Bodhi Rook

Bodhi Rook
Star Wars character
Riz Ahmed as Bodhi Rook from Rogue One (2016)
First appearance	Rogue One (2016)
Created by	Chris Weitz Gary Whitta
Portrayed by	Riz Ahmed
Information
Gender	Male
Occupation	Rebel pilot

Bodhi Rook is a fictional character in the Star Wars franchise, portrayed by British actor Riz Ahmed in the 2016 film Rogue One. Bodhi is a former Imperial cargo pilot who, under the influence of Galen Erso, defects to the Rebel Alliance in an attempt to steal the plans to the Death Star, a powerful weapon possessed by the Empire.

Industrial Light & Magic chief creative officer John Knoll, credited for the story of Rogue One, told Vanity Fair in 2016 that he conceived the plot of the film while working as a visual effects supervisor on the 2005 film Star Wars: Episode III – Revenge of the Sith. Hearing about the development of a live-action Star Wars television series, he conceived a story, inspired by a plot point mentioned in the opening crawl of the original 1977 film Star Wars, which would eventually become Rogue One. At the beginning of shooting, Bodhi did not have a big role in the film, with Ahmed noting “He had a different name and a different relationship to the rest of the team, and he really evolved once I signed on and once I started shooting, even.” Once shooting had begun, Bodhi was brought into the story much earlier and was made a more integral member of the team. His first name, "Bodhi", is Sanskrit and Pāli for "enlightment" or "awaking".

Ahmed was reported to be in talks in April 2015 by The Wrap, his casting was later confirmed by Variety in May 2015. Ahmed has said that director Gareth Edwards reached out to him for the role although it had not been fully developed yet, and Ahmed sent over 10 audition tapes in the hopes that at least one would satisfy the director, recounting in an interview with TIME magazine; "He [Edwards] made the mistake of giving me his email address because I just spammed him about 10-15 different versions of this thing—doing this obsessive thing that I do. And he emailed me back at one point like, “Hey Riz, you don’t need to keep emailing me your audition. You’re good. We’ll get back to you.”" In this interview, Ahmed also revealed that he took inspiration from Dennis Hopper's performance in Apocalypse Now.