Daisy Ridley offers a very measured, diplomatic take on “divisive” Star Wars sequels

Daisy Ridley is back in the Star Wars business, with Lucasfilm announcing a new movie about Rey set 15 years after Rise Of Skywalker at the Star Wars Celebration event in London over the summer, and that means she once again must take on the thankless task of being an ambassador for a franchise with some of the most impossible-to-please fans in the history of franchises. In practical terms, that means she cannot possibly say anything negative about her Star Wars movies, even though one of them is really bad and one of them is a perfect cinematic masterpiece (but which is which???*).

Speaking with Josh Horowitz on his Happy Sad Confused podcast, Ridley says that the powerful backlash to her second two Star Wars movies is “still upsetting,” because “you don’t want people to feel like you’ve not served the thing they’re a fan of.” She figures that everybody seemed to be on the same page with Star Wars: The Force Awakens, but The Last Jedi was “super divisive” and then Rise Of The Skywalker was also “super divisive,” but it “didn’t change” how she felt about it.

In other words, she liked all three of them (unlike John Boyega). That’s in keeping with what Ridley said last year, when she noted that the idea that “you can be a hero and not come from anywhere” (from The Last Jedi) and “you can be a hero and come from literally the worst person in the universe” (from Rise Of Skywalker) are both “interesting,” even though it doesn’t make sense if those heroes are the same person. Are you nobody or are you the most definitive Somebody in the galaxy? Honestly, it’s just irresponsible.

Whatever. It’s silly to keep relitigating the Star Wars sequels (how many times can we say that without meaning it?), which was actually part of the point Ridley was making. She said on Happy Sad Confused that, when she met with Lucasfilm boss Kathleen Kennedy last year, multiple people came up to her and asked if she would do more Star Wars movies—which she says was “quite different” from the reaction after Rise Of Skywalker. The point is: We all get over our dumb Star Wars grievances eventually, and Lucasfilm will always be there to give us more Star Wars whenever we’re ready for it. Also: Ridley and Vin Diesel should consider getting into politics together.

*The Last Jedi is the good one.