MOVIE NEWS – Daisy Ridley returns as Rey in an upcoming Star Wars film to rebuild the Jedi Order.

Daisy Ridley’s role in the Star Wars universe doesn’t end there. Disney has announced that The Force Awakening actress will return as Rey “Skywalker” (don’t be fooled: Rey Palpatine…) in the latest trilogy sequel, where the character will attempt to bring the Jedi Order back together.

One of the three new films, announced at Star Wars Celebration 2023 in London on Friday, will be directed by Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy and written by Steven Knight.

Lucasfilm president Kathleen Kennedy has said only that Rey will be looking for fresh, Force-sensitive recruits to form a new Jedi Academy. I’m sure it won’t go wrong this time, either.

Rey’s character has greatly divided Star Wars fandom throughout the tumultuous trilogy spanning Episodes VII-IX. Contrary to popular belief and Disney fan-bashing comments, it wasn’t because she was a woman. Instead, the problem was that they wrote a perfectly empty, uninteresting ‘Mary Sue’ character for a talented actress.

Recently, The Rise of Skywalker made the bizarre decision to rewrite her origin and backstory. He turned the character from “a nobody” into a strange child clone of Emperor Palpatine. In doing so, he surpassed some of the worst historical choices of original creator George Lucas’ own beleaguered prequels. Rey’s character was also a ceaseless source of fan fiction, and his tense romance with Kylo Ren, played by Adam Driver, sparked millions of Tumblr debates, now known simply as the “Reylo” wars.

The newly announced sequel also raises some new questions about how Disney will frame this New Jedi Order period in the Star Wars timeline.

Director and writer Rian Johnson’s The Last Jedi did much to try to deconstruct the existing mystique and trite tropes surrounding the Skywalker family drama. However, J.J. Abrams’ Episode IX attempted to bring them back together. Rey, like Luke, starting a new Jedi Academy certainly seems like business as usual and another soft reboot of the repetitive cycle. But maybe not.

Lucasfilm has announced a bunch of other new SW content. Among them are two additional supplemental films, each of which will occur in different parts of the fiction timeline. So far, however, neither has a title or release date.

Source: Rolling Stone