Back to the galaxy! Daisy Ridley will reprise her role as Rey in a new Star Wars movie set after the events of Episode IX — The Rise of Skywalker.
Lucasfilm president Kathleen Kennedy announced the news on Friday, April 7, at the Star Wars Celebration in London. Details about the film are scant so far, but Steven Knight will direct the project with a script by Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy.
The movie will follow Rey as she attempts to build a new Jedi Order after she realized her full power in 2019’s The Rise of Skywalker. “My heart is pounding,” Ridley, 30, said at the event on Friday after the film was announced. “I’m very thrilled to be continuing this journey.”
Obaid-Chinoy, 44, told fans that the new movie will take place 15 years after the events of Skywalker, which ended with the Resistance destroying the First Order. “I’ve always been attracted to the hero’s journey and the fact that the world needs many more heroes,” said the filmmaker, who directed two episodes of Ms. Marvel last year.
Earlier this year, Ridley admitted that she didn’t know whether she would get the chance to play Rey again in Disney’s rapidly expanding Star Wars universe. “I really don’t know if there are plans. I just don’t know,” she told The Hollywood Reporter in February. “But ultimately, I loved my experience, I loved what I got to do and I love the people I got to work with. So, should that happen again, even once, amazing.”
The Star Wars Celebration came with plenty of good news for fans, who can expect a ton of new shows and movies in the coming years. In addition to the Rey project, Disney announced two other full-length movies to be directed by Dave Filoni and James Mangold. Filoni’s will focus on the New Republic, while Mangold’s is set to explore the dawn of the Jedi Order.
Disney also released the first trailer for Ahsoka, the spinoff series starring Rosario Dawson as Ahsoka Tano, who appeared in season 2 of The Mandalorian. “If this does well, maybe we’ll get a second season,” the Daredevil alum, 43, told the crowd in London. “It’s up to y’all. I’m ready if you are.”
After Ahsoka premieres in August of this year, season 2 of Andor and season 1 of The Acolyte are set to debut in 2024. Leslye Headland, the creator of The Acolyte, said that the show will be “the furthest back in time we’ve been in live action” in the Star Wars universe.
“What I pitched to Kathleen Kennedy was Frozen meets Kill Bill. Shockingly, she didn’t kick me out of the building,” the Bachelorette director, 43, said. “It’s High Republic near the beginning of the prequels and an exciting part of the timeline. This is when the bad guys are outnumbered. They are the underdogs. I’m really excited for you guys to see things you haven’t seen in live action yet.”
