Daisy Ridley returned to the “Comfortable Unhappy Confused” podcast amid the discharge of her newest indie movie, “Typically I Assume About Dying,” and regarded again on the divisive response to her remaining “Star Wars” film, 2019’s “The Rise of Skywalker.” The film, together with its predecessor “The Final Jedi,” generated outrage from followers as a consequence of inventive choices that many felt went towards the spirit of the franchise.
“It’s nonetheless upsetting,” Ridley mentioned now when requested in regards to the response. “You don’t need individuals to really feel such as you’ve not served the factor they’re a fan of. However [‘The Last Jedi’] was so divisive…it felt like the primary one everybody was responsive in the identical method. The second, tremendous divisive. The final one, tremendous divisive. It didn’t change how I felt about it.”
Ridley is ready to reprise the position of Rey in a brand new “Star Wars” film directed by Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy (“Ms. Marvel”) and written by Steven Knight (“Peaky Blinders”). She mentioned that earlier than her assembly with Lucasfilm president Kathleen Kennedy to debate bringing Rey again, she seen sentiment round “The Rise of Skywalker” altering considerably.
“What was unusual was earlier than I had breakfast with Kathy final yr, I had 5 individuals come to me and go, ‘Are they going to do any extra with you?’” Ridley mentioned. “And it was actually unusual. On this six to eight months earlier than that, the way in which with which I used to be being greeted by individuals’s response to [‘Rise of Skywalker’] was fairly totally different than it had been earlier than. Time had handed. That was what was actually unusual.”
One of many largest factors of competition relating to “The Rise of Skywalker” was the reveal that Ridley’s character, Rey, was truly the granddaughter of Emperor Palpatine. Rey’s parentage was saved a thriller in “The Pressure Awakens,” which ignited fan theories debating if the character was the offspring of a Skywalker or a Kenobi or so on. “The Final Jedi” rejected these theories by revealing Rey was nobody, an orphan whose dad and mom weren’t tied to the lore of “Star Wars.” “The Rise of Skywalker” then backtracked, revealing Rey as a Palpatine in any case. Ridley weighed in on the retcon debate throughout an interview with Rolling Stone final yr.
“Properly, J.J. [Abrams] was the one who was like, she is of nobody, so it wasn’t simply ‘The Final Jedi’ the place that was the message,” Ridley mentioned. “What was fascinating in regards to the final one, for me, was you can be a hero and never come from wherever otherwise you generally is a hero and are available from actually the worst individual within the universe. You’re not your dad and mom, you’re not your grandparents, you’re not your bloodline and also you’re not the generations earlier than you. So, I at all times was like, certain.”
“But it surely’s past my pay grade,” Ridley added. “I say the phrases, do the factor. I do love the model of, you might be anybody you wish to be, however I additionally love the model the place you possibly can rectify wrongs and may’t assist what you’re born into.”
One other second in “The Rise of Skywalker” that generated a polarizing response is when Rey and Kylo Ren (Adam Driver) share a passionate kiss earlier than his dying. Kylo has absolutely deserted the darkish facet at this level and even used his personal Pressure therapeutic powers to resurrect Rey, who appeared to die after defeating Palpatine. The trilogy’s will-they-won’t-they moments between Rey and Kylo led to the “Reylo” motion, with some followers hoping for a full-blown romance storyline between the 2 characters. The kiss appeared to present in to those fan calls for whereas alienating a distinct a part of the fandom who felt the kiss didn’t make any sense.
“I felt like all of us…it felt earned,” Ridley mentioned on the “Comfortable Unhappy Confused” podcast when requested in regards to the divisive kiss. “What was fascinating once more is intentionality. My feeling in that second was that it was a goodbye, and that felt earned. You possibly can name a kiss a thousand issues, however I felt it was a goodbye. That entire scene felt emotional and I felt I used to be saying goodbye to the job, too.”
Director J.J. Abrams additionally downplayed the kiss being romantic throughout a dialogue in regards to the movie shortly after it was launched in December 2019. “There may be as a lot of a brother-sister factor between Rey and Kylo Ren as there’s a romantic factor,” he mentioned on the time. “So it’s not like actually a sexual, romantic factor, nevertheless it’s extra like they’re certain collectively on this film in a loopy, religious method that, once more, felt romantic to me.”
Ridley not too long ago informed Selection that Obaid-Chinoy’s “thought for the story” for the brand new Rey film “is cool as shit,” including: “No spoilers, however she gave me a rundown of the whole story. If it weren’t superb, I’d have been like, ‘OK, name me in 5 years.’ But it surely’s worthwhile.’”
“I really feel like a grown-up now,” Ridley continued about returning to the “Star Wars” franchise. “Once I first began, I used to be, like, 20. I used to be the youngest on set. It took me the primary two ‘Star Wars’ movies to really feel worthy of being there. Now I’m in my 30s. The entire thing feels fairly totally different. I’ve been capable of work with different filmmakers, and hopefully, I’ve bought higher as a performer.”
Watch Ridley’s full look on the “Comfortable Unhappy Confused” podcast within the video beneath.
