Daisy Ridley reflects on THAT polarising kiss between Rey and Kylo Ren in The Rise of Skywalker

Daisy Ridley has reflected on the polarising reception of the last two Star Wars movies in her trilogy, in particular THAT kiss between Rey and Kylo Ren.

The British actress was cast in the main role of Rey in Star Wars: The Force Awakens and reprised it in Star Wars: The Last Jedi and Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker.

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The second two movies proved polarising among Star Wars fans, but Ridley's performance as Rey was considered to be a highlight of all three films in the trilogy.

In The Rise of Skywalker, it is revealed that Rey is the granddaughter of Emperor Palpatine which leads to another showdown between herself and Kylo. In the end, Kylo Ren turns his back on the Dark Side and helps Rey defeat Palpatine before the pair share a kiss.

Before that moment, there was no inclination of a romantic connection between them, which left fans confused.

“I felt like we all…it felt earned,” Ridley said on the Happy Sad Confused podcast when asked about the kiss.

“What was interesting again is intentionality. My feeling in that moment was that it was a goodbye, and that felt earned. You can call a kiss a thousand things, but I felt it was a goodbye. That whole scene felt emotional and I felt I was saying goodbye to the job, too.”

Ridley is back for a new Star Wars

In April of 2023, it was announced that Rey would return in a new movie directed by Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy.

According to reports, the plot will focus on Rey starting a new Jedi Order 15 years after the events of The Rise of Skywalker.

This was confirmed by Kathleen Kennedy, who recently explained:

“As we move into the future space — this story is about 15 years outside of The Rise of Skywalker — obviously we realized post-war, post–First Order rise of the New Jedi Order, we left Episode 9 with Rey making a commitment to Luke Skywalker that she would rebuild the Jedi order.

“And so here we are — we’re ready to do that. And it took a lot of discussion because obviously we’ve been developing stories in different spaces, and television has been a big focus of our attention right now. But there’s still so much interest in what happens after The Rise of Skywalker. So we’re excited to be doing that.”