Daisy Ridley talks Rise of Skywalker backlash: “January was not that nice”

There was a time when I could safely say that Star Wars: The Last Jedi was the most divisive Star Wars movie ever. But with the backlash following Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker, we may have a new champion.

Talking to the folks on the DragCast podcast, Daisy Ridley, who played lead character Rey, admits to being confused about the lack of fan enthusiasm for the film. “It’s changed film by film honestly, like 98% it’s so amazing, this last film it was really tricky,” she said. “January was not that nice. It was weird, I felt like all of this love that we’d sort of been shown the first time around, I was like, ‘Where’s the love gone?’”

"I watched the documentary, the making-of [The Skywalker Legacy], this week. [A]nd it’s so filled with love, and I think it’s that tricky thing of when you’re part of something that is so filled with love and then people [don’t like it]."

Although Ridley says that she “wouldn’t tweet about it,” she seems keenly aware of what’s being said. “You know, everyone’s entitled to not like something, but it feels like it’s changed slightly,” she said. “But I think in general that’s because social media and what have you.”

"I guess now conversations are just more public, so there’s stuff I wouldn’t have seen, but honestly trying to scroll through my newsfeed in January and trying to not see Star Wars stuff, I’d see headlines and be like ‘Oh my god this is so upsetting. So it’s been tricky, but then it’s having that thing of I feel really proud of it, and I’m so thrilled to be part of it. Yeah, but it’s a funny thing."

The Rise of Skywalker was dinged among critics for being formulaic, overstuffed, and for clumsily retconning a bunch of things from the movie before. Ridley is being pretty diplomatic with her comments, although other cast members have been a little more confrontational when talking about the fan response.

Maybe this video of Ridley reading Star Wars children’s books will calm things down:

Ah, I feel better already.

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h/y NME