Daisy Ridley seems a bit more open to an eventual Star Wars return now, but it won’t happen anytime soon

Daisy Ridley’s performance as Rey in the Star Wars sequel trilogy was nothing short of phenomenal, and though the Skywalker Saga has wrapped up, some fans have been holding out hope that Ridley might return to the franchise eventually, much like the original actors did.

But last November, as Ridley spoke about a variety of things (including Baby Yoda), she said this to IGN:

“I think for me the beauty of Episode IX is it ends with such hope and such potential. I just feel like that was Rey’s perfect ending. The big battle was in Episodes VII, VIII, and IX. I think really she’s probably running around the forest somewhere having a great time.

“I feel totally, totally satisfied with how that story finished. I just don’t know what else she could do that I didn’t have to do. Also, there are so many amazing characters in Star Wars, that it’s sort of an amazing thing. I was watching the new episode of Mandalorian, and it’s just like the places it can go beyond even where it is now is so exciting.”

That certainly didn’t sound like someone open to returning to the franchise, and I’m sure that her frustration over the reaction to The Rise of Skywalker didn’t help things. But as Ridley has done some interviews recently in promotion of her upcoming film Chaos Walking, she seems a bit more open to an eventual return to the galaxy far, far away.

For example, in a recent interview with Empire (via GameSpot), Ridley said this:

“I’m always open to a revisit. But also the beautiful thing is it’s this wonderful, huge universe with all of these stories that have yet to be told. I think there’s a lot of cool things to be made before any potential revisit.”

Ridley said that she watched all the Harry Potter movies again over Christmas and then saw Rupert Grint (who played Ron Weasley) saying he would be open to playing the character again – and Ridley said that she feels similarly about Rey. So yeah, that definitely sounds to me like Ridley has changed her tune a bit about whether she will return to play Rey, as it sounds like she is more open to it now than she was previously.

But we also have to be very clear on this: it almost certainly won’t be happening anytime soon. The thing that Ridley has been consistent on all along is that there are plenty of other storytelling avenues for Star Wars to explore that would be great, and those should take precedence over a return to Rey’s character. I think she’s right, and I think Lucasfilm feels the same way. We’ve moving in a ton of different directions right now, but a lot of them are brand new directions.

That doesn’t mean that a return to Rey will never happen, though – in fact, I’d be shocked if it doesn’t at some point. And when that happens, it sounds like Ridley is more open to a return than she was previously, which is awesome. I hope that she stays connected to the Star Wars franchise in various ways until then!