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A new Star Wars film featuring Rey set after the events of the Skywalker Saga was announced alongside a slew of other Star Wars projects currently in development. The film is set to be directed by Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy (Ms. Marvel) and written by Steven Knight (Peaky Blinders), with no word on a release date. While some might not want a continuation of the sequel trilogy after how badly Star Wars: Episode IX – The Rise of Skywalker was received by fans, Daisy Ridley’s return as Rey should be seen as great news for the Star Wars franchise as a whole.
Why Daisy Ridley Returning to Star Wars Is a Great Idea
We don’t know much about the upcoming movie except for what we have already mentioned above. We do know that the untitled film is supposed to take place 15 years after The Rise of Skywalker. So, that means Rey’s movie will be far enough removed from the last entry in the Skywalker Saga and that, ultimately, it’s a blank slate. President of Lucasfilm Kathleen Kennedy said it best when talking to GamesRadar+, saying,
“And I think it offers just tremendous opportunity to introduce new characters and start with something fresh.”
Leaving behind the baggage of the entire Skywalker Saga could only be a blessing.
With that being said, it’s not like Star Wars is currently a sinking ship. After all, the Star Wars franchise seems to be in a pretty good space right now, just not in the theater. Both Ahsoka and Andor have been well received, even if they do differ wildly in tone and content. Novels set in The High Republic era of the franchise, the Skywalker Saga, and in the Legends universe are being published for fans to deep dive into their favorite characters. Multiple ongoing comic book series and events are being published by Marvel Comics every month as well.
But, most of what Disney is capitalizing on is the Skywalker Saga. That’s why a new movie focusing on Rey that might feature some other characters in the sequel trilogy but tell a new original story set in the Star Wars universe would work so well. There could be no rules for what this movie needs to include. We could get a movie set in a time we don’t know, mostly filled up with characters unfamiliar to us. But Rey’s return would need to fix a couple of things.
The Rey Movie Needs to Overcome the Sequel Trilogy
Rey returning to Star Wars could leave the sequel trilogy behind, as we said, but it would need to do more than that to get people excited about a Star Wars movie. Firstly, if Daisy Ridley returns as Rey, she can’t go around calling herself Rey Skywalker. Madonna, Prince, Eminem, Rihanna, there are many artists who use one name, why can’t a Jedi? It was a ridiculous moment in The Rise of Skywalker that didn’t make any sense. Let’s just hope that she was experiencing a form of sunstroke because of the twin suns on Tatooine or that maybe she picked the name because she was still sad about Kylo Ren.
If she picked the name because of Ben Solo, her name should have been Rey Solo. Even worse, if it’s because she looked at the Force ghosts of Luke and Leia, that implies that she sees them as her parental figures. While they did kiss, Rey should remember that they’re still brother and sister. The only way Skywalker should come up is with Mark Hamill playing Luke as a Force ghost or talking about the legacy he left behind. Other than that, the Skywalker family is dead, and the new movie should leave it alone.
With that being said, bringing back any of the surviving characters from the sequel trilogy as either supporting characters or even cameos isn’t a bad idea. As long as they fit in somewhat naturally, Finn, Poe, Chewbacca, or any of the others could easily come back. The only thing that would ruin their appearances would be if the story revolved around them getting back together to fight another version of the First Order/Empire. Let’s leave them and the Emperor in the dust as well.
Rey’s a Jedi, Let Her Be a Jedi
The story seems like it’s going to be focusing on Rey rebuilding the Jedi Order, so that’s what it should be about. It would be a good opportunity to draw on all the different eras of Star Wars and make a new story on all that fictional history. Because of all the aforementioned various Star Wars media, we know that there is an expansive fictional history to fill up the world, so she isn’t chasing mindless MacGuffins around the galaxy yet again.
It’s the potential of the project that should have fans excited. Taking one of the best characters from the sequel trilogy and shaping a movie set in the future for her is an excellent idea. But this is all in theory. Daisy Ridley’s return to Rey could easily be filled with asinine references to the sequel trilogy in an attempt to wrangle a sense of nostalgia from a trilogy that isn’t even 10 years old yet. But it is Star Wars, so all we can do now is hope.
