‘Rogue One: A Star Wars Story’ Releases Official Teaser Ahead of Trailer Debut at Rio Olympics; Riz Ahmed Teases More Details on Bodhi Rook

‘Rogue One: A Star Wars Story’ is set to debut its official trailer during NBC’s coverage of the Rio Olympics. A short teaser was released ahead of the scheduled premiere. Meanwhile, Riz Ahmed teased more details on his volatile pilot Bodhi Rook.

According to the Independent, a short yet exciting teaser trailer was recently released to fuel anticipation for a brand new trailer set to debut during NBC’s coverage of the Rio Olympics. Although the teaser was only around 15 seconds long, it gave audiences a glimpse of the ‘Star Wars’ franchise’s newest characters in action.

The main Rebel characters featured in the teaser included Felicity Jones' human female soldier Jyn Erso, Donnie Yen’s spiritual warrior monk Chirrut Imwe, Jiang Wen’s freelance assassin Baze Malbus, and Diego Luna’s captain Cassian Andor. The new droid voice by Alan Tudyk named K-2SO also made an appearance in the clip.

It was speculated that Darth Vader will be making his grand return to the franchise in the highly-anticipated official trailer. The iconic antagonist will be voiced by James Earl Jones.

New footage from director Gareth Edwards’ film was unveiled last month during the Star Wars Celebration Europe panel hosted by Gwendoline Christie. Darth Vader was only revealed during the final shot in the footage.

Meanwhile, Riz Ahmed opened up about more details on his new character Bodhi Rook during an interview with Entertainment Weekly. Bodhi Rook is a human male from Jedha who served as a pilot for the Alliance before fighting alongside the Rebels on their mission to steal plans for the Galactic Empire’s newest weapon called the Death Star. Although he is a competent and well-experienced pilot, he has the tendency to be quite volatile and bad-tempered.

Lucasfilm president Kathleen Kennedy described Ahmed’s Bodhi as “a little tense, a little volatile, but everybody in the group really relies on his technical skills.”

Ahmed defended his character saying, “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.”

He added, “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.”

‘Rogue One: A Star Wars Story’ is an action-adventure and fantasy film scheduled to be released on December 16, 2016. It is directed by Gareth Edwards with a screenplay written by Chris Weitz. The film is produced by Lucasfilm and distributed by Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures.

It is intended as the first standalone ‘Star Wars’ anthology film and set in the same universe as the original films. It precedes the events of George Lucas’ ‘Star Wars: Episode IV - A New Hope’, the first installment in the original trilogy.