Credit: LucasfilmA recent announcement has sparked fresh questions about Daisy Ridley’s Star Wars future.
More than six years after Rey last appeared in Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker (2019), Lucasfilm’s planned return for the character remains surrounded by uncertainty. The untitled film was first announced during Star Wars Celebration 2023, with Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy attached to direct.
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The project is reportedly set around 15 years after The Rise of Skywalker and follows Rey as she attempts to rebuild the Jedi Order. Since then, however, the movie has faced multiple writer changes and long periods of silence from Lucasfilm.
Daisy Ridley has repeatedly tried to reassure fans that the movie is still alive, even as updates remain scarce. Earlier this year, the actress told ComicBook.com, “I think the story will be wonderful. I think the wait will be worthwhile. I think it will be a discovery, as all roles are, of where Rey is when we meet her again.”
That uncertainty has only intensified speculation surrounding Lucasfilm’s broader plans for the characters of the sequel trilogy. Recent reports have also suggested that Lucasfilm co-president Dave Filoni has met with John Boyega about a possible return as Finn, further fueling theories that Disney may still want to revisit Rey’s era more heavily in future projects.
Now, some fans believe a fresh Daisy Ridley update could point toward movement finally happening behind the scenes.
Daisy Ridley Exits ‘Killa Bee’
According to a new casting announcement, Gemma Arterton will replace Daisy Ridley in Kenton Oxley’s MMA drama Killa Bee. Production on the movie is reportedly scheduled to begin filming in the UK later this month.
Based on a true story, the film follows Bryony “Killa Bee” Tyrell, a nurse balancing her daytime hospital work with life as an MMA fighter. Elliot J. Langridge and Pippa Bennett-Warner are also attached to star.
The timing immediately caught the attention of some Star Wars fans online.
“Daisy Ridley just recently dropped out of her previous signed project which will film at the end of MAY,” one fan wrote online. “The casting call which agency insisted to be Star Wars film begins filming at the end of MAY… ?? Coincidence??”
Another fan responded far more confidently: “Star Wars Rey movie is coming.”
The speculation arrives amid ongoing rumors that Lucasfilm could finally be preparing to move forward with at least one of its long-delayed sequel-era projects. Multiple unconfirmed reports have circulated in recent months about potential casting activity tied to future Star Wars productions.
Still, fans should probably avoid jumping to hyperspace too quickly.
Ridley herself recently suggested that meaningful updates on the Rey movie may still be a long way off. “I don’t know about 2026,” the actress told USA Today earlier this year when asked whether fans should expect news soon. “In the future, sometime, yeah.”
Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy seemingly remains attached to direct the project, with George Nolfi reportedly working on the latest version of the screenplay after Steven Knight, Damon Lindelof, and Justin Britt-Gibson exited.
What Does the Future of ‘Star Wars’ Hold for Rey?
Lucasfilm’s theatrical slate is notoriously unreliable.
Several previously announced Star Wars movies have stalled, disappeared, or undergone major creative changes, and Ridley’s Rey film is only one piece of a much messier big-screen puzzle.
That uncertainty now includes The Hunt for Ben Solo. Adam Driver revealed in 2025 that he had spent roughly two years developing a post-Rise of Skywalker Ben Solo film with Steven Soderbergh, with Scott Z. Burns writing the script. Lucasfilm reportedly liked the idea, but Disney ultimately rejected it.
The issue, according to Driver, was that Disney executives Bob Iger and Alan Bergman could not get behind the idea of Ben Solo surviving after The Rise of Skywalker. Soderbergh later said the decision was “insane,” noting the project never even reached budget discussions.
That matters here because the Rey film has long been positioned as the sequel trilogy’s most obvious continuation. With The Hunt for Ben Solo rejected, some fans have wondered whether Lucasfilm may fold parts of that unfinished sequel-era interest into Rey’s story instead.
Still, that is only speculation. Former Lucasfilm president Kathleen Kennedy (who stepped down earlier this year) said “anything’s a possibility” when asked about the Ben Solo project, but Soderbergh has also suggested he does not expect it to be revived.
At the moment, The Mandalorian & Grogu — which hits theaters later this month — is far closer to audiences than Ridley’s Rey project. The film continues the story established in Disney+’s The Mandalorian, following Din Djarin and Grogu after the events of Season 3 as the pair become more deeply entangled with the New Republic and the galaxy’s post-Empire power struggle.
Lucasfilm is also moving quickly on Shawn Levy’s Star Wars: Starfighter, which recently wrapped production. The standalone movie stars Ryan Gosling and is reportedly set several years after The Rise of Skywalker, focusing on a new group of characters rather than continuing the Skywalker Saga directly.
In other words, Ridley dropping out of one film does not necessarily mean she is suddenly preparing to wield a lightsaber again.
Are you excited for Daisy Ridley’s return as Rey?
