Spoiler Warning: This article features spoilers for Star Wars: Episode 9 - The Rise of Skywalker.
Daisy Ridley says her character Rey Skywalker probably doesn't have kids in the Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy directed follow-up to Star Wars: Episode 9 - The Rise of Skywalker.
Speaking to Deadline, Ridley made clear she hasn't seen a script for the untitled film yet but did share a couple of titbits surrounding what she expects from it. Announced at Star Wars Celebration 2023, the sequel takes place 15 years after Episode 9 as Rey looks to rebuild the Jedi Order and thus sparked theories about her raising new Jedi.
"I would say she probably doesn’t have children seeing she’s a Jedi," Ridley said, however, noting Jedi aren't allowed to form bonds with others meaning children aren't an option. Anakin Skywalker obviously betrayed this rule, so it's not impossible, but he did become Darth Vader as a result.
That being said, several recent Star Wars stories have explored this line being blurred, such as in the Star Wars Jedi video game series from Respawn Entertainment. Rey also kissed Kylo Ren in the final Sequel Trilogy film, so creators Disney and Lucasfilm are up for bending the rules.
Ridley said she knows "bits and bobs" about the upcoming film, but "literally what I know is what was announced last year," she added. "I'm waiting to read a script."
She did share one new bit of information, however unsurprising, in that the film won't be made up exclusively from known characters. "I know there's an introduction of new characters," she said. "I don't know about previous characters."
Setting up a new Jedi Order will presumably require new Jedi, and while most of the space wizards were killed during Order 66 in Star Wars: Episode 3 - Revenge of the Sith, some survived. Several shows, books, and other bits of canon Star Wars material have shown several Jedi survived the culling and could therefore be alive and well in the era of Rey's rebuilding.
Fans quickly theorised the new Jedi Order could include Grogu from The Mandalorian, for example, Cal Kestis from the Star Wars Jedi games, or Ezra Bridger from Star Wars Rebels.
Details are sparse otherwise. Ridley said in November 2023 it's a "really cool" film that isn't at all what she expected. "I haven’t read anything, but I know the story," she said at the time. "It’s really worth telling, worth exploring, and I think people will be excited."
She later said the film will take Star Wars in a different direction, and it's also the first directed by a woman. "Once I knew what the story was and everything, I knew that it was something I really wanted to do," Ridley said at the time. "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."
Though the film was announced on April 7, 2023 Ridley said she hadn't even been approached about the role as of February 2023. The rapid turnaround between the initial conversation with Lucasfilm and her appearance at the event had her feeling very nervous, Ridley said: "I was s***ting myself."
This comes despite Kennedy claiming at Star Wars Celebration 2023 that Obaid-Chinoy's film, plus movies from The Mandalorian co-creator Dave Filoni and Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny director James Mangold, were "pretty far along in development."
Ryan Dinsdale is an IGN freelance reporter. He'll talk about The Witcher all day.
