Daisy Ridley’s Star Wars role may stick around for Episode VIII and IX

Last Updated on August 2, 2021

Daisy Ridley, one of the rising talents coming out of STAR WARS: EPISODE VII, is quickly becoming something of a hot commodity in town. That's the power of the franchise I suppose; if you’re in a STAR WARS movie, chances are you are going get noticed. We don't know a lot about her role yet but we may have more than enough time to get to know her as she's reportedly set to cross over into the second and third films in the new trilogy.

Deadline reported about the agency UTA winning a bid to rep Ridley, and when I woke up from that I found this news:

“She is the female lead in the J.J Abrams-directed resuscitation of Star Wars, and the plan is for her carry through to the second and third films that will be directed by Looper helmer Rian Johnson. Ridley was hired for Star Wars: Episode VII after a worldwide casting search.”

While there is a good chance a lot of the new cast has a chance to continue with the franchise, it’s great news for Ridley today regardless. With her role being cast in time for the first table read unlike the other actresses (Lupita Nyong’o, Gwendoline Christie) who were cast later, it’s safe to say that she’s an important player in the trilogy.

An interesting note there in Deadline’s reporting is their continued assurance that Rian Johnson is directing both EPISODE VIII and EPISODE IX. We’ve known that Rian Johnson is set to write and direct EPISODE VIII and do a treatment for EPISODE IX for quite some time now, so maybe they know something every other outlet doesn't.

It would be great for Johnson to stick around for the remainder of the series; God knows we all love some continuity. I suspect VII will do a lot of character building with the real story progression landing on the shoulders of VIII and IX, so it makes sense for him to direct both.

Back to Daisy Ridley, if you’re part of the majority that doesn’t know who she is yet; now would be a good time to follow her on Twitter. Would anyone like to take a guess at what role she will be playing? Note: She was seated between Han Solo (Harrison Ford) and Princess Leia (Carrie Fisher) at the read, just saying.