©Courtesy of Disney

Daisy Ridley, who will reportedly appear as the character of Rey Skywalker in several upcoming Star Wars films, is attracting notice as a major force in the franchise. According to an anonymous source quoted in The Hollywood Reporter, Ridley “is the most valuable cinematic asset, in some ways the only one, Star Wars has right now.”

Lucasfilm’s head honcho Kathleen Kennedy has been criticized for not encouraging the development of new characters apart from those created before Lucas’s $4 billion sale to Disney in 2012.

Though it’s still unclear exactly which pictures Ridley will be appearing in moving forward, it’s been confirmed that she’ll at least be seen in the sequel to Star Wars: Episode 9 – The Rise of Skywalker, directed by Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy. That episode will follow Rey as she tries to reconstitute the Jedi Order some fifteen years down the road. Though plans for the film were announced in 2023, production has been held up due to the search for writers.
As of now, there are fourteen new films planned for the Star Wars universe, but Ridley will be unable to appear in most of them due to inconsistencies with the timeline—their storylines take place years, even decades before the Sequel Trilogy. An example of this is The Mandalorian & Grogu, which will be released on May 22, 2026.

Observers are suggesting, however, that Ridley may appear in the new trilogy of films being developed by X-Men producer Simon Kinberg. Also listed as possible venues include a film by director Shawn Levy, a trilogy by Rian Johnson, and another by Patty Jenkins, the director of Wonder Woman.

Speaking of the potential new films, Ridley herself was quoted in The Hollywood Reporter as saying: “I feel like the new one/new ones will be so interesting. Time has passed and a lot has changed for me, personally, so it’ll be interesting to come back to someone who I know so well, but in such a different moment.”

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