WARNING: This article contains spoilers for The Bubble!
Daisy Ridley makes a memorable cameo in Netflix’s The Bubble, which serves as a truly odd Star Wars crossover. Directed by Judd Apatow, The Bubble is Netflix's 2022 comedy satire that mocks various franchises amid the height of the COVID-19 pandemic. Starring major franchise actors like The Mandalorian's Pedro Pascal and Guardian of the Galaxy/Doctor Who's Karen Gillan, The Bubble also recruits several notable blockbuster stars for cameos, which includes Star Wars’ Daisy Ridley.
While Daisy Ridley’s The Bubble cameo is far from the film's only movie star appearance, she certainly has the oddest inclusion. Ridley, who is best known for portraying Rey in the Star Wars sequel trilogy, has the first major cameo in Judd Apatow’s movie, which is followed by the appearances of fellow franchise stars like John Cena, James McAvoy, and even a CGI Benedict Cumberbatch. The Bubble’s meta scenes work to elevate the film’s satire, which involves mocking McAvoy’s iconic X-Men role and placing Ridley opposite a notable Star Wars actor.
After The Bubble’s characters have spent weeks enduring the confines of their hotel rooms, Dieter (Pedro Pascal) decides to take drugs while participating in a virtual workout course. The instructor, Kate, happens to be none other than Daisy Ridley, in one of her first film appearances since the divisive Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker. While alone in his room, Pascal’s character hallucinates that Ridley’s virtual character is not only speaking directly to him, but flirting with him as well. To make the scene weirder, the two Star Wars actors begin kissing through the screen, only for the moment to end with them having sex on the virtual workout app. While Star Wars fans have long-theorized about Rey and Din Djarin’s stories connecting, this definitely wasn’t the type of crossover that anyone expected.
Pedro Pascal’s Star Wars TV show, The Mandalorian, has been used as a significant point of connection for the larger universe, which includes links to every film trilogy, including Daisy Ridley’s sequel movies. While Ridley’s character Rey would be a child at the time of The Mandalorian, the divisive treatment of her role in the Star Wars sequels has led many to believe that Pascal’s series—or one of the other spinoffs taking place during that era—would bring her story into the mix in order to better elevate her character in the wider lore. Viewers have yet to see any versions of Ridley and Pascal’s Star Wars characters on screen together, but The Bubble has now made for a particularly weird crossover, albeit outside of their shared franchise.
Since Netflix’s The Bubble focuses much of its satire on mocking major franchises, the pairing of Star Wars’ Ridley and Pascal opposite one another in a drug-induced hallucination scene works to create a more subtle nod to one of the most iconic film series of all time. Although they weren’t wearing their respective Jakku desert garb and Mandalorian beskar armor, Ridley’s The Bubble cameo was clearly meant to grab the attention of modern Star Wars fans. It’s highly unlikely that a future, more legitimate Star Wars crossover between Daisy Ridley and Pedro Pascal would even remotely reflect their meeting in The Bubble, though the two actors being seen opposite one another so intimately is sure to create more excitement for the possibility of a true Rey and Mando connection.