Daisy Ridley

When it comes to online movie polls, which ones do you think the public is usually most excited for: little indie pictures or huge superhero/sci-fi/fantasy blockbusters? Spoiler alert— it’s the blockbusters. Shocking, I know. In Fandango’s year-end poll of the most anticipated movies of 2017, Star Wars: Episode VIII, Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2, and the live-action Beauty and the Beast took the top spots.

One of the biggest questions we were left with at the end of The Force Awakens, aside from “Do you think Luke makes his own organic soap out there on that space island?” was “Who the heck are Rey’s parents?” It’s a question that won’t be answered in the Star Wars universe until Episode VIII hits theaters late next year…unless you’re a real smarty-pants like Daisy Ridley.

This is probably the closest we’ll ever get to a Marvel and Star Wars crossover: Tom Holland, aka your new Spider-Man, is in talks to join Daisy Ridley, aka Rey, in Chaos Walking — the upcoming post-apocalyptic thriller based on the best-selling YA novel by Patrick Ness. In related news, maybe the real post-apocalyptic future is one in which all teen movie franchises are based on post-apocalyptic YA books; time is a flat circle and the apocalypse has already happened and we are all already dead. Happy Monday!

While Star Wars: The Force Awakens left us with plenty of unanswered questions, perhaps no question looms as big over the franchise as the lineage of Daisy Ridley’s Rey. Ever since the film was released, fan theories have run wild with the questions of why Rey was abandoned by her parents and how she may have come by her force sensitivity. Is she the daughter of Obi-Wan Kenobi? Is she the daughter of Luke Skywalker? What is the significance of that flashback sequence? Inquiring minds want to know.

Back when The Force Awakens was just about to come out, the inevitable Star Wars merch hit toy shelves all over the country. But while Kylo Ren and ex-Storm Trooper Finn figures were out in full force, Daisy Ridley’s character Rey, the main character of the movie, was absent. Disney blamed concerns that a “girl toy” wouldn’t sell as well with boy audiences, but after backlash, the company decided to include Rey in their second wave of merchandising. And, lo and behold, Rey toys sold even better than any other (with the exception, maybe, of BB-8). This controversy didn’t escape Ridley’s attention, and she’s going to make sure it doesn’t happen again.

All has been quiet on the ‘Star Wars: Episode VIII’ front since production wrapped earlier this summer. We haven’t seen a trailer, any footage, official photos, or anything close to a synopsis. When it comes to a subtitle, don’t expect to hear anything for a while.

Now here’s a pairing we can totally get behind: Star Wars hero Daisy Ridley and Edge of Tomorrow director Doug Liman. This news would only be better if they were making an Edge of Tomorrow sequel instead of a post-apocalyptic YA thriller, but sci-fi is still sci-fi, and more Daisy Ridley cannot possibly be a bad thing.

For us, Star Wars: Episode VIII is still a long way away. For Daisy Ridley, the movie’s already over.

It’s no secret that production on the new Star Wars trilogy has been, well, top secret. Although director Rian Johnson has shared a few photos from the set of Episode VIII, they haven’t been particularly revelatory, as everything from the plot to the costumes has been shrouded in secrecy. That includes Daisy Ridley’s hair — quite literally, as you can see in a new video in which the actress shows off her workout routine.

The Force Awakens was a pretty epic return to the world of Star Wars, and it’ll be interesting to see how Rian Johnson follows it up with Episode VIII. We’ve seen a few set photos (though nothing particularly revealing), but with the sequel not hitting theaters until December 2017, it’s going to be quite a while before we see anything substantial. While John Boyega isn’t at liberty to say too much about Episode VIII, he does offer a couple of pieces of info that should help you manage your expectations.