Diego Luna Remembers How He Thought R2-D2 Was Named Arturito Until He Was 20

As Mexican actor, writer, and producer Diego Luna continues his press tour to promote the upcoming Disney+ series “Andor,” where he’ll be reprising his role from 2016’s “Rogue One,” he revealed in an interview with IMDb that he spent years thinking R2-D2’s name was actually Arturito.

In a TikTok excerpt that has amassed more than 257,000 likes, Luna recounts his earlier years, when everyone he knew misheard the droid’s name and ended up creating a whole new character called Little Arthur. It wasn’t until years later that Luna realized that instead of Ar-tu-ri-to, the character was actually named R-2-D-2.

Because he started watching “Star Wars” in Spanish as a child, it made sense that the character would be dubbed with a new name, or at least the original named modified for Spanish speakers, but somewhere along the way, R2-D2 was lost in translation.

Many viewers who grew up watching “Star Wars” can probably empathize with the miscommunication, as there is already a ton of “Arturito” merchandise online that dates back way before Luna’s interview was released a few days ago. In fact, a quick search on RedBubble reveals an Arturito-themed design from user DeepEastTexas.

The comments on IMDb’s TikTok confirm that Luna is far from the only person who thought the character was named Little Arthur. “In Bolivia we call ‘Arturito’ the [sic] cylindric street trash containers, just because of their resemblance to R2,” read one comment, while another commenter wrote, “I didn’t know he was Mexican, as a Latin American myself I can confirm that we all [sic] referred to R2-D2 as ‘Arturito.'”

The Arturito mixup is even mentioned on R2D2’s official Wikipedia page, and there’s a “Today I Learned” post on Reddit about Arturito dating back 12 years. Of course, the widely-recognized misnomer goes back way before the internet even existed, so who really knows where the name originated? Translations, subtitles, dubs, word-of-mouth?

As if that weren’t enough, one commenter even mentioned how R2-D2’s loyal sidekick, C3PO was known as “Citripio” by some viewers. “Arturito and Citripio forever,” the commenter wrote.

Luna is currently promoting the upcoming Disney+ series “Andor,” where he’ll be reprising his “Rogue One” character in a story that begins five years before the film, which was originally released in 2016. The new show will follow Luna’s character, Cassian Andor, as he transitions from thief to revolutionary and a crucial member of the early Rebel Alliance.

Season one, which is scheduled to begin airing on September 21 of this year, will reintroduce Andor and give viewers a ground-floor view of the havoc and destruction caused by the Empire. The plan for season two is to then show how Andor becomes part of the rebel group that collaborates to steal the schematic plans of the infamous Death Star, ending right where “Rogue One” begins.