'I Knew a Piece of It. I Heard Rumblings' — Star Wars' Daisy Ridley Reacts to Adam Driver's The Hunt for Ben Solo Movie and the Fan Campaign Trying to Save It

There’s been a batch of chatter successful the 7 weeks since Adam Driver dropped a bombshell to the Associated Press that he’d spent the past fewer years processing The Hunt for Ben Solo. The Lucasfilm-approved but Bob Iger-nixed nonstop follow-up to Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker was confirmed by attached manager Steven Soderbergh, and connected aggregate occasions the fanbase has hired planes to bash fly-overs of the Walt Disney Studio batch successful Burbank to rally support.

Up to now, 1 dependable that hasn’t weighed successful yet is histrion Daisy Ridley, who plays Rey successful the latest Star Wars trilogy. She’s besides been successful Star Wars diagnostic improvement limbo since her quality movie was announced astatine Star Wars Celebration 2023. But I precocious spoke to Ridley for her upcoming zombie drama, We Bury the Dead (in theaters January 2, 2026) and asked whether she knew astir The Hunt for Ben Solo, which the fandom has surmised would see her quality successful travel capableness owed to Ben Solo and Rey’s dyad status.

“I knew a portion of it. I heard rumblings,” Ridley shared of her absorption to Driver’s news. “I person tons of friends who are crew, truthful things ever question similar that. But, whoa! When the communicative came out, no, I was like, 'Oh, my God!' And it was him that said it, right?”

“Him” being Driver, who is notoriously quiescent astir each things extracurricular of ceremonial property junkets. She continued, “It was comic because, like, 'Oh, wow, Adam is saying it,' and that's the large astonishment of the year,” she laughed.

With Star Wars instrumentality discourse, particularly astir the sequels, ever divisive, Ridley said witnessing the outsized absorption has been heartening.

“I bash emotion erstwhile determination is simply a corporate of positivity,” she said astir the statement of everyone who seems to privation The Hunt for Ben Solo to happen. “The mode the net seems to person rallied to effort and get it to happen. I deliberation one), it's fantastic for america all. It's bully for america to each beryllium agreed astir thing successful a truly affirmative way. Obviously, everyone knows helium was a precise fashionable character, but it was besides beauteous to think, 'Wow, radical really, really attraction and privation this.' I just... I similar it. I similar erstwhile radical articulation forces — excuse the pun — from each astir the world, each antithetic sorts of people. I conscionable emotion that the Star Wars fandom is specified a immense and gorgeous array of antithetic points of presumption and antithetic people, and the information that everyone is truly down this thing, I think, is conscionable benignant of lovely, successful a clip that is truthful f***ing nuts for astir apt each azygous idiosyncratic connected this Earth. I deliberation it's wonderful. So I was surprised, and honestly, I felt joyful astir however it went down.”

Asked if it’s galvanized her to propulsion harder for her Rey film, oregon if she’s learned to beryllium diligent with each things Star Wars, Ridley said she has spot successful everyone inactive processing it and that it volition beryllium “worth the wait.”

“Honestly, determination are scripts that I work 5 years ago, and present I've gone, 'Oh, possibly they volition really happen,’” she said of galore non-Star Wars projects she’s been attached to, including We Bury the Dead. “I deliberation implicit the years, I've learned however the world of getting immoderate movie made is truthful massive. The hurdles are vast… But with this particularly, I cognize that unthinkable voices and creatives are portion of it, and I cognize the hold volition beryllium worthy it.”

In the abbreviated term, Jon Favreau's The Mandalorian & Grogu movie comes retired May 2026, past Shawn Levy's Star Wars: Starfighter releases May 2027. TV amusement wise, Ahsoka Season 2 is successful improvement but without a merchandise date.

Ridley's Rey film, assuming it really gets made, takes spot astir 15 years aft the events of The Rise of Skywalker arsenic she looks to rebuild the Jedi Order.

Photo by Dave J Hogan/Getty Images.

Tara Bennett is simply a contributing freelancer for IGN covering movie and television. She has implicit 20 years of acquisition covering the movie and tv industries with bylines astatine SFX Magazine, Paste Magazine, and SYFY WIRE. She is simply a New York Times bestselling writer of much than 30 authoritative movie and TV companion books including The Art of Avatar: The Way of Water and The Story of Marvel Studios: The Making of the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Find @TaraDBennett connected Twitter.