Daisy Ridley is expressing interest, and more, for returning to the role of Rey “Skywalker”. But will fans have any interest in all in such a thing?
As with so many other things at this point, you heard it here before it happened.
On January 25th, investigative reporter for That Park Place, Jonas J Campbell, reported on a rumor that Daisy Ridley had been spotted at Lucasfilm. Not only that but we were then presented with some other floating information that indicated there just might be a return to a post-sequel trilogy movie. Now things are heating up.
Here’s Jonas’ original reporting on the timing of all this:
Ridley should be wrapping up production on The Young Woman and the Sea which tells the story of the first woman to swim the English Channel. Whatever is going on with that production, Disney seems keen to snap up the talent involved. The director Joachim Rønning is supposed to be in early talks to direct Tron Ares starring perpetual mystifier Jared Leto.
Does this mean that “somehow” the sequel trilogy will be continued? Or maybe they’re just reshooting something for the Disney Parks? If George Lucas were still involved it could also be to talk about pickups and reshoots for an unnecessary change to VII, VIII, or IX…
Now, THR is reporting that Ridley is ready to return, even if she doesn’t have the plans in hand just quite yet:
Naturally, Star Wars rumors continue to swirl around Ridley, and they likely always will as fans hope to see more of her beloved Jedi, Rey. THR previously reported that Damon Lindelof and Justin Britt-Gibson are writing a post-Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker story for Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy to direct, so the question remains if Ridley/Rey will have a role in the stand-alone installment.
— Bryan Davids, THR
“I really don’t know if there are plans. I just don’t know. But ultimately, I loved my experience, I loved what I got to do and I love the people I got to work with. So, should that happen again, even once, amazing.” — Daisy Ridley
Like Jay of Drunk 3p0 fame, I too believe this may be an attempt by Disney to renew interest in the characters of the sequel trilogy in order to prop up merchandising and theme park offerings. However, in my opinion, I don’t think Disney nor Lucasfilm have considered just how unpopular everything pertaining to the sequel trilogy really is. They seem to think that it’s a presence issue rather than a distaste issue. In other words, it just needs more content to keep people excited… when the reality seems to me to be that people detest everything to do with the “Rise of Palpatine” as they call it. Don’t get me wrong, there are those who enjoy Rey and Kylo and all the rest. But based on everything I’ve seen, they are far less.
If Disney really goes through with all of this, I suspect we will find out just how much of Episode 9 was propped up by fans hoping that Luke Skywalker would be redeemed. Without the legacy characters, Disney would expose Rey to the real market evaluation of just how popular or unpopular the character is. It’s a risk I suspect would be too much — and I certainly wouldn’t advise them to do it — but I can’t wait to cover the situation should they go for it.
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