Riz Ahmed Talks Surprise 'Rogue One' Darth Vader Ending: 'They Kept That From Us!'

Rogue One’s exciting ending was even a surprise to its own cast!

ET recently sat down with actor Riz Ahmed ahead of the in-home release of Rogue One: A Star Wars Story -- and since we can finally talk spoilers and surprises -- Ahmed was able to reveal more changes his character, Bodhi Rook, underwent over the course of filming.

“He was actually a totally different character -- he had a different name,” said Ahmed of first receiving the script. “His name was Bokan and he was Saw Gerrera’s chief engineer. He had been kidnapped from the Empire, but had been living with Saw Gerrera for like a decade.”

MORE: Watch Riz Ahmed’s Many ‘Rogue One: A Star Wars Story’ Audition Tapes 

How Riz Ahmed's 'Rogue One' Character Changed Throughout Filming

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From there, Ahmed says the character, eventually known as Bodhi, continued to evolve thanks to contributions from himself, director Gareth Edwards and writer Tony Gilroy.

“We just kept throwing up ideas and just took opportunities to change it -- and then, when we came back for the re-shoots, it was like, 'we're going to meet your character right at the start now, as opposed to meeting him at the halfway point,” said Ahmed. “That takes a lot of guts as filmmakers, when you’ve got something 90 percent finished to go, 'oh no no no wait. Let's just unpick all this stuff because, actually, it could be even cooler.’ And usually, you don't have the budget to that -- but they did it.”

MORE: How Riz Ahmed's 'Rogue One' Character Changed Throughout Filming

Ahmed, along with the rest of the Rogue One cast, screened the movie for the first time at Skywalker Ranch (on his birthday, no less). There, the cast was let in on one more major secret -- the final scene with Darth Vader.

“They kept that from us!” revealed Ahmed. “That was never in the script. We didn't know about it! It was the first time we saw it, so it was like, 'Oh okay, the film's finished... Darth Vader? Epilogue? Uh.. .What is going on here?” and we just all started shouting, and cheering and clapping in a screening room -- Yeah, that was a sneaky one, that was sneaky.”

Fans can bring home Rogue One: A Star Wars Story -- out now on Digital HD, and on Blu-ray Apr. 4.

EXCLUSIVE: Watch Riz Ahmed's Many 'Rogue One' Audition Tapes

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