Last year, Lucasfilm announced a handful of promising new film projects set within the Star Wars universe, including one that will follow Rey (Daisy Ridley) as she attempts to rebuild the Jedi Order following the events of 2019’s Star Wars: Episode IX — The Rise of Skywalker. Lucasfilm President Kathleen Kennedy subsequently confirmed in an interview with IGN that the film will take place 15 years after the conclusion of Star Wars’ Sequel Trilogy and will find the Jedi “in disarray” and Rey trying to rebuild the Order “based on the books, based on what she promised Luke (Mark Hamill).”
Since then, progress on the project has been slow. Its original writers, Damon Lindelof and Justin Britt-Gibson, departed the project in March 2023, and their replacement, Peaky Blinders creator Steven Knight, reportedly parted ways with the film recently as well. For her part, Daisy Ridley has remained fairly tight-lipped about the project and its status. In a recent interview with The Hollywood Reporter, though, she did open up about actually preparing to reprise her life-changing Star Wars role.
“I feel like the new one/new ones will be so interesting. Time has passed and a lot has changed for me, personally,” Ridley told the outlet. “It’ll be interesting to come back to someone who I know so well, but in such a different moment. For me to inhabit Rey again after all the time that we haven’t seen her, it’s actually scary, but it’s also exciting.”
Given how much time has passed since Ridley worked on The Rise of Skywalker, it’s easy to see why it might seem both daunting and a bit strange to return to her role in that film. Ridley, who became a household name because of her breakout turn as Rey in 2015’s Star Wars: Episode VII — The Force Awakens, has also grown a lot as an actress in the years since she made her Star Wars debut. To watch her return to a role that she played when she was less seasoned as a big-screen performer should be an interesting experience for Star Wars fans everywhere.
It is, unfortunately, unclear when fans will actually get to see Ridley back as Rey. Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy is still attached to direct the film in question, but its behind-the-scenes screenwriter exits have cast doubt on when it will actually begin shooting — let alone when it will hit theaters. There is a lot of pressure on the film to get Star Wars’ post-Sequel Trilogy era off to a strong start, which may be why Lucasfilm seems to be taking so much time developing it.
In the meantime, while fans wait for an official update on the project and Ridley continues preparing to step back into her Jedi robes, Lucasfilm still has a few other film and TV titles in the pipeline right now. These projects include The Mandalorian & Grogu, which is currently set to hit theaters on May 22, 2026.
