Despite borrowng a few too many ideas from A New Hope, J.J. Abrams' The Force Awakens proved that a Star Wars sequel trilogy could work. It introduced an intriguing set of characters and mysteries, only for Rian Johnson to undo almost all of his predecessor's contributions to the franchise in The Last Jedi.
It was a great sci-fi movie in a lot of ways, but not a good Star Wars story; the mysterious Supreme Leader Snoke was killed with no explanation, Luke Skywalker was a coward who fled after contemplating the murder of his nephew, and it turned out Rey's parents were nobodies, after all.
When Colin Trevorrow parted ways with Lucasfilm, Abrams was enlisted to deliver a fan-pleasing Episode IX - later titled The Rise of Skywalker - which, by undoing Johnson's contributions to the Skywalker Saga, ended up being a disaster. Every attempt at making fans happy just led to more confusion and the movie tried to cram in so much story, it ultimately felt rushed and messy.
Talking to Josh Horowitz (via SFFGazette.com), Daisy Ridley - who had to deal with more than a few questionable moments as "Rey Skywalker" - was asked to share her thoughts on the mixed response to the 2019 finale.
"Was I surprised? Uh, I think it's still upsetting because you don't want people to feel like you've not served the thing that they're a fan of," she admitted. "Rian's one was so divisive. It really felt like the first one...everyone was responsive in a similar way. And then Rian's one was super divisive and the last one was super divisive. It didn't change how I felt about it."
"Before I had breakfast with Kathy last year...I had five people come up to me and go, 'Are they going to do any more with you?' It was really strange," she said of how the response from fans has changed since The Rise of Skywalker was released. "In the six months before that, the way in which I'd been greeted by people's responses was quite different to the way I had been. I think time had passed and it didn't feel so immediate."
In The Rise of Skywalker's final act Kylo Ren - who had put the Dark Side behind him and returned to his Ben Solo identity - lay dying after sacrificing himself to help save Rey from Emperor Palpatine. With that, they kissed, a moment which divided the fanbase.
According to Ridley, they shot a version of the scene "without" the infamous smooch. She added, "I felt like we all...it felt earned. What's interesting again is intentionality. My feeling in that moment was that it was a goodbye so that felt earned. You could call a kiss a thousand things but I felt like it was a goodbye and that whole scene felt so emotional."
Later in the interview, Ridley was asked about rumours Helen Mirren was being lined up to play a much older version of Rey in an earlier iteration of her upcoming Dawn of the Jedi movie. She admitted to never hearing about those supposed plans and said the expectation was always that she'd return to the role somewhere down the line.
You can check out the full conversation with the actress in the player below.