Following the exciting reveal that Star Wars: The Force Awakens star Daisy Ridley will return for another Star Wars sequel, Lucasfilm President Kathleen Kennedy has now revealed further insight into what the project will involve. Speaking with IGN during Star Wars Celebration 2023, Kennedy revealed that the untitled installment, which will see Daisy Ridley reprise the role of Rey, will pick up 15 years after the events of Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker and finds the Jedi order “in disarray.”
"Well we’re 15 years out from ‘Rise of Skywalker,’ so we’re post-war, post-First Order, and the Jedi are in disarray. There’s a lot of discussion around, ‘Who are the Jedi? What are they doing? What’s the state of the galaxy?’ She’s attempting to rebuild the Jedi Order, based on the books, based on what she promised Luke, so that’s where we’re going."
The mention of Star Wars staple Luke Skywalker (Mark Hamill) will have many wondering whether the beloved Jedi master will return. While the character did die during Star Wars: The Last Jedi, death is never the end of a Jedi, but does that mean Luke will appear as a ghost in the Rey-centered sequel?
“I don’t know if we’ll spend a lot of time in flashbacks or [on] Force ghosts or things like that, but certainly, the spirit of what he represents to her is going to be significant.”
Directed by Academy Award-winning journalist and filmmaker Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy (Ms. Marvel), and written by Steven Knight (Peaky Blinders, Eastern Promises), the untitled Rey movie does not yet have a release date but is close to having a completed script.
Daisy Ridley is ‘Out of Her Mind Excited’ to Return as Rey
Daisy Ridley was thrown into the spotlight back in 2015 thanks to scoring the lead role in Star Wars: The Force Awakens. While the Disney sequel trilogy was met with divisive reactions from fans, leading to some of its stars to leave the franchise behind, Ridley is said to be hugely excited to be returning to a galaxy far, far away.
“It was a pretty straightforward phone call,” Kennedy revealed to Variety when asked about bringing Ridley back and having her appear at Star Wars Celebration 2023. “I started out by just saying, ‘Hey, I think we’re getting near being ready.’ We’ve been talking a lot about what we’re doing in the movie space and I said, ‘I think we’re getting close to being ready. How would you like to go to Celebration?’ That was really the beginning of it. She was out of her mind excited.”
The Rey movie was just one of several major announcements made at Star Wars Celebration. As well as updates and trailers for the likes of such Disney+ series as Ahsoka, Star Wars: Skeleton Crew, Star Wars: The Bad Batch, and The Acolyte, a new movie from Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny director James Mangold about the first Jedi is also now in development.