Daisy Ridley Believes Star Wars Is "Divisive" But Also Brings "Love And Joy" To People

Actress Daisy Ridley is returning to the Star Wars universe to reprise her fan-favorite character, Rey, and now she's spoken a little more about coming back to the sci-fi franchise. In particular, she acknowledged that Star Wars has its fair share of critics, but she wanted to come back for another film because of the potential to make people happy.

Speaking to Empire, Ridley says she feels like she's "owning it" more these days than when she made her first Star Wars movie, 2015's The Force Awakens. "Basically, I'm an adult now," she said. "I certainly did not feel like an adult at the time. Obviously, personally, things have changed, and professionally, I've had lots of other experiences, and so I definitely feel like it's a different thing this time."

Ridley previously discussed how she didn't feel comfortable as Rey until her last movie, 2019's The Rise of Skywalker.

Ridley played Rey in The Force Awakens, The Last Jedi, and The Rise of Skywalker. Like with many big franchises, people had a lot of opinions about the story and filmmaking. For Ridley, though, she says she feels joy and is excited to come back to Star Wars.

"There's just a lot of joy with me and these films," she said. "Honestly, if I wasn't excited, I wouldn't have done it. It feels like a great thing to be a part of."

According to Empire, Ridley was preparing to read a script for her new Star Wars movie around the time she gave the interview. She said she was "curious about it all." Before this, Ridley said she hadn't seen a script but was aware of some story beats, and remarked that the movie is not what she expected. Story details are under wraps, but the plot probably won't focus on Rey's children because she doesn't have any.

Coming back to play Rey again was not a tough call, Ridley said. She said Lucasfilm boss Kathleen Kennedy said Ridley could take all the time she needed to decide, but it didn't take very long for Ridley to sign on again. She signed on for another film despite knowing there would inevitably be backlash and discourse to some degree.

"Why wouldn't I [do it]? Yes, they have been divisive, but also they bring a lot of love and joy to a lot of people. It feels pretty amazing to be able to continue a character--like, can I even remember how to play her?" she said. "It's an interesting challenge as an actor to come back to something and try to figure out what's changed for me and what's changed for her."

Ridley's Star Wars movie will be directed by Oscar-winner Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy, who will become the first woman to direct a Star Wars film. "We're in 2024 now, and I think it's about time we had a woman come forward to shape the story in a galaxy far, far away," she said.

This new film won't be here anytime soon, though. The next Star Wars movie is The Mandalorian & Grogu, which was recently given a May 2026 release date.

On the more immediate horizon, the new game Star Wars Outlaws is coming this year.