Star Wars’ Daisy Ridley Says She Understands The Rey Palpatine Backlash

We could be here all day listing controversial plot developments in Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker, but one of the biggest was the revelation that Rey was really Palpatine’s granddaughter. While The Force Awakens had teased that the Jakku scavenger was related to a familiar character, The Last Jedi seemingly confirmed that her background wasn’t important and it was Rey’s own power that was key. But this message sort of went out the window with TROS.

And it seems the disappointment surrounding this twist is something that Rey herself, Daisy Ridley, can understand. Writer Sariah Wilson interviewed the actress for her new movie, Lionsgate’s Chaos Walking, in which she stars opposite Tom Holland, and couldn’t resist mentioning how upset they were with the Palpatine development. Ridley was sympathetic to Wilson’s view and suggested she felt something similar about it herself.

“I literally was told that she was no one, so yeah, I totally understand that,” Ridley responded. “I do understand that.”

"I literally was told that she was no one, so yeah, I totally understand that. I do understand that."

I apologized again for bringing up SW, and she smiled and told me, "It's all good!"

— Sariah Wilson (@sariahwilson) February 26, 2021

Wilson went on to clarify that Ridley meant she was told that her character was a “no one” while making the first two films in the Sequel Trilogy and this suddenly changed with The Rise of Skywalker. 

Just in case people aren't putting the tweets together, she said for the first two movies she was told that Rey was no one.

— Sariah Wilson (@sariahwilson) February 26, 2021

We’re now at the stage where all three of the Sequel Trilogy’s leads have criticized the direction that the franchise went in. John Boyega has infamously blasted Lucasfilm for sidelining Finn after The Force Awakens, while Oscar Isaac has blamed Disney for Poe and Finn’s potential relationship not being explored. Ridley isn’t exactly tearing into the studio with her comments here or anything, but her words do suggest a problem with Rey’s character arc.

The sad truth is that Lucasfilm dropped the ball when it came to making the trilogy a cohesive whole, and it looks like they’re keen to sweep it under the carpet and move on with fresh projects. In particular, they’re mostly cooling movie plans for the moment and focusing on their TV output instead. That’s working out well for them so far, too, as The Mandalorian has done a much better job of meeting, exceeding and challenging the expectations of Star Wars fans than the sequels.