Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker – Daisy Ridley Addresses Dark Rey

Star Wars The Rise of Skywalker has been titillating Star Wars fans with trailers and TV Spots filled with some gorgeous imagery that suggests a very epic and thrilling conclusion to the Skywalker Saga, without revealing any solid story details. One of the biggest buzz-worthy trailer moments come from the Rise of Skywalker footage that debuted at Disney’s D23 Expo – that trailer mixed classic Star Wars footage with new material, culminating in a shot of Daisy Ridley‘s Rey, cloaked in dark robes and clutching a double-bladed red lightsaber. That one image sent Star Wars fan speculation into overdrive, but now Daisy Ridley has something to say about it!

Daisy Ridley appeared on The Tonight Show, and while speaking with Jimmy Fallon, she revealed the following hint about “Dark Rey” in that Rise of Skywalker footage:

“That’s ‘Dark Rey’… I honestly felt like I know know what a viral sensation is – because I was one. It was really exciting because it dropped at a convention, and then the trailer didn’t come ou for three days. So my mom was texting me, being like, ‘What is this I’ve seen on Twitter? Do you go dark?’ And I was like ‘We’ll have to wait and see!’”

You have to watch the video to truly appreciate just how good Daisy Ridley has become with her media training. She manages to give the hype surrounding “Dark Rey” a nice little nudge by addressing it – but never reveals anything new about it. Best of all, she drops in a nice charming personal anecdote, and never breaks her smile. A+ answer, as far as Lucasfilm is concerned.

As for us fans: the theories about Dark Rey range from a significant turn in Rey’s character arc, to yet another red herring being fed to us by Lucasfilm and J.J. Abrams. For our money we’d bet on the latter: given all the rumors we’ve heard about The Rise of Skywalker (and the footage we’ve seen), there’s a definite hint that Rey could undergo some intensive Jedi training – and like Luke Skywalker, that training may include Rey having to confront dark visions of what she could become, if she falls to the darkside. This Star Wars Sequel Trilogy has been none too shy about echoing the narrative and themes of the Original Trilogy, so Rey having to confront the temptation of he dark side in her final battle would definitely fit the Return of the Jedi mold.

Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker hits theaters on December 20th. The Mandalorian is now streaming on Disney+.