Daisy Ridley On ‘Star Wars: Rise Of Skywalker’ Fan Backlash: “It’s Still Upsetting”

Daisy Ridley is returning to the Star Wars universe to reprise her role of Rey in a film directed by Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy.

Ahead of diving back into that world, she is looking back at how the fanbase was divided with the final installment of the sequel trilogy with 2019’s The Rise of Skywalker.

“It’s still upsetting,” Ridley said during an appearance 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.”

One of the points of contention was when Ridley’s Rey kisses Kylo Ren, played by Adam Driver.

“I felt like we all…it felt earned,” Ridley said. “What was interesting again is intentionality. My feeling in that moment was that it was a goodbye, and that felt earned. You can call a kiss a thousand things, but I felt it was a goodbye. That whole scene felt emotional and I felt I was saying goodbye to the job, too.”

Ridley also brought up another divisive plot point regarding Rey’s origins, which changed from The Last Jedi to Rise of Skywalker. In The Last Jedi, Rey is said to be the child of “no one,” but by the last film, she is revealed to be Palpatine’s granddaughter.

“Well, J.J. [Abrams] was the one who was like, she is of no one, so it wasn’t just The Last Jedi where that was the message,” Ridley recalled. “What was interesting about the last one, for me, was that you can be a hero and not come from anywhere or you can be a hero and come from literally the worst person in the universe. You’re not your parents, you’re not your grandparents, you’re not your bloodline and you’re not the generations before you. So, I always was like, sure.”

She continued, “But it’s beyond my pay grade. I say the words, do the thing. I do love the version of, you can be anyone you want to be, but I also love the version where you can rectify wrongs and can’t help what you’re born into.”

Watch the full interview with Ridley below.