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Rogue One stars admit they're an odd fit in Star Wars

Riz Admed as Bodhi Rook in Rogue One: A Star Wars Story
Riz Admed as Bodhi Rook in Rogue One: A Star Wars Story

Diego Luna and Riz Ahmed, who play a Rebel Alliance spy and a renegade Imperial cargo ship pilot respectively in Rogue One, both say they are odd fits in the ever-expanding Star Wars universe.

Luna portrays morally ambiguous spy Cassian Andor and Ahmed Riz plays Bodhi Rook, a pilot who comes to the rebels' aid in the new movie, which is set just before the events of the very first Star Wars movie.  

Speaking to RTÉ Entertainment, London actor Ahmed, who has previously starred in Four Lions and Nightcrawler, said: "In a way, Bodhi Rook isn't a soldier, he's not a rebel spy, he's not a hardened assassin like some of the other characters.

As the director of the movie, Gareth Edwards, describes him, he's a guy in an action movie who shouldn't really be in an action movie.

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Watch our interviews with Riz Ahmed and Diego Luna

"He's just an average Joe, a long-distance truck driver, doesn't hail from an important family or isn't descended from the Skywalkers but he sill realises he can make a difference and that may not be his comfort zone and in certain scenes, we see him in a real state of anxiety."

Read our review of Rogue One: A Star Wars Story.

Mexican actor Luna, who rose to fame with his role in Y Tu Mamá También and went on to star in Elysium and Open Range, told RTÉ Entertainment, that while his character is morally ambiguous, all is fair in love in war.

Diego Luna (centre) in a scene from Rouge One

"In the film, it's war times and in war times, no one is good or bad. It's about surviving and you exterminate what you're fighting against. War is horrible.

"Cassian is a spy for the Rebellion and what he's fighting for is freedom for the galaxy and he is one of the good guys but that's from my perspective; someone could debate that and say that's completely wrong."

Rogue One: A Star Wars Story is in cinemas now.

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Watch our interview with Rogue One: A Star Wars Story director Gareth Edwards

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