Being thrown into the limelight overnight and having an entire pop culture fascination rest on your shoulders is no small task. During the production of the sequel trilogy, Daisy Ridley found the experience to be quite isolating, explaining that her experience was difficult to relate to. “I was like, ‘I’m good. I’m good. I’m coping fine. Everything’s fine.’ And I was fine, for the most part. But I think what I was really grappling with was that it was my normal, but it was not normal to other people,” she explained to Inverse.
While there are no doubt perks to stardom, production on the “Star Wars” sequel trilogy wasn’t a cakewalk for Ridley. In her 2019 conversation with GQ, Ridley candidly opened up about how the stress related to the franchise led to holes forming in her gut wall, further adding, “I got tests done and it turned out my body was taking in no nutrients. I was just like a little skeleton and I was just so tired. I was becoming a ghost.”
Now, in 2024, Ridley is taking things at a slower pace that leads to more diverse projects. During her “Star Wars” run, Ridley’s CV was mostly populated by blockbuster after blockbuster, but her career is taking on a radically different direction now with indie darlings like “Sometimes I Think About Dying,” which boasts a 79% on Rotten Tomatoes. “I still feel like I’m at the beginning of my career,” Ridley told Inverse. “I’m really looking forward to what else might come up. I do feel like I’m open to many different things.” While a huge part of Ridley’s post-“Star Wars” filmography leans away from genre fare, Ridley isn’t done with Rey just yet.
