Riz Ahmed says he still gets 'great feedback' about his 'Star Wars' movie 'Rogue One'

It hasn't been easy for the Star Wars feature film franchise to quit the Skywalkers — but Rogue One remains a go-to example of how filmmakers can tell a Star Wars story without putting the far, far away galaxy's most famous family front and center. Released on Dec. 16, 2016, the Gareth Edwards-directed film crossed the billion-dollar mark at the worldwide box office, spawned a critically acclaimed prequel series, and continues to be cited as a fan favorite seven years later. And it accomplished all of that without a single appearance by Luke Skywalker, although there were memorable cameos by his sister and his dad.

But the movie's journey to its exalted status within Star Wars fandom wasn't easy either. Rogue One -was famously revised and reshot — particularly its action-packed third act — by writer-director Tony Gilroy after Edwards delivered his initial cut to Lucasfilm and Walt Disney, which purchased George Lucas's company in 2012. "Everything was chopping and changing," Riz Ahmed confirms to Yahoo Entertainment during an interview about his upcoming Netflix animated film, Nimona. "It wasn't just the third act. A lot of the film was constantly being shuffled around in the reshoots."

Watch our interview with Riz Ahmed on YouTube:

As conceived by Edwards and screenwriter Chris Weitz, Rogue One would show exactly how the Rebel Alliance got its hands on the plans for Emperor Palpatine's super-weapon, the Death Star, allowing Luke to blow it to smithereens in the final moments of A New Hope. Ahmed was cast as Bodhi Rook, a cargo pilot for the Imperial Army who enlists with the ragtag Rebels and joins Jyn Erso (Felicity Jones) and Cassian Andor (Diego Luna) in a desperate Dirty Dozen-style attempt to swipe the Death Star schematics — a recovery mission that becomes a suicide mission.

Multiple accounts exist of how Rogue One changed when Gilroy took over the helm, but the Jason Bourne franchise writer provided perhaps the clearest indication of his creative approach in a 2018 podcast interview with fellow screenwriter Brian Koppelman. "It’s actually very, very simple to solve," he said, adding that the movie was in "terrible trouble" at the point where Disney and Lucasfilm brought him in to lead the reshoots. "Because you sort of go, 'This is a movie where ... everyone is going to die.' So it’s a movie about sacrifice."

Far from regretting the version of Rogue One that was lost, Ahmed praises the "bravery" of the film's producing team — including Edwards, Gilroy and Kathleen Kennedy — for recognizing that big changes needed to happen. "Everyone just kind of came together and said, 'How can we make the best version of what it is?'" the Oscar-nominated Sound of Metal star says. "Sometimes you don't get it the first time around, and you've got to keep tweaking it. It takes guts to do that, and I'm really glad they did, because we get a lot of great feedback about Rogue One."

Not for nothing, but Gilroy is also getting great feedback about his Disney+ series Andor, which follows Cassian's path to Rogue One. Neither her nor Ahmed has revealed whether Bodhi might make an appearance in the second half of the series, which was shooting earlier this year until production was delayed amid the Writers Guild of America strike. But the actor has also notably stepped away from franchise films in recent years following the one-two punch of Rogue One and Venom, which kicked off Sony's extended Spider-Verse of live action films starring Spider-Man villains.

Asked whether that was a specific choice on his part, Ahmed indicates that it's more of an example of how opportunities ebb and flow. "Everything works through seasons, right?" he notes. "There was a moment there where I found myself doing a string of those [movies] and then things just kind of naturally shifted to a different place. I try not to think too much about controlling things that you inevitably can't control. What I can try and control is how much commitment I bring to what I'm lucky enough to do."

In fact, Ahmed jokes that Nimona could kick-star his Animated Era, where he lends his voice to numerous blockbuster cartoons. Streaming on Netflix on June 30, the long-delayed animated feature pairs him with Chloë Grace Moretz as a pair of supposed villains trying to expose a cover-up at the highest levels of power within their retro-future kingdom. "It's very easy to try and create villains so that we can feel like heroes," Ahmed says of Nimona's message. "But actually real heroism isn't about cutting someone else down to size — it's about embracing yourself, but showing the world who you really are."

The society depicted in Nimona has been so effective at creating villains for the public to hate, that it's resulted in an imperial state not unlike the Empire. That theme also jibes with Ahmed's recent short film, The Long Goodbye, which he co-wrote with director Aneil Karia. Last year, the duo won an Oscar for Best Live Action Short Film — an experience that Ahmed still sounds slightly amazed by. (Ahmed was also nominated for the Best Actor Oscar in 2021 for his performance in Sound of Metal.)

"I couldn't ask for more than to have the film recognized in that way, and for Aneil's work and talent to be recognized in that way," he says. "You can't try and control what people understand from your work — you just have to know why you are marking it. Once it's out there in the world, someone else makes it their own and interpret it in a way that is meaningful to them. I can't presume that everyone understood the same thing from it, and in a way I hope they don't."

Rogue One is currently streaming on Disney+.