After Star Wars: The Force Awakens ended on a cliffhanger when Rey met a silent Luke Skywalker for the first time, fans spent two years wondering what would happen next. Well, The Last Jedi will answer that question very soon, but then we’ll all be left wondering what’s going to happen after that. Not to mention the additional, somber question of what’s going to happen to Princess Leia in the wake of Carrie Fisher’s death. Daisy Ridley, the actress who plays Rey, might’ve just spoiled the end of the movie — even without specifics, her recent comments are quite revealing.
In an interview with Glamour, Ridley discussed what it was like to act alongside the late, great Fisher in her final Star Wars movie. The 25-year-old Ridley explained that the last scene the pair shot together was the most emotional, and it takes place at the end of The Last Jedi.
From the Glamour interview:
“The last thing Carrie and I filmed together was emotional for a variety of reasons,” Ridley confessed. “It’s the end of the film, and all of this crazy stuff has happened. There’s this moment that we share, and thinking about it now, I realize that it’s going to be really hard to watch. Because it will seem like a goodbye, even though it wasn’t at the time. You know, she and I went through a similar thing at different times [as Star Wars heroes]. She had the most insane life.”
While the emotional heft of the moment is obviously the most important takeaway from the interview, Ridley’s comments tell us a few plot-related things, most likely.
The first is that Rey and Leia will meet again, following their first meeting after Han Solo’s death in The Force Awakens. (That’s also their only meeting so far, unless you subscribe to the theory that Rey is Leia’s daughter).
The other takeaway is that Leia almost certainly survives The Last Jedi. Mark Hamill, who plays Luke, suggested as much in an earlier interview.. Still, it’s nice to hear, because we still don’t know exactly how Disney and Lucasfilm are going to handle Fisher’s absence in Episode IX. The second Last Jedi trailer made it seem like Kylo Ren was in a position to kill his mom, so it’s not like fears that Leia might die were unfounded.
Given that this scene takes place at the end of the movie, it’s also pretty safe to assume that Rey survives as well, but that was never really in doubt.
Star Wars: The Last Jedi opens on December 15.
