Star Wars: Rey Actress Daisy Ridley Reveals How She Feels About Being a Role Model

Star Wars fans have had a complicated relationship with Daisy Ridley; some young ones definitely consider her a role model. Well, the Rey actress opened up about how that term makes her feel on DragCast with Nina West. After the Skywalker Saga, it became clear that Rey has been positioned as the face of the Jedi for another generation of fans. One quick stroll through convention pictures or images from Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge show how girls have flocked to Rey as a character. But, some remain skeptical and look at her arc as pandering. Ridley offered a thoughtful answer to the question of if she’s a role model because of her part in the Sequel Trilogy.

Ridley began, “The thing is, when I got it, I was talking to one of the producers about it this week. We were talking about a film I had just watched with a female cast member in it…We were talking about people casting women in roles. Doing the female version of ‘dot, dot, dot.’ He said that when they were getting ready to do The Force Awakens, they weren’t like ‘Oh, let’s do this. But, make it a woman!’ They were just like, ‘We just want this to be right.’ Like a ‘This is her,’ sort of thing. So, it didn’t feel like an agenda. So playing it, at the beginning, I just thought, ‘This is awesome!’ Look at all this stuff I get to do, and I never thought about it in terms of me being a woman.”

“I was like, ‘I’m just doing my role. The thing I really noticed is, Adam [Driver] doesn’t get asked, ‘How is it playing a guy?’ You just do it,” she elaborated. “So, at the beginning, I was just much less aware of it, which was nice. I was just doing what I thought was the performance. And then, it’s not like I’m stepping away from what I did, because obviously I played the role. But, she is the sum of so many parts.”

“So, I can’t take credit for her being a role model, because I didn’t write her, I didn’t dress her. All of those things come from so many different departments. She’s greater than the sum of her parts, really. So, it’s a weird thing of slightly distancing myself from that. But, also seeing in a general way that she’s an amazing character. I don’ think it’s because she’s a woman. She’s just an amazing character. It’s such a privilege to play [her],” the actress concluded.

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