Daisy Ridley Reflects on Rey’s Lineage and ‘The Rise of Skywalker’
Rey and her family lineage were a huge discussion point amongst Star Wars fans for years since the character played by Daisy Ridley was first introduced in The Force Awakens. The Last Jedi gave fans one response, then two years later, The Rise of Skywalker seemingly contradicted that answer to who Rey was. Officially, Rey turned out to be the secret granddaughter of the Emperor himself, Sheev Palpatine.
Given the mixed response amongst fans to The Last Jedi, many viewed the change of Rey from a “nobody” to a Palpatine as a direct response to that backlash. Almost a final attempt to appease those upset fans. However, many would argue it just upset the fandom even more.
In a recent interview with Rolling Stone, Daisy Ridley spoke about the debate regarding the speculated retcon of Rey’s parentage. She started off by stating the initial idea to make Rey a nobody or “of no one” was of J.J. Abrams, who directed The Force Awakens.
“What was interesting about the last one, for me, was that you can be a hero and not come from anywhere or you can be a hero and come from literally the worst person in the universe… You’re not your parents, you’re not your grandparents, you’re not your bloodline and you’re not the generations before you.”
Daisy seemingly was fine with the changes made to Rey’s story, although she did mention she enjoyed the initial plan. Ridley finalized her opinion on the matter by saying “I do love the version of you can be anyone you want to be, but I also love the version where you can rectify wrongs and can’t help what you’re born into.”
Daisy Ridley accepts the direction that Rey’s family lineage went, but also would have been fine with the story panning out the way that was initially envisioned. Despite the original fan theories about Rey, Daisy Ridley stands by the choices made with the character despite fan backlash.
Late last year, fan speculation ramped up when Daisy Ridley posted a photo from inside the Lucasfilm headquarters. Many fans started to speculate that Daisy Ridley could return as Rey in an upcoming project. Fans, and even some Hollywood trades, are speculating that Rey could return in Damon Lindelof’s upcoming Star Wars movie, which is rumored to take place after the events of The Rise of Skywalker and include characters from the sequel trilogy.
Mario is a YouTuber, podcaster, writer, actor, and overall content creator from Torrance California. His initial love for Star Wars and Disney made him interested in pursuing creative work in that field. Mario hosts his own Disneyland-centric podcast "Disney Diggin. He has a youtube channel that serves as a companion piece to the podcast. While also writing his own young adult fantasy novel series "Land of the Unknown".
