Daisy Ridley has opened up about the backlash against her role in Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker.
Almost five years after the film was released, Ridley spoke with Josh Horowitz on the Happy Sad Confused podcast. She spoke about the public reaction to the 2019 movie saying: “It’s still upsetting. You don’t want people to feel like you’ve not served the thing they’re a fan of.”
She continued: “But [The Last Jedi] was so divisive… It felt like the first one everyone was responsive in the same way. The second, super divisive. The last one, super divisive. It didn’t change how I felt about it.”
The Rise Of Skywalker, directed by JJ Abrams, was the final part of a trilogy involving Ridley’s character, Rey, and the ninth film in the Star Wars ‘Skywalker saga’. Ridley first appeared in Star Wars: The Force Awakens in 2015, and then again in Star Wars: The Last Jedi in 2017, directed by Rian Johnson.
Following its release, The Rise Of Skywalker received generally negative reviews from fans, with its current rating from review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes sitting at 51 per cent.
Ridley was asked about the infamous kiss between her character and Adam Driver’s Kylo Ren. She responded: “It felt earned. What was interesting again is intentionality. My feeling in that moment was that it was a goodbye, and that felt earned.”
She continued: “You can call a kiss a thousand things, but I felt it was a goodbye. That whole scene felt so emotional and I felt I was saying goodbye to the job, too.”
Ridley is due to reprise her role in an upcoming Star Wars movie directed by Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy. Speaking recently with Variety she said, “I’m excited to do the job, but not because Sharmeen is a woman. Her documentaries are amazing. Her idea for the story is cool as shit.”