels more like a connection between Cassian and Luthen, illustrating what the former has learned from the latter – however grim those lessons may be.

Jesse Hassenger (@rockmarooned) is a writer living in Brooklyn podcasting at www.sportsalcohol.com. He’s a regular contributor to The A.V. Club, Polygon, and The Week, among others.