Rod

"You preppers are all so... fucking unimaginative. You have no idea what the end of the world's going to bring. I can tell you one thing, though. French-cut string beans aren't gonna save anybody."

- Rod to Wilson Wilson, "Just a Fanboy"

Rod is a character on Prime Video's Utopia. He is one of two assassins of the Harvest, along with Arby, sent to kill anyone who has see the comic Utopia, as well try to secure the only known manuscript of the comic. He is portrayed by Michael B. Woods.

Fringecon
Rod aggravates Arby by being late in picking him up when the two travel to Fringecon in order to handle the Utopia situation. He tells Arby that his car, a 1974 MGB glitches, but it will get them there in style. Upon arrival at Fringecon, the two quickly make their way to the room of the young couple, Ethan Lander and Olivia, who discovered the comic inside an old home left to them by Olivia's deceased grandfather. They learn that they have already sold the comic to a man named Phillip Carson living in the hotel's penthouse. Upon hearing this, they then proceed to inject Ethan, Olivia, and everyone else present at the party with a poison that quickly knocks them out and will eventually kill them. They, however, tell them that it's only a robbery and that the poison is only intended to knock them out. They take with them a list of everyone who bid on Utopia and thus has seen at least one page of the comic in addition to its cover.

The two head up to Carson's penthouse, where Rod points a gun at Carson while Arby asks him to give them the manuscript. A costumed woman who is also in the room mocks Rod, who pretends to laugh at her joke before pistol-whipping her to the ground. He and Arby then torture Carson, who cracks quickly, telling them that the Utopia manuscript is in the bedroom. However, when Rod heads off to find it, a boy who has sneaked into the room, Grant Bishop, takes off with it and manages to slip away. With no other recourse, the two are forced to let him get away for the time being. They return to the hotel room, take a fingerprint sample and Rod contacts Home for a psych eval on the list of bidders while Arby shoots and kills Carson and the girl. They then proceed from door-to-door throughout the hotel, killing everyone on the list, with the exception of a particular group have slipped away. They then frame the murders on one of the victims, Jimmy Raffetto, who has a history of mental illness.

Where is Utopia? Where is Jessica Hyde?
After eliminating the security footage from the incident, the two proceed to the home of Wilson Wilson, based on a ping from the smartphone of Becky Todd, who is part of a group staying over at Wilson's place, along with Ian Johnson and Samantha J. Arby suggests that they pose as gas company officials, and Rod agrees that he loves the idea. They then enter the household, where they proceed to kill all of the members of Wilson's family by making them breathe toxic gas, but discover that Wilson himself is not inside the home. The two then discover Wilson's underground bunker and enter. He threatens them with a bottle, telling them to stay back, but is easily disarmed. They then handcuff him to a chair and begin torturing him, demanding to know where Utopia is and where Jessica Hyde is. They eventually scoop out one of his eyeballs, but he still does not crack. At this point, Rod decides that he believes his claim that he is, in fact, "just a fanboy." Arby agrees, telling him to clean up.

Arby leaves the bunker to call Home. Back inside it, Rod chastises Wilson for his lack of imagination, telling him that a can of string beans won't save him when the end of the world comes. As he continues to mock Wilson, Wilson frees one of his hands from the handcuffs and grabs Rod's gun, pointing it at him unsteadily. With one eye missing, his vision is a mess and Rod darts around. Wilson fires blind, unable to hit him and he tosses an object, hitting Wilson in the forehead. Wilson curses and fires again, way off. Rod blows a kiss at him, continuing to mock him, but just then, Jessica Hyde drops down into the bunker and smashes an axe into the back of his head, killing him.

Trivia

 * His counterpart in the original of Utopia is Lee. However, whereas Lee lives until the end of the second season of the British version, Rod is killed just two episodes into the U.S. version.