DAISY RIDLEY RETURNS
“She is so good in it,” Johnson said. “I always think about the fans who didn’t know her in real life and grew up watching her and it’s like they’re all going through their own type of loss. It’s really going to be emotional for people who she means something to see this. I hope it’ll be good. I hope it’ll mean something to them.”
Many in the cast speak almost interchangeably about the feisty princess turned general and the unapologetic boldness of Hollywood royalty who embodied her. The women in particular recall being deeply affected by the Leia character when they were young.
“I truly remember thinking 'She’s different. She’s not like all the rest,’” Gwendoline Christie
Daisy Ridley went from obscurity to international stardom when J.J. Abrams picked her to play the central character of the new Star Wars trilogy, and her character Rey quickly became a fan favorite and an inspiration to young girls around the world.
The 25-year-old British actress returns to the Star Wars fold in “The Last Jedi,” which picks up with Rey at the moment she finds Luke Skywalker on that lush cliff.
“It’s hard, you would think going into the second one you’d be like, ‘Oh yeah I’ve got this.’ No. No. it was very much like new scene partner, new story, new...it was just a new feeling. New director. New writer. It was a lot of wrap my head around. And then things settle down as they always said of seeing Leia for the first time when she was six or seven years old. “I’m thinking, ‘I want to be like her.’”
But it was Fisher’s extraordinary persona that was top of mind of everyone.
“It’s hard to do it justice, describing the life of someone. She’s so complicated,” said Adam Driver, who plays her estranged son.
Fisher made newcomer Kelly Marie Tran realize "how much courage it takes to be yourself when you’re on a public platform.”
“She was so unapologetic and openly herself,” Tran said.
But Fisher’s famed frankness and spirit was only one part of a complex person, according to Hamill, who, after 40 years of do, and you’re like this is ok,” said Ridley on returning as Rey.
The trailer for “The Last Jedi” hints that Ridley is considering going to the dark side.
“I think she doesn’t quite know what is going through her mind,” Ridley said of Rey’s mindset. “She’s been sent to do this thing and it goes beyond anything she’s known. Everything has been her trying to do the right thing and her trying to help other people and she’s not really stopped for a second.”
“Even doing it, I didn’t quite know. I was trying to play hope and searching for an answer. But hilariously the first time around I didn’t know where that was going to go. Anything that Rey is trying to catch up on, the audience is trying to catch up on with her. knowing her, got to see the nuance.
“As tough as she was and as venomous as her wit could be, she was really vulnerable in a way. Even though we weren’t really brother and sister there was sort of a protectiveness I felt. I was defensive when people would criticize her and I’d get mad at her when she was self-indulgent, which was quite a lot. But I loved her so much,” Hamill said.
“When I get mad and selfish and think, ‘Darn it, Carrie. Your timing used to be perfect. Why now?’ You have to say, ‘At least we have that. We should be grateful for the time we had with her.’ And I do know one thing: She would want us to be laughing and happy, not morose and depressed over her not being around anymore.” Why is she there? What’s the force? What’s this thing? And the greater sort of questions of the universe of good and evil and why people do the things they do.”