Star Wars Sequel Trilogy alum Daisy Ridley says the upcoming Rey Skywalker movie directed by Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy will take Lucasfilm‘s flagship franchise in a new direction.
“So I thought about it for a little bit, and once I knew what the story was and everything, I knew it was something I really wanted to do,” Ridley told AlloCiné (via Deadline). “I think it’s a really fantastic exploration of the Star Wars world. It’s a really cool way of taking the story on in a bit of a different direction.”
It wasn’t too long ago that reports surfaced regarding a new, stand-alone Star Wars film to be directed by Obaid-Chinoy. Steven Knight is attached to pen the feature from a previous draft by Damon Lindelof and Justin Britt-Gibson. At Star Wars Celebration Europe 2023, Lucasfilm officially announced that this new movie would see Ridley reprise her role as Rey Skywalker — and would take place about 15 years after the events of 2019’s Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker.
“I was sh**ting myself before I went on stage, because no one knew I was going to that,” Ridley Collider a few months after the event. “No one knew I was going to Celebration, bar like [Lucasfilm president Kathleen Kennedy] and there were a couple of people. I was so nervous. Oh my god.”
The Star Wars franchise’s big-screen future
It was previously believed that Obaid-Chinoy’s Ridley-led film would be the first Star Wars movie to release in theaters after The Rise of Skywalker. However, things have shifted around a bit. Lucasfilm recently confirmed that The Mandalorian & Grogu, a feature-length spin-off of the studio’s Disney+ series The Mandalorian, would mark the franchise’s return to the big screen instead. Series creator Jon Favreau will direct. It’s currently unclear if the film will take the place of The Mandalorian’s planned fourth season.
Still, Obaid-Chinoy’s Rise of Skywalker follow-up is one of three other planned Star Wars films Lucasfilm is currently prioritizing. The other two are James Mangold’s movie dealing with the dawn of the Jedi and Dave Filoni’s film that will serve as the grand finale of The Mandalorian and its spin-offs.
Other in-development Star Wars movies include Taika Waititi’s untitled film, Shawn Levy’s untitled film, and Donald and Stephen Glover’s Lando Calrissian movie (a rework of a previously-announced Disney+ series). There are also still tentative plans for Star Wars: The Last Jedi director Rian Johnson to return to the franchise, while Patty Jenkins’ long-delayed Rogue Squadron could potentially still see the light of day in some form.
