2019’s Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker may have wrapped up the Skywalker Saga that had been going ever since the Star Wars franchise launched in 1977 with A New Hope, but that doesn’t mean we’re done spending time with characters from the concluding Sequel Trilogy. For a little over a year and a half, we’ve known that Daisy Ridley is reprising Rey in the upcoming Star Wars movie being directed by Ms. Marvel’s Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy. However, it was also reported last week that Simon Kinberg is set to produce a trilogy of movies, and now new information’s come in alleging that there’s infighting over at Lucasfilm about where Rey will end up being seen again.
It hasn’t been clarified yet if Kinberg’s Star Wars movies will be set after The Rise of Skywalker or be more of a standalone thing, and per THR, the availability of Rey is the main reason for this. The outlet reports that Ridley’s character is “key to the franchise’s next turn,” meaning that even though Kinberg’s trilogy is in the early story conception stage, this may result in it clashing with what Obaid-Chinoy is putting together for her sole movie. Although the insiders who spoke with THR denied that there’s a “battle” over Rey, they did make it clear there’s “internal deliberation” about what to do with her next, with one insider saying:
She is the most valuable cinematic asset, in some ways maybe the only one, Star Wars has right now.
Keep in mind that although The Mandalorian & Grogu is set for release in May 2026, the title characters originate from the TV realm, with The Mandalorian being the first in the Star Wars franchise’s lineup of Disney+ subscription-exclusive programming. Whether or not they’ll thrive on the big screen too remains to be seen, but Rey already has this kind of cache from The Force Awakens, The Last Jedi and The Rise of Skywalker. And with so many of the classic Star Wars characters dead post-The Rise of Skywalker, Rey is arguably the biggest film-related “entity,” with another insider saying that “the closet is a little bare.”
The article also mentions that Rey is “set to play a role in several movies that are being developed,” but it’s unclear which ones. So maybe there’s a world where both Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy’s movie and Simon Kinberg’s trilogy can both make use of her, or maybe those other movies refer to the ones being put together by folks like Taika Waititi and Shawn Levy. As things currently stand with Obaid-Chinoy’s movie, it takes place 15 years after The Rise of Skywalker and follows her forming the New Jedi Order. However, Steven Knight, who’d taken over scripting duties from Damon Lindelof, exited the project last month, and the search for a new writer is ongoing.
Keep checking back with CinemaBlend with more news on what the future holds in store for Daisy Ridley in the Star Wars franchise. Next up on the slate is Skeleton Crew, which premieres December 3 on Disney+, the same platform where you can easily stream all the Star Wars movies in order.
