Daisy Ridley talks epic fight with Kylo Ren in The Rise of Skywalker

Last Updated on August 5, 2021

With STAR WARS: THE RISE OF SKYWALKER reportedly bringing the entire nine-film saga to a conclusion, you'd better hope that it features one last epic lightsaber battle. We caught a small glimpse at a battle between Rey (Daisy Ridley) and Kylo Ren (Adam Driver) during a torrential rainstorm in the Vanity Fair spread, and while speaking on Josh Horowitz’s Happy Sad Confused podcast, Ridley dropped as many details as she could (this is the STAR WARS franchise we're talking about after all) about the film's big battle.

We have a great fight. A great fight. And I was really happy that the Vanity Fair pictures did show a bit of it. It’s a great fight. Like I’ve become such a better fighter and they made the lightsabers lighter, so it actually looks like we’re swinging light and not like heavy, heavy [swords].

Daisy Ridley added that she has seen some of the fight edited together, and went on to compare it to her other epic fight featured in STAR WARS: THE LAST JEDI. "[The Throne Room fight] felt pretty cool, and also that was really hard because everything had to match up. There’s like a dolly shot coming through and it ends with me and I think I was fighting James at the time, who’s the stuntman with the two swords. It was so tiring. We did like 25 takes because if one thing was off we had to keep going. But I was really proud of that fight," Ridley said. "This fight, we did, it was November, we had water being thrown at us, and I got a great deal of respect because I did not, I was 'I’m not gonna complain about the cold, I’m just not gonna do it (laughs)—so it was like a real thing of stamina. It feels really epic, and it felt epic even at the time. Imagine, we had the waves like this, and they're gonna make the waves bigger, and one can only imagine what it’s gonna look like."

As far as how THE RISE OF SKYWALKER compares to the tone of THE FORCE AWAKENS and THE LAST JEDI, Daisy Ridley told USAToday that it's different from the first two. "Genre-wise, it’s different from the other two, which will become clear when the film comes out. It's quite emotional," Ridley explained. "There's a different drive than the previous two films, but there's a lot of fun. I really missed John (Boyega) during the last one, but we're back together and now Oscar (Isaac) is part of it. To me, it felt like kids going on an adventure." The actress also added that THE RISE OF SKYWALKER will address the question of Rey's parents. "(Director J.J. Abrams) did say the question is answered. So at the end of the film, you do know what the dealio is," said Ridley.

STAR WARS: THE RISE OF SKYWALKER will hit theaters on December 20, 2019.