Daisy Ridley Reflects on the ‘Upsetting’ Backlash to Her ‘Star Wars’ Movies
Daisy Ridley is heading back to the world of Star Wars in her very own movie. Being able to bring Rey back to fans is exciting but Ridley has also opened up about what the backlash to The Last Jedi and Rise of Skywalker felt like for her.
Ridley appeared on the Happy Sad Confused podcast, hosted by Josh Horowitz, to talk about her new film Sometimes I Think About Dying, but the conversation naturally led to discussing her return as Rey in the Star Wars universe. Two of Ridley’s movies (The Last Jedi and The Rise of Skywalker) were met with division (to put it mildly) among viewers. When asked about that response, she revealed that it is “still upsetting” to her.
“You don’t want people to feel like you’ve not served the thing they’re a fan of. But [The Last Jedi] was so divisive … it felt like the first one everyone was responsive in the same way. The second, super divisive. The last one, super divisive. It didn’t change how I felt about it.”
But all that aside, she is still excited to come back to Star Wars. Ridley went on to talk about the time leading up to her return as Rey. “What was strange was before I had breakfast with Kathy last year, I had five people come to me and go, ‘Are they going to do any more with you?'” Ridley said. “And it was really strange. In the six to eight months before that, the way with which I was being greeted by people’s response to [Rise of Skywalker] was quite different than it had been before. Time had passed. That was what was really strange.”
The joy of having Rey back in our lives
Rey’s story was just starting at the end of Rise of the Skywalker. To see her come back and work to make a new Jedi Order (hopefully better than the last) is what many of us have been wanting. We’ve never really gotten to see a newly established Jedi! Even what we get on The Mandalorian with Luke Skywalker is very minimal so this new movie really has my attention, and the attention of lots of Star Wars fans.
While all the angry voices online want us to believe no one is excited, I hope that Ridley knows how many of us have loved Rey from the start and how excited we are to see her character continue to grow.
(featured image: Walt Disney Motion Picture Studios)
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