Daisy Ridley has lined up her first post-Star Wars movie. In the span of five years, Ridley has starred in three of the biggest films of all time, starting with the critically-acclaimed The Force Awakens in 2015. While its sequels (The Last Jedi and The Rise of Skywalker) were far more divisive either among Star Wars fans and/or critics, praise has never wavered for Ridley's performance as the scavenger-turned Jedi Rey in these movies. In-between her adventures in a galaxy far, far away, Ridley has delivered equally well-received turns in projects like Murder on the Orient Express.
With the Skywalker Saga behind her and no sign when (if ever) she'll play Rey again, Ridley is angling to continue making a name for herself. It's historically been difficult for actors who broke-out starring in a Star Wars trilogy to leave the franchise behind them and match their initial success elsewhere, regardless of their qualities as a performer. Nevertheless, Ridley is forging ahead and has already found a new project to star in.
According to Deadline, Ridley has entered talks to star in The Ice Beneath Her, a crime-thriller based on Swedish author Camilla Grebe’s best-selling 2015 book (the first novel she wrote solo). Story-wise, the film will follow a detective and psychological profiler as they investigate a case involving a woman who was found beheaded in the home of a well-known businessman.
Since it was published, Grebe's source material has prompted comparisons to hit novels like Gone Girl and The Girl On the Train thanks to its unreliable narrator. Equally intriguing, the movie version is being written by Supergirl TV show veteran Caitlin Parrish and directed and produced by the trio known as Radio Silence (Tyler Gillett, Matt Bettinelli-Olpin, and Chad Villella). The latter scored a hit last year with Ready or Not, a darkly funny horror-thriller that earned generally strong reviews and grossed $58 million on a $6 million budget. They've since been attached to work on the belated fifth movie in the Scream franchise, though it seems they will helm The Ice Beneath Her first.
Up next, Ridley will star opposite Tom Holland in Chaos Walking, a dystopian YA sci-fi novel adaptation she shot back in 2017 before it was booted to 2021 because of its delayed reshoots. All the same, The Ice Beneath Her will be her first real test as an actor and, by the look of things, the first film she works on post-Rise of Skywalker. Of course, it might take her a while to find her own niche outside of a galaxy far, far away. Even Mark Hamill, who's nearly as famous these days for his decades of voice work as is he for portraying Luke Skywalker, didn't get a second wind until he was about a decade out from Return of the Jedi. Hopefully, though, The Ice Beneath Her will be the beginning of an exciting new stage in Ridley's career.
Source: Deadline