Daisy Ridley Responds To Upsetting ‘Star Wars’ Backlash

The Force was not with the “Star Wars: Rise of Skywalker” reviews.

Following the movie’s release in December 2019, its Rotten Tomatoes score sank faster than Boba Fett in a Sarlacc pit. Even months after the movie premiered, stories explaining various plot points continue to go viral thanks to confused fans wanting an explanation.

Now, Rey herself, actor Daisy Ridley, is opening up about the backlash.

Talking with Nina West on the “DragCast” podcast, Ridley addressed the divisive reactions, saying, “It’s changed film by film honestly, like 98%, it’s so amazing. This last film, it was really tricky. January was not that nice. It was weird, I felt like all of this love that we’d sort of been shown the first time around, I was like, ‘Where’s the love gone?’”

The actor explained she’d recently watched the movie’s making-of documentary, “The Skywalker Legacy,” and remarked on how “filled with love” it was.

“I think it’s that tricky thing of when you’re part of something that is so filled with love and then people … you know, everyone’s entitled to not like something, but it feels like it’s changed slightly,” Ridley said. “But I think in general that’s because social media and what have you.”

Ridley isn’t on social media and said she wouldn’t tweet about a film if she didn’t like it, but added, “I guess now conversations are just more public, so there’s stuff that I wouldn’t have seen, but honestly trying to scroll through my newsfeed in January and trying to not see ‘Star Wars’ stuff, I’d see headlines and be like ‘Oh my God, this is so upsetting.’”

The actor reiterated that “it’s been tricky,” adding, “I feel really proud of it, and I’m so thrilled to be part of it. Yeah, but it’s a funny thing.”

“Rise of Skywalker” director J.J. Abrams previously addressed fan criticism about as diplomatically as you can, saying whether someone liked it or hated it, they were “right.”

“We knew starting this that any decision we made — a design decision, a musical decision, a narrative decision — would please someone and infuriate someone else,” Abrams said at the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences in Hollywood. “And they’re all right.”

So everyone’s right! Yay! Problem solved. There’s balance in the Force. Next question, please.