Leia sent Poe and BB-8 to the forlorn desert world of Jakku in hopes that the explorer and Force historian Lor San Tekka might have information about the whereabouts of the long-lost Luke Skywalker. BB-8 remained with Poe’s X-wing during their meeting, but spotted First Order transports landing and rushed to tell Poe of the danger.

After stormtroopers blew up Poe’s starfighter, the pilot hid an object given to him by San Tekka inside BB-8’s chassis and told the droid to flee, promising to track his companion down. As the First Order attack began, BB-8 raced off into the Jakku night.

A Teedo scavenger captured BB-8 in a net, causing the little droid to beep frantically for help. A young woman named Rey chased off the Teedo and freed the droid and then told BB-8 to go to Niima Outpost. But she then relented and allowed the frightened droid to spend the night inside the downed AT-AT she called home.

The next day, Rey took BB-8 to Niima Outpost, thinking the droid could find passage offworld with a trader. But BB-8 refused, determined to wait for Poe’s return. When the junk dealer Unkar Plutt caught sight of the astromech, he offered Rey 60 food portions in exchange for the droid. But after a moment Rey told the junkboss the droid wasn’t for sale.

Unkar wasn’t inclined to take no for an answer, and sent his thugs to take BB-8 by force. Rey would learn a lesson about the price of defying the salvage boss of Jakku.

Rey thrashed Unkar’s thugs, only to have BB-8 nearly blow a circuit at the sight of a human wearing Poe's jacket. The new arrival, Finn, claimed he wasn’t a thief, but had helped Poe escape the First Order. But he added that the pilot had died in a crash-landing on Jakku.

The First Order attacked Niima Outpost, sending in stormtroopers and backed by a TIE fighter aerial assault. BB-8, Finn and Rey fled aboard an old crate of a freighter that belonged to Unkar, escaping the TIEs.

Aboard the freighter, Finn leveled with BB-8 – he really had helped Poe escape, but he was a deserter from the First Order, not a member of the Resistance. The droid reluctantly told Finn the location of the Resistance base in return for Finn’s promise that to go there.

Before Finn could hold up his end of the bargain, a giant ship grabbed the freighter. The new craft belonged to Han Solo and Chewbacca, overjoyed to have finally found the Millennium Falcon. But the reunion was short-lived, as two criminal gangs attacked Han’s ship. Bala-Tik, leader of the Guavian Death Gang, spotted BB-8 -- and knew this was the droid sought by the First Order.

Rey saved Han and Chewie from the gangs, fleeing once more aboard the Falcon. When they were safely away, BB-8 activated a star map – the prize San Tekka had given Poe back on Jakku. Han said the map was incomplete and told Rey and Finn that after Luke’s attempt to create a new Jedi Order ended in disaster, his friend went searching for the first Jedi temple – and vanished.

Han piloted the Falcon to Takodana, the site of Maz Kanata’s legendary castle. There, a droid working secretly for the Resistance spotted BB-8 and alerted General Organa – while another of Maz’s patrons informed the First Order. The First Order attacked Takodana, and its forces were driven off by Resistance X-wings – but not before the feared warlord Kylo Ren kidnapped Rey.

BB-8 gave the map to the Resistance, but it couldn’t be used without a portion that had belonged to the Empire. Having escaped Jakku, Poe reunited with his faithful droid and prepared for a new mission: attack the Starkiller Base, site of a terrifying First Order weapon and the location where Rey had been taken.

Poe flew as Black Leader, with BB-8 in his X-wing’s astromech socket. With the help of Han, Chewie and Finn – who’d infiltrated Starkiller Base – the attack destroyed the First Order superweapon and saved Rey. But many Resistance heroes died that day.

Following the battle, the Resistance’s leaders struggled for a way to complete the map BB-8 carried. Monitoring the discussion, R2-D2 awoke and called up charts he’d downloaded from the Death Star decades earlier. When R2-D2 and BB-8 put their maps together, the Resistance finally knew where to find Luke Skywalker.

As the Resistance evacuated D’Qar, BB-8 joined Poe for a dangerous assault on a First Order Dreadnought. When the weapons systems of Poe’s X-wing were knocked offline, BB-8 had to improvise to put things right.

The Resistance escaped the initial attack, but the First Order had found a way to track its ships through hyperspace. When First Order starfighters attacked the fleet, BB-8 and Poe raced for the starfighter hangar – and narrowly escaped destruction when a torpedo attack destroyed it.

Poe conspired with Finn and Rose Tico, helping them slip away on a dangerous mission to slip through the First Order’s defenses and turn off the hyperspace tracker. With Poe grounded, BB-8 stowed away on Rose and Finn’s shuttle, accompanying them to the gambling resort Canto Bight to search for the Master Codebreaker.

After Finn and Rose were arrested, BB-8 tried to break them out of jail. His attempt came too late, so he joined forces with the thief DJ to steal a ship. The two unlikely partners swooped down to rescue Finn and Rose from being caught yet again by the Canto Bight police.

DJ agreed to help Finn and Rose infiltrate the First Order flagship Supremacy, with BB-8 using an overturned waste bin as an improvised disguise. When the First Order captured his friends, BB-8 scrambled for a way to save them yet again.

The plucky astromech took control of an AT-ST, blasting away at Captain Phasma and her stormtroopers. BB-8’s intervention turned the tide, allowing Rose and Finn to flee the crippled Supremacy and head for Crait.

BB-8 reunited with Poe at the old rebel base on Crait, and was one of the few Resistance members to escape the First Order aboard the Millennium Falcon. The Resistance’s ranks had been thinned to almost nothing, but the fight for galactic freedom would continue.

BB-8 continued serving the Resistance as Poe helped General Organa rebuild the organization after Crait. He also kept Rey company during her Jedi training on Ajan Kloss. Such companionship wasn’t without its hazards, though – such as the day Rey managed to drop a tree on her friend.

BB-8 accompanied Rey, Poe and Finn on a mission to Pasaana to track down Ochi of Bestoon. When First Order stormtroopers pursued him and his friends, the astromech improvised an effective defense using smoke canisters intended for the Festival of the Ancestors.

Ochi of Bestoon turned out to be long dead, but BB-8 and his friends did locate Ochi’s ship. Aboard it, BB-8 discovered a powered-down little droid, D-O. Remembering how Rey had helped a wounded vexis on Pasaana, BB-8 used his own power to recharge the droid. A grateful D-O became fixated on BB-8, following his new friend around.

BB-8 accompanied Finn, Jannah and Rose Tico on a dangerous ground assault when the Resistance raided Exegol, a Sith redoubt deep in the Unknown Regions. After the First Order changed its tactics, BB-8 found himself rolling across the deck of a First Order Star Destroyer – an experience he’d never thought he’d record in his memory banks.

With BB-8’s help, the Resistance won a critical victory over the First Order and its Sith allies at Exegol. After celebrating on Ajan Kloss, BB-8 accompanied Rey on a more personal mission: She visited the Tatooine moisture farm where Luke Skywalker had grown up, burying his lightsaber alongside that of Leia in tribute to her departed mentors.