Daisy Ridley’s character Rey Skywalker will reportedly appear in “several” upcoming Star Wars films as she’s been deemed the galaxy far, far away’s “most valuable cinematic asset.”
Anonymous sources close to Star Wars told The Hollywood Reporter as much, suggesting Disney puts more stock in the Sequel Trilogy star than, for example, Pedro Pascal’s The Mandalorian or Original Trilogy protagonist Luke Skywalker, portrayed by Mark Hamill.
“She is the most valuable cinematic asset, in some ways maybe the only one, Star Wars has right now,” the source said. Various sources said Rey is set to play a role in several of the incoming Star Wars films though didn’t clarify which ones.
Ridley is already confirmed to be returning in one: the Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy-directed sequel to the universally panned Star Wars: Episode 9 – The Rise of Skywalker. It will tell the story of Rey as she looks to rebuild the Jedi Order roughly 15 years after the events of that film.
But Rey wasn’t expected to appear in any of the other announced films until now, at least if this report is accurate. Another trilogy of films from X-Men producer Simon Kinberg emerged earlier in November, however, so Rey is perhaps tied to these too.
There will be plenty of opportunity to appear in other cinematic outings though. The number of planned films now totals 14, and given practically nothing is known about any of them, Rey could easily find her way in.
A few can be written off, however. The only Star Wars film with a release date and some actual footage behind it is The Mandalorian & Grogu, which hits cinemas on May 22, 2026. This will be a sequel to The Mandalorian Season 3, which takes places decades before the Sequel Trilogy, and, assuming it doesn’t feature a 30 year time jump, therefore can’t feature Rey.
Another film will similarly be about the culmination of Star Wars shows such as Ahsoka from Lucasfilm’s chief creative officer Dave Filoni and presumably won’t feature Rey either. The Donald Glover-starring Lando Calrissian film faces an even grander extension of this problem, taking place during the Original Trilogy and therefore even further behind in the Star Wars timeline.
A film about the dawn of the Force from Logan and Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny director James Mangold goes even further, taking place thousands of years before the main Skywalker Saga, so this can be written off too. And one from Thor Ragnarok and Love and Thunder director Taika Waititi will also take place far away from these main film trilogies when it’s eventually released around 2030.
Everything else is seemingly an option though, including a movie from Deadpool & Wolverine director Shawn Levy, an entire trilogy from Star Wars: Episode 8 – The Last Jedi director Rian Johnson, and another from Wonder Woman director Patty Jenkins. The aforementioned Kinberg trilogy can be added to the list too.
Ryan Dinsdale is an IGN freelance reporter. He’ll talk about The Witcher all day.
