Daisy Ridley Says She Didn’t Deserve To Be in ‘Star Wars'

Daisy Ridley will return as Rey in an upcoming new Star Wars movie, but she has revealed that for most of her performances as the character, she did not feel like she deserved to be in the franchise.

It should go without saying that Daisy Ridley had a lot of pressure on her when she was cast as the lead of The Force Awakens (2015), the Walt Disney Company’s revival of the long-dormant film franchise. Aside from the obvious pressure of having to give new life to one of the most popular film series in history, The Force Awakens also had to reckon with the still-controversial prequel trilogy from original creator George Lucas.

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Then, in addition to all that, the J.J. Abrams-led series had to deal with the much-changed landscape of pop culture. The sequel trilogy was attacked by Star Wars fans who were infuriated that the franchise now featured a female lead in Daisy Ridley, as well as prominent POC actors John Boyega and Kelly Marie Tran.

Daisy Ridley recently revealed during a panel at SXSW that it took until her third Star Wars movie, The Rise of Skywalker (2019), before she felt that she actually deserved the role. The actress said, “It took, honestly, making the third film till I felt like ‘OK, I’m good. I deserve to be here,’”

To put it in more relatable terms, Ridley was cast in Star Wars in 2014, and the third film began filming in 2018; that means she spent four years doing a job that she felt she didn’t actually deserve, which must be a lot of stress. When you factor in the psychological pressure of literally hundreds of millions of angry Star Wars fans railing at your performance, it has to be pretty crushing.

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However, the experience must have had some benefits because Daisy Ridley is the only primary actor from The Force Awakens who will be returning for a new film, provisionally titled New Jedi Order. The new Star Wars movie will be directed by Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy and will reportedly pick up some time after the events of The Rise of Skywalker, with Rey attempting to train new Jedi. It currently does not have a release date.

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