Even Daisy Ridley Was Blindsided By Rey's Return To Star Wars
After wrapping up "The Skywalker Saga," Disney (rightly) put the brakes on all their plans for new "Star Wars" movies. The fandom is unquestionably fractured (although everybody seemed to agree that "The Rise of Skywalker" was a big disappointment), there's a saturated market thanks to the neverending stream of Disney+ shows, and there's just no relying on the OG cast to buoy the young blood anymore.
Lucasfilm is in the toughest spot they've been in since George Lucas sold the company. At least back then they had the excitement of the promise of new "Star Wars" movies, but between the TV shows, the Saga Films, and the "A Star Wars Story" spin-offs ... well, "Star Wars" just isn't special anymore. I mean, it is in that the world is still beloved and has the attention of a giant fanbase, but new "Star Wars" just doesn't feel like an event anymore.
I think that's why we've seen so many possible future films teased and then canceled. The next step is a crucial one and they need to pick the right road.
There were the potential new trilogy from "Game of Thrones" creators David Benioff and D.B. Weiss as well as one from Rian Johnson that both promised to explore different eras and corners of the galaxy that we haven't been to before. We know the former is gone forever and Johnson keeps saying his trilogy is merely backburnered, not shelved completely.
Patty Jenkins' "Rogue Squadron" film was announced and ditched, Kevin Feige's "Star Wars" movie isn't moving forward, and we don't know what's going on with Taika Waititi's movie, but what we do know now is that Lucasfilm seems to be getting behind a direct sequel to Episode 9 following Rey.
It was a huge surprise when Kathleen Kennedy brought Daisy Ridley on stage at "Star Wars Celebration," not just for fans, but apparently for the actress as well.
The decision to focus on Rey happened just before the announcement
In an interview with Collider, Ridley revealed a bit about how quickly the decision came together. The announcement was made in April of 2023 and it was only a few months before when Ridley was doing press at Sundance for her film "Sometimes I Think About Dying" that she was saying Rey would absolutely not be appearing in any new "Star Wars" projects. She wasn't lying! They just hadn't contacted her yet!
Ridley said the conversations with Lucasfilm began shortly after she got back from Sundance and that road brought her to walk out on stage at Celebration. She told Collider that she was "sh*tting herself" before making her appearance, but was blown away by the positive reception.
We still don't know what a Rey movie looks like, and Daisy Ridley herself doesn't know much more than we do:
"I know the storyline for one film. That's not to say that that's all it is, but that's what I was told about. And I imagine it will be the next film, I think. I mean, again, I don't know, post-strikes and everything, how quickly everything will start up again. But yes, so far, I know the story of one film and I think people will be very excited."
In my humble opinion, I think it would be nice to see our sequel trilogy heroes get to pal around a bit like our original trilogy group. Not that I've been asked, but if they can bring some swashbuckling spectacle back into the movies that would go a long way to winning back a lot of fans.