She was going to be the new jedi hero.
Luke Skywalker's apprentice and heiress.
The new star of the
Star Wars
franchise .
The new trilogy settled on Rey's shoulders, and, above all, the first at Disney.
But for actress Daisy Ridley, as she went through with her predecessors Mark Hamill and Hayden Christensen, it wasn't an easy road.
A certain sector on the Internet began to criticize that she was a Mary Sue [term used for women who have any unjustifiable power in fiction].
She responded after months of enduring comments on the networks: “It is a sexist comment.
Luke was never told."
Her career in the cinema never finished exploding after her last film in 2019 (which was also the last for the saga).
It's time to go home.
And piss off those fans again.
None of it was felt, even so, as the room of 5,000 people erupted with euphoria, lightsabers raised, as she emerged from behind the curtains announcing her as "the next generation Jedi Master."
It was this Friday at the Star Wars Celebration 2023 in London, a great fan event to which EL PAÍS has been invited by Disney.
"It has to be King", a follower was heard shouting before from the public.
Ridley left excited without holding back her smile and turning around to the applause to the bars that she created for her character John Williams.
She couldn't say or do much else, but she was back home, to London (where he was born) and to
Star Wars.
, which previously recovered reviled figures such as Hayden Christensen (Anakin Skywalker), after years of leading a sedentary life on a farm.
Once you enter, you will always have a place at these conventions.
The return of Daisy Ridley (Rey) as a jedi master.
#StarWarsCelebration pic.twitter.com/nKXUVvgKh0
— Eneko Ruiz Jiménez (@enekoruizj) April 7, 2023
Rey Skywalker will be the protagonist of one of the three new
Star Wars
films , which, says the head of the franchise Kathleen Kennedy, as directed by George Lucas, will travel to the past, present and future of the saga.
With the last jedi, the saga will explore a path she has never traveled before: the creation of a new jedi order 15 years after the third trilogy and the death of the evil Kylo Ren.
Rey will be the teacher of a new group of
Padawan
children in the newly created academy.
Now without Han Solo, Luke or Leia, she for the first time in the movie saga.
It will also be time to give space to new voices.
Pakistani Sarmeen Obaid-Chinoy, double Oscar winner for her documentary shorts
Of Her Saving Face
and
A Girl in the River,
she will be the first female director of a
Star Wars
film .
A major challenge for a filmmaker who has already flirted with Disney thanks to her work for the superheroine
Ms. Marvel
series .
James Mangold, responsible for
Logan
and the fifth installment of Indiana Jones (who is also in London to teach a Harrison Ford who is about to die in each new chase, when he is not directly digitally rejuvenated), has more seniority with projects of this magnitude.
He will be in charge of the film that will explore the remotest past of this very, very distant universe, that awakening of the Jedi that until now had only been explored in books and comics.
Mangold says his goal is to create something biblical, similar to
The 10 Commandments
, that explores the mythology and origins of this world.
25,000 years before the first movie.
Literally: a long long time ago.
James Mangold (Logan, Indiana Jones 5) will direct a Biblical #StarWars movie to the 10 Commandments about how force was created.
He will review the past of the origin of the jedi.
25,000 years before the original.
#StarWarsCelebration pic.twitter.com/K7AoOjV0Qt
— Eneko Ruiz Jiménez (@enekoruizj) April 7, 2023
The third film will be an extension of the Disney+ universe, with the team of
The Mandalorian
, Dave Filoni (architect of the last days) and Jon Favreau, taking the reins of a chapter that will culminate the great battle they develop with the characters of the series. cartoons and live action that they have also presented at the convention.
His time, The New Republic, will also dot the Ahsoka
series
, which brings back Rosario Dawson and the characters from the
Rebels cartoon series;
and
Skeleton Crew
, with Jude Law as a jedi gone wrong who accompanies a team of children in a series described as a return to the eighties style of Spielberg's Amblyn and the Goonies.
Spiderman director Jon Watts is at the helm, although it will also be the first premiere for the Daniels (
Everything at Once Everywhere
) after sweeping the Oscars.
The director of
Minari
, Lee Isaac Chung, is in charge of another of the chapters.
Because in 2023 winning an Oscar is the best formula for directing a
Star Wars
series .
Ahsoka trailer, the new Star Wars.
The moment to rethink the strategy on TV
These series and films, and the new season of
Andor
with Diego Luna that is currently shooting in Valencia, will also be joined by
The Acolyte
, another series that reviews the unexplored remote past.
The rise of the high republic, whose references are Kurosawa's samurai films, especially
Yojimbo
and The
Hidden Fortress
, but also King Hu's
Touch of Zen
and the films of the Hong Kong brand Shaw Brothers.
“It's a mixture of Frozen and Kill Bill”, announces the creator Leslye Headland, who feels like one more in this type of celebration: “Star Wars made me go beyond high school.
I started in this world writing
fanfic.
And now I'm in a dream."
Among his jedi / samurai, he has signed a Carrie Anne-Moss who returns to the slow motion of The
Matrix
, the Spanish Dafne Keen, Manny Jacinto, Lee Jung-jae (
The Squid Game
) and Jodie Turner-Smith.
Everyone already with a lightsaber in the first preview.
Lee Jung-jae (The Squid Game) joins the #StarWars universe: "I'll be a Jedi in The Acolyte. Touching a lightsaber for the first time was so exciting."
#StarWarsCelebration2023 pic.twitter.com/4aaDsvLdAH
— Eneko Ruiz Jiménez (@enekoruizj) April 7, 2023
Many projects, although it is time to rethink and restart.
When Disney bought
Star Wars
, there was a promise: make one movie a year.
This was the case from 2015 to 2019. Then the direct series to Disney+ arrived, and the success of
The Mandalorian
activated the churrería.
Pushed by the iconicity of Mando and Baby Yoda (or Din and Grogu), in 2022 there were chapters of three different series.
And by the time
Andor
(the one with the best reviews and possibly several Emmy nominations) arrived, audiences were a bit frazzled and unsure of what to expect.
But something is changing.
Since 2019 there have been no movies, and the mandate of CEO Bob Iger in his new stage at Disney is clear: less content and more selection.
It applies to the entire company.
From the
streaming
to their offices, and, of course, also in their big brands.
And above all to the qalaxies created by George Lucas that have been looking for their way for a long time.
In this time they have ruled out films for Kevin Feige (head of Marvel), Damon Lindelof (creator of
Lost
and
The Leftovers
), Patty Jenkins (director of
Wonder Woman
) or David Benioff and Dan Weiss (promoters of
Game of Thrones
).
And the announced by Taika Waititi (
Thor: Ragnarok
) was suspiciously absent at the convention.
The three new films will try to lead the way with journeys into uncharted terrain and the return of iconic characters.
But the goal is not to exhaust a brand that has already been shown not to be always infallible.
We'll see if the last jedi is powerful enough to do it.