Within the last week or so Daisy Ridley sent the STAR WARS fandom into a bit of a panic when she was quoted in a Rolling Stone interview as saying she’s done with the series after EPISODE IX. No one quite knew what to make of the news (Was she done forever? Done for now?), but either way we were all very shaken up. But Ridley is now clarifying things, saying her words were taken a bit out of context.
While doing the press junket for STAR WARS: THE LAST JEDI, Ridley was asked by ComicBook.com about the quote and opened up about how the interview came after a long day of shooting, and that she simply meant she's done after EPISODE IX in the sense that her story ends after that film:
Misquoted. I was misquoted. I was asked — by the way, at the end of a very long day, at the end of a very long shoot — I was asked how I felt going forward. And I said, in my mind, the story finishes at Episode IX. To me, Star Wars is in threes. [Episodes] 4, 5, 6; 1, 2, 3; 7, 8, 9. So, for me, that's what I was signing on to; VII, VIII, IX. So that's really what I was answering. And I think, for now- I'm not saying forever. Obviously, Rey will always be Rey… and obviously I don't know what happens in Episode IX, or even if I'm in it. But for now I think it would be…To me, IX was always the end of this chapter. So, it's not me going “I don't want to.” It's just that's what I always pictured.
The original RS interview quoted Ridley as saying “No,” when she was asked about playing Rey again in the future, further saying, “For me, I didn't really know what I was signing on to.”
Fans most likely took her previous quote to mean she’s done with the series for good, and that she wouldn’t play Rey ever again after EPISODE IX. But what Ridley clarifies here is that she’s done with the movies in the most literal sense, given that this current trilogy ends at EPISODE IX, and as far as she (and we) know that’s where the story ends, and that's all we’re going to see of the character for the seeable future. That doesn’t mean Ridley would say no to more outings with the character if an offer came across the table, perhaps if future Episodes involved her character somehow. But, as she says above, she signed on for three movies, so for all she knows, that’s all she’s doing.
Though her "No" would've been easy to take as her saying she's done with STAR WARS after the trilogy ends, she was probably talking about in relation to her contract, meaning she’s not currently signed on for more, and that the story of Rey is done after EPISODE IX, which is something we all assumed anyway. I don’t doubt she loves playing Rey, and I bet she would probably very much be down for swinging some more lightsabers if the offer arises. You would be mental to turn something like that down!
STAR WARS: THE LAST JEDI hits theaters December 15! Eleven days!!