Sandwiched in between Revenge of the Sith and A New Hope, Gareth Edwards’ hotly-anticipated spinoff Rogue One: A Star Wars Story will open up a wealth of new characters for fans to love and fear.
At the heart of that rebellion is Felicity Jones as lone wanderer Jyn Erso, a vigilante who has a history of clashing with both the Empire and the Rebel Alliance. But the imminent construction of the Death Star is enough to spur Edwards’ “pack of misfits” into action against a common enemy, a cause that Riz Ahmed’s Bodhi – a “long-distance truck driver” who has a history with the Empire – will also be fighting for.
In a new interview with Entertainment Weekly, the Jason Bourne star shed new light on his “tense, volatile” character.
“A character like Bodhi is not born into the life of a soldier. He’s a pilot working for the Empire, doing his job, getting on with it. But when you put ordinary people in extraordinary circumstances, it can freak them out. It can inspire deep passions. So I’m gonna defend Bodhi. Everyone in this Star Wars movie has got quite a complex past. They have a lot of baggage and history to it. That’s part of what makes it an interesting, nuanced movie. It’s taking characters with interesting backgrounds, whether it’s warrior monks, or ex-assassins, or long-distance truck drivers, and you’re assembling this pack of misfits.”
Bodhi is a technical wizard, though, and that handiwork proves indispensable in the Alliance’s galactic heist. As Kathleen Kennedy point out to EW, the name translates to “enlightenment” or “awakening” in Buddhist circles.
Rogue One: A Star Wars Story makes a break for theaters on December 16. An all-new trailer is imminent, so keep your peepers peeled on We Got This Covered.
