


Star Wars leading actress Daisy Ridley says that instead of flourishing, her career actually faltered after she appeared in the sequel trilogy, which ended in December 2019.
Although the film series was massively successful — its first installment, Star Wars: The Force Awakens, earned 2.066 billion at the box office, while the second and third installments, Star Wars: The Last Jedi (2017) and Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker (2019) also raked in impressive earnings — its success didn’t last for Ridley.
“There weren’t that many offers coming in,” Ridley said at a SXSW panel on Sunday (March 10), per Variety. “It’s not that there wasn’t any… I remember finishing and thinking, ‘Oh, it’s quiet and strange.'”
Of course, one year after her final Star Wars film was released, the world was plunged into lockdown because of COVID-19, meaning Riley and many of her peers in the film and TV industries saw their lives and work put on pause.
Ridley shared that “it was a very strange time to sit with the quiet and, honestly, grieving a time of my life,” per Variety.
Thankfully, things have been looking up for the actress’ career. In the years since the pandemic first began, Ridley said, “It’s been really busy and amazing and I’ve got to do so many different things for so many different people… It has been a different exploration of myself and my career.”
Ridley’s most recent movie, Magpie, debuted at SXSW on Saturday (March 9). And luckily for her, she has a slew of upcoming projects, including Young Woman and the Sea, Cleaner, Women in the Castle and We Bury the Dead, per IMDb.
Despite her busy schedule, Ridley still plans to return to Star Wars in a new movie set after the The Rise of Skywalker.
The Star Wars trilogy is now available to stream in full on Disney+.