It's the first 'Star Wars' feature film since 2019's 'The Rise of Skywalker.'
Rey's coming back! Daisy Ridley is set to reprise her hero role in an upcoming Star Wars movie.
Lucasfilm president Kathleen Kennedy made the major announcement Friday in London at the Star Wars Celebration event. Ms. Marvel's Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy is set to direct and Steven Knight (Peaky Blinders) will write the script. According to a press release announcing the news, "Star Wars will head into the future, with a new feature set 15 years after the last events of the Skywalker Saga."
It's Star Wars' first feature film since 2019's Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker. Obaid-Chinoy is set to tell the story of rebuilding the New Jedi Order and the powers that rise to tear it down. According to Variety, the upcoming Star Wars feature will set several major milestones for the franchise, as Obaid-Chinoy, a two-time Academy Award winner for her documentary work, becomes the first woman and first person of color to direct a Star Wars film.
That wasn't the only major announcement made at the studio showcase. Kennedy also revealed James Mangold and Dave Filoni will direct two separate Star Wars films. Mangold, who just directed the upcoming Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny, "will take audiences deep into the past, telling the tale of the first Jedi to wield the Force and harness it as a liberating power in an era of chaos and oppression."
ET's Ash Crossan spoke to Filoni to get his immediate reaction about news he would be directing his first Star Wars film.
"It really just hit me yesterday when we were rehearsing," he tells ET. "I was up on the stage with everyone. I’m like, 'Alright, this is really happening.' This is gonna be out there. I have a lot of work to do. It’s a surreal experience."
In the present, Filoni "will orchestrate the escalating war between the Imperial Remnant and the fledgling New Republic. Alongside producer Jon Favreau, they will bring together many of the threads of the Star Wars original series in a cinematic event."
Ridley's reprisal as Rey comes after starring in The Rise of the Skywalker. While at the 2019 Hollywood premiere, she spoke to ET's Ash Crossan about her tearful reaction when she saw a cut of the completed project.
"We all sort of sat around a bit stunned," Ridley recalled at the time. "And then I was trying to scurry off into the car to cry and [producer] Michelle Rejwan and [screenwriter] Chris Terrio were like, 'No, go on.' I was like, 'I don't want to cry in front of you! I just want to get in the car.'"
It was an emotional roller coaster, to say the least.
"It's, like, super snappy. So you're sort of so tuned in that we really didn't process it until the end," she shared. "Then suddenly, you're like, 'Oh… oh my gosh,' … it's very overwhelming."
So how did the celebrated actress cope with the emotional maelstrom? Ridley revealed that she turned to a popular sitcom to feel better: Friends.
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