Daisy Ridley on the Rey and Kylo Kiss in STAR WARS: THE RISE OF SKYWALKER: "It Felt Earned"
Like many of you, I was not a fan of J.J. Abrmas’ Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker, and the whole Rey and Kylo Ren relationship felt like a brain fart. The movie ridiculously attempted to redeem the villain and then there was that moment where Rey and Kylo kissed before he died. I have yet to meet or talk to anyone who thought that was a good idea, but Daisy Ridley feels like the kiss is earned.
During a recent interview with the Happy Sad Confused podcast, Ridley talked about the scene, said it was part of the film’s reshoots, and defended the decision:
“I felt like we all... it felt earned, and what was interesting [was the] intentionality. My feeling in that moment was that it was a goodbye, so that felt earned. Because, I mean, you could call a kiss a thousand things, but I felt like it was a goodbye, and that whole scene felt so emotional. I felt like I was saying goodbye to the job.”
I’m not sure if that defense will change anyone’s mind, but there it is. Hopefully, it really was goodbye and we won’t see a clone of Kylo Ren in the upcoming Star Wars: New Jedi Order. Ridley went on to explain how The Rise of Skywalker reshoots came together, and how emotional the experience was for her.
“Actually we had to pick up something that was missed. So my very, very, very last day, we were doing various pickups and stuff, I had to literally sit and look, and the camera was coming away from me, and—I guess I was looking at him--J.J. [Abrams] was like ‘you good?’ and I immediately started crying my eyes out, because it really felt like goodbye.”
But, hey! It’s not goodbye! She’s coming back for at least one other film, and it’ll be interesting to see what kind of story they end up telling with her. Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy will direct the New Jedi Order, which will be set fifteen years after the events of The Rise of Skywalker. All we know about the story so far is that Rey will be a "powerful Jedi master" running her own training academy.