Russell's co-star, Oscar Isaac, also talks to ET about wrapping up the Skywalker saga and honoring Carrie Fisher.
Keri Russell is new to the Star Wars universe and that means she's finally gotten the seal of approval from her oldest son.
Russell, who reunites with her Felicity creator J.J. Abrams in the upcoming The Rise of Skywalker, spoke to ET's Nischelle Turner on the red carpet at the D23 Expo on Saturday after making her official Star Wars debut onstage.
"They don't care what you do! Children don't care what you do! I'm like, 'I've jumped out of buildings with Tom Cruise. I've had gunfights with people and he's like [makes an unimpressed face], 'Did you wash my soccer socks?' But then I said, you know, you can't tell anybody but I'm doing a part in Star Wars and I'm really cool," Russell adorably shared.
Russell plays a new character named Zorri Bliss, who, the 43-year-old actress characterized during the presentation as "incredibly cool and a bit shady." "I can't wait for you to meet Zorri," franchise newcomer Russell said onstage of her mysterious character, who is a "criminal" and an old friend of Poe's.
On the carpet, Poe himself, Oscar Isaac, reflected on the pandemonium when the Star Wars cast, including Daisy Ridley, John Boyega and Kelly Marie Tran, all took the stage together. "The fact that this is the end of the whole Skywalker saga. I think it just amps it up even more," Isaac said.
"When I was thinking back, when I was looking back at photographs from the first day on set of The Force Awakens, not even being able to imagine three movies ahead. This was 2014, like five years later...," he added.
Russell, meanwhile, is about to experience the Star Wars hoopla for the first time herself. And she couldn't help but ask Isaac, prompting a laugh from her co-star: "Was there a small part of you that wanted to scream out the ending?"
"Of this [movie]?" Isaac asked, pausing for a second before jokingly cracking, "The good guys win! I'm sorry! Oh no!"
Isaac also spoke about honoring the late Carrie Fisher, whose character, General Leia, is the emotional heartbeat of The Rise of Skywalker.
"It was so great that we were able to really honor the character that she made and that J.J. [Abrams] was able to go back and find a lot of this unused footage [from Force Awakens] and give Princess Leia, General Leia the closure of that character that she deserves," Isaac said.
Earlier, Abrams opened up to ET about honoring Fisher and Leia in the final installment of the Skywalker trilogy.
"We couldn't figure out how to tell the end of the Skywalker saga without Leia and, you know, saying that she had passed away, saying that she was somewhere else…there was no way," the 53-year-old filmmaker admitted. "And we realized we could never recast it and we didn't want to do a CG character, so we actually realized there was footage we could use, that we could literally write scenes around and suddenly have as an active part of this movie and she's great in the film. And still, maybe now more than ever, it's impossible to me that she's gone because she's so alive in the film."
Star Wars: Episode IX - The Rise of Skywalker hits theaters Friday, Dec. 20.
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