Star Wars: Daisy Ridley Calls Rise of Skywalker Backlash "Upsetting"

Star Wars sequel trilogy star Daisy Ridley has opened up about the divided response to Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker. Ridley played Rey, the lead character of the sequel trilogy, and will return to that role in an upcoming Star Wars movie. However, The Rise of Skywalker was the culmination of Rey's original story and left a Star Wars fandom already divided by the unconventional nature of Star Wars: The Last Jedi further divided by how The Rise of Skywalker seemed to walk back much of its predecessor's revelation. Chief among them was the revelation that Rey wasn't "no one," as Kylo Ren (Adam Driver) had told in Star Wars: The Last Jedi but the granddaughter of Emperor Palpatine (Ian McDiarmid), who returned as the central villain of the Skywalker Saga.

"It's still upsetting," Ridley said of the mixed response to The Rise of Skywalker during an interview on the Happy Sad Confused podcast. "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."

However, time heals all wounds, as seems to be the case with Ridley, fans, and Star Wars. Not long ago, Ridley signaled that she was done with Star Wars for the foreseeable, yet now she's back in the lead role of the franchise's cinematic future. She talked about how attitudes have changed during the podcast interview.

"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 revealed. "And it was really strange. In this 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."

What will Daisy Ridley's return as Rey in the new Star Wars movie be about?

Taking place about over a decade after Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker, the upcoming Star Wars movie featuring Ridley as Rey will be the first entry into Star Wars canon's "New Jedi Order Era." With the Sith seemingly defeated for good, the new film will see Rey Skywalker rebuilding the Jedi Order.

Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy is directing the new Star Wars movie from a screenplay by Steven Knight. While the exact date of production is unknown, it is expected to begin filming soon as it was slated to be the next Star Wars movie before the announcement of The Mandalorian & Grogu movie in January.

What Star Wars movies are in development?

The New Jedi Order Era Star Wars movie is one of four Star Wars films currently in active development. The Mandalorian & Grogu from Jon Favreau will bring the characters from the Disney+ series The Mandalorian to the big screen. James Mangold is developing a film set in the Dawn of the Jedi era of Star Wars, the earliest on the Star Wars canon timeline. Lucasfilm Chief Creative Officer Dave Filoni is developing another Star Wars film that will tie into the events of the New Republic era streaming series, including The Mandalorian and Ahsoka.

Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker and the rest of the Star Wars movies are streaming on Disney+.