Why Star Wars’ 2-Part Prequel Masterpiece Was Missing Key Rebel Character Explained

Riz Ahmed, one of the stars of Rogue One, opens up to ScreenRant about why his rebel character wasn’t included in the two-season Star Wars prequel Andor.

Andor featured several characters from Rogue One, including Cassian Andor (Diego Luna), Mon Mothma (Genevieve O’Reilly), Saw Gerrera (Forest Whitaker) and Orson Krennic (Ben Mendelsohn), but Ahmed’s Bodhi Rook was nowhere to be found.

In an interview with ScreenRant‘s Ash Crossan in our SXSW media suite for Bait, the actor finally explained creator Tony Gilroy’s decision to exclude Bodhi. He went straight to the source and asked the showrunner himself since he had heard that “everyone in Rogue One is doing [a] cameo.” Ahmed wondered, “What’s going on?“

Gilroy responded by saying he put a lot of thought into the decision and reached the conclusion that he would be “mess[ing] up all the timelines of the show and how the chronology of it works.”

Ahmed completely understood where he was coming from and called Gilroy a “good” person.

“Can I be honest? I actually spoke to Tony Gilroy about this. ‘Tony, everyone says everyone in Rogue One is doing cameo in your show? What’s going on?’ And do you know what he said? He said, “You know, I actually really thought about this, but we’d totally mess up all the timelines of the show and how the chronology of it works.’ I believe it. Tony’s good people. I believe it.”

Interestingly, though, the actor admitted to ScreenRant that he hasn’t actually watched Andor, even though he’s heard “it’s amazing.”

“I have not [watched Andor]….I’ve heard it’s amazing.”

Rogue One, released in 2016, takes place before the events of the very first Star Wars film, A New Hope, and centers on Jyn Erso’s attempt to destroy the Death Star. Felicity Jones plays Erso, with Luna, Whitaker, O’Reilly, Mendelsohn, Alan Tudyk, Mads Mikkelsen, Donnie Yen, Jiang Wen and Jimmy Smits also starring in the movie.

Ahmed’s Rogue One character, Bodhi, is a pilot who leaves the Empire and joins the rebel forces but eventually gets killed.

Since Andor is a prequel that’s set before Rogue One, the character of Bodhi is still alive during that era of the Star Wars franchise. Luna’s Cassian Andor leads the two-season TV show on Disney+ as the Rebel Alliance is created to take on the Empire.

Other cast members include Kyle Soller, Adria Arjona, Stellan Skarsgård, Fiona Shaw, Denise Gough, Faye Marsay, Varada Sethu, Elizabeth Dulau and Benjamin Bratt.

After Rogue One earned a Certified Fresh score of 84% on Rotten Tomatoes, Andor came along six years later and surpassed its rating with a 96% critic score.

During awards season, Andor received numerous nominations and won at the Emmys for Outstanding Writing for a Drama Series as well as awards for special effects, production design and picture editing.

At the SAG Awards, the series was up for Outstanding Performance by a Stunt Ensemble in a Television Series, with Luna landing a Golden Globe nomination for Best Actor in a Television Series – Drama. The prequel was even honored with a Peabody Award.

Instead of Andor, Ahmed went on to appear in such projects as Mogul Mowgli, The Phoenician Scheme, Hamlet, The Night Of and The OA. He can next be seen in the Prime Video series Bait, which premieres on March 25.