Daisy Ridley is set to make her Star Wars comeback in the upcoming New Jedi Order movie. The project is currently in development and it is one of the theatrical movies that Lucasfilm is planning for the slate.
The actress' upcoming return to the franchise comes just a few years after the end of the sequel trilogy with The Rise of Skywalker which notably received polarizing responses from both critics and fans.
While we have no details yet on how Rey Skywalker's new movie will play out, some fans are wondering whether they will take it as an opportunity to reverse the course from the creative decisions that were made in the last movie.
Now, the actress has weighed in on The Rise of Skywalker's divisive reactions years after its release.
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Daisy Ridley Looks Back on the Divisive Reactions to Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker
In a recent interview on the Happy Sad Confused podcast (via Variety), Daisy Ridley reflected on the divisive reactions that Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker received when it was released in 2019.
While she found the responses to be "still upsetting," it still didn't change what she felt about her experience making the film.
"It’s still upsetting. You don’t want people to feel like you’ve not served the thing they’re a fan of," the actress said.
"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."
Ridley also addressed the film's controversial moment between Rey and Kylo Ren where the two characters shared a passionate kiss before the latter died near the end.
"I felt like we all... it felt earned. What was interesting again is intentionality," she said.
"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."
It's not surprising to hear that Ridley was disheartened by the divisive reactions that the film received since everyone involved in the project worked hard to make sure that they'll deliver a satisfying conclusion that fans will hopefully like.
Perhaps the upcoming New Jedi Order movie will attempt to redeem some of the creative choices that were not received well by fans or recontextualize them in a more acceptable direction. Hopefully, it won't be as divisive as the sequel trilogy was and will unite the fans again.
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