Star Wars: Daisy Ridley Details the Surreal Experience of Filming Carrie Fisher’s Scenes for The Rise of Skywalker

Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker recently made the jump over to Video on Demand, allowing a whole new audience to experience the final chapter in the nine-film saga. There was certainly a lot of the film that caused a discussion when it was released in December, including how the film utilized Leia Organa (Carrie Fisher). After Fisher’s tragic passing in 2016 before the film began production, the question remained of if and how Leia would factor into the chapter. Ultimately, The Rise of Skywalker utilized deleted scenes from Star Wars: The Force Awakens to include Leia in the movie, which were then edited to have her appear around other characters. In a recent appearance on the DragCast with Nina West podcast, Rise of Skywalker star Daisy Ridley spoke about how unusual and heartwrenching it was to be part of those scenes — as well as to see the finished product.

“I can’t describe how strange it was. I just can’t,” Ridley, who plays Rey, explained. “In the documentary, you do see a bit of it, and I think it was obviously really upsetting for everybody. It was so strange, and then watching it was so strange. We had a group [screening], they showed us all together in Bad Robot, and we were sat next to — was Mark there? Anthony was definitely there. I can’t remember if Mark came in late. And suddenly, it was that weird thing of, we kept thinking about how it was for us, and I look over at Anthony and was like ‘Oh my god. Anthony knew Carrie for so long. Harrison knew Carrie for so long, Mark knew Carrie for so long.’ So it was a really, really emotional thing. And Billie, her daughter, was so amazing about everything. And she’s in it and she got to be in a scene with Carrie, which is amazing.”

“I can’t describe how it is. And it’s also strange, because in a general sense, I didn’t know Carrie for very long,” Ridley continued. “I definitely felt a kinship because we knew each other to a point, we worked together, she’s amazing. And we were, you know, two female roles in a big universe, in a big galaxy. So then it sort of became a thing of relativity, where you sort of had to step back the emotion that you might have been feeling, because there were other people who were so much more part of that. But it was also amazing, because when the film came out, you could feel – especially in America, because I think Americans are louder and more demonstrative – the love in the cinema was unbelievable. And I think one thing that people seem to be very happy with, is that she got a proper send-off. But it’s so strange.”

Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker is available now on 4K Ultra HD, Blu-ray, DVD, and Digital HD.