Daisy Ridley starred in the recent Star Wars trilogy and her role as Rey propelled her to new heights of stardom, but it took her a while to feel comfortable in that role.
In fact, Variety reported that she said at SXSW that it wasn’t until the last movie, 2019’s The Rise of Skywalker, that she could say to herself, “‘OK, I’m good. I deserve to be here.'”
Ridley also reflected on job offers slowing down after The Rise of Skywalker. “There weren’t that many offers coming in. It’s not that there wasn’t any… I remember finishing [Star Wars] and thinking, ‘Oh, it’s quiet and strange.'” Part of the reason the offers slowed down was due to the pandemic, when Hollywood projects slowed down. “It was a very strange time to sit with the quiet and, honestly, grieving a time of my life,” she said.
Eventually, Ridley got more and more job offers, and it snowballed to become a “really busy and amazing” time for the actress. She said it was a good feeling to do “so many different things for so many different people.”
Indeed, after The Rise of Skywalker, Ridley appeared in the video games The Dawn of Art and 12 Minutes and later the movies Sometimes I Think About Dying and The Marsh King’s Daughter.
Ridley is coming back to play Rey in a new Star Wars film from Oscar-winner Sharmee Obaid-Chinoy, and this will be the first Star Wars movie to be directed by a woman. She recently said, “I think it’s about time we had a woman come forward to shape the story in a galaxy far, far away.”
This movie isn’t coming anytime soon, though. The next Star Wars movie release is The Mandalorian & Grogu, which debuts in 2026.
