Daisy Ridley Is Open For Rey To Return To The Stars Wars Universe
Where do you go after headlining a "Star Wars" trilogy? It's a dilemma multiple actors have faced over the decades, and the outcomes have varied wildly. Some have gone on to enjoy incredible careers in fields such as voice acting and script doctoring, whereas others have followed their time playing in the immensely popular sci-fi fantasy sandbox by making actually real movies like the "'Romeo and Juliet,' but with pizza businesses" rom-com "Little Italy." Journeying to a galaxy far, far away can be a proper roll of the dice, in other words, so far as the impact it can have on your professional ambitions as a performer is concerned.
In the wake of the "Star Wars" sequel trilogy, its leads have all found themselves in dramatically different places. Admittedly, not much has changed for Oscar Isaac and Adam Driver, both of whom have continued to make fascinating career choices, much like they did prior to joining the franchise. John Boyega, on the other hand, has sworn off big-budget properties entirely to reinvent himself as a dyed-in-the-wool character actor focused on projects that speak to him personally, resulting in some of his finest work to date. This brings us to Daisy Ridley who, as /Film's Ben Pearson recently observed, has been "taking chances and making moves," but has yet to achieve the type of post-"Star Wars" success her peers have had.
Like Ben, Ridley always impressed me with her acting in the sequel trilogy (her facial expressions alone are priceless), yet I would much rather see her tackle other roles — be they in indie films, big-budget movies, or on TV — than reprise her role as Rey right away. Fortunately, although she's open to the prospect of returning as (*sigh*) Palpatine's granddaughter, Ridley's clearly in no hurry to do so.
Rey who?
While most of Daisy Ridley's non-"Star Wars" outings so far have either flown under the radar ("Ophelia") or failed to impress through no fault of her own ("Chaos Walking"), things could change for her in 2023. She's earned top marks from the Sundance premiere of her romantic dramedy "Sometimes I Think About Dying," and will get to really showcase her versatility with her roles in Neil Burger's thriller "The Marsh King's Daughter" and Joachim Rønning's biopic "Young Woman and the Sea" later this year. So, of course, people want to ask her about playing Rey again.
To her credit, Ridley gave a well-measure reply when The Hollywood Reporter popped the question:
"Honestly, I have no idea. I feel like Rey's story ended in a wonderful way with ['Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker']. It's already been an insane three years since that film came out. I feel like quite a different person. We've all gone through a massive change in the last three years, with lots of crazy things happening. So I really don't know if there are plans. I just don't know. But ultimately, I loved my experience, I loved what I got to do and I love the people I got to work with. So, should that happen again, even once, amazing. Because the dream is to really be around nice people that make you feel good and feel heard while you do good work."
Between Ridley's recent career choices and "Star Wars" going places it's never gone before with its streaming series on Disney+ (and not just "Andor," either), I see little reason to rush and bring either her or any of the other sequel trilogy actors back so soon. The further we all leave "Rise of Skywalker" in our rearview mirror, the better.