Daisy Ridley Says Her ‘Star Wars’ Return Is Just for One Movie ‘For Now’
Daisy Ridley, the “Star Wars” trilogy sequel breakout star, revealed on the “Smartless” podcast Monday she was “surprised” to get the call to reprise her role as Rey.
After grabbing what she thought was just breakfast with president of Lucasfilm, Kathleen Kennedy, Ridley was excited to hear that they were “doing another Rey thing.”
But she also revealed that she is only pegged for one film — “for now.”
“It’s very cool — different writer, different director. It will be quite a different feeling, I imagine,” the English actress said to “Star Wars” superfan and “Smartless” host Sean Hayes.
This film is one of three set to release starting in 2026. Lucasfilm announced this new addition to the franchise at its Star Wars Celebration in April of 2023. Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy, two-time Academy Award-winning documentarian, will direct with a script written by Steven Knight.
Ridley has not read the script yet but expects to get access to the secretive pages “soon-ish.” The project is said to be set 15 years after the events of “The Rise of Skywalker.”
Her first star turn in “Star Wars: The Force Awakens,” directed by J.J. Abrams, launched her career to new heights. She told hosts Will Arnett, Jason Bateman and Hayes that she took top secret news “seriously.”
“I only told my family at first,” Ridley said, explaining she “wasn’t allowed” to tell anyone. She also joked that her costar John Boyega “got in a cab and told the cabbie straight away.”
Ridley said that the entirety of that initial “Star Wars” shooting experience was a blur.
“It was crazy. So much of it was honestly overwhelming at the beginning. I honestly can’t remember a large chunk of everything,” she said. “I had a group of people to sort of hold on to.”
She praised director J.J. Abrams for his guidance and leadership on set. She also revealed that it was Abrams who first introduced her to Barbra Streisand, which led to not just a joint performance with Anne Hathaway on Streisand’s 2016 album “Encore: Movie Partners Sing Broadway” of “At the Ballet,” but got her in the running to star alongside the musical legend in a long-gestating and since-scrapped film adaptation of “Gypsy.”
On her new role in “Young Woman and the Sea,” which hit in theaters May 31, the British actress known for her impeccable American accent said that she does not really have an actor’s “process.” Rather, she prefers to be free and “mess about” on set.
“I take my work very seriously. I do not take myself very seriously,” she said.
Release dates for the new “Star Wars” films are not yet final and filming has not begun.
Listen to Ripley’s full “Smartless” interview here.
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