It seems as if Rey Palpatine wasn’t something that Daisy Ridley knew about from the start.
In an interview for Chaos Walking, Sariah Wilson brought up to Ridley how much she loved Rey Nobody, and Ridley revealed that she didn’t know about the Palpatine storyline until The Rise of Skywalker came around, and here’s the problem: That’s obvious onscreen.
“I told Daisy Ridley how much I loved ‘Rey Nobody,’ how Rey was just powerful on her own and was sad when they made her a Palpatine. Daisy said she also loved that Rey came from nowhere and for the first two films,” Wilson tweeted. “‘I literally was told that she was no one, so yeah, I totally understand that. I do understand that.’ I apologized again for bringing up [Star Wars], and she smiled and told me, ‘It’s all good!'”
I hate the Palpatine storyline for a number of personal reasons, one being that it felt like director J.J. Abrams just wanted to play with one of his favorite villains and decided to just throw him in as Rey’s grandfather so he could do so. And sure, an actor not knowing how a character’s arc is going to pan out isn’t necessarily a new thing, but for Star Wars, it does seem pretty obvious that the Palpatine connection wasn’t on the radar of anyone until Rise of Skywalker.
The Rise of Skywalker is a movie that isn’t all bad. It’s just fine. It’s a fine Star Wars movie that is a disappointing conclusion to a pretty good series of films. I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, The Rise of Skywalker was more on par with the prequels and felt out of sequence with the caliber of the sequel trilogy.
Still, the Rey Palpatine storyline exists, and sure, there were theories prior to the movie that she was going to be connected to the Chancellor, but the major theories circulated around Obi-Wan Kenobi being her grandfather instead.
But all of this isn’t really important. What is important is how many clung to the idea of her being Rey Nobody. For so long, the Star Wars universe has surrounded itself with the drama of the Skywalkers. They were our heroes and the ones that we needed to focus our time and energy on, so the idea that Rey could have been nobody was appealing.
Instead, she’s connected to Palpatine of all people, and it feels like a stab in the heart of those who thought she didn’t have to be connected back to a man who terrorized the galaxy for decades.
What I love about this reveal though is that Wilson apologized for bringing up Star Wars, and Daisy Ridley didn’t seem to care. She keeps bringing up the franchise and I enjoy seeing her embrace those who still want to ask about Rey and her future in the Star Wars universe.
I love Rey, even if I didn’t love her storyline in Rise of Skywalker, and I do hope that we get more of her someday.
(image: Lucasfilm)
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