Daisy Ridley Reveals the One Star Wars Thing Fans Don’t Talk Enough About

When people talk about their favorite parts of the Star Wars franchise, the first images that come up are often the epic lightsaber duels, the jaw-dropping space battles, and the cute little aliens that are always in ample supply. Of course, these are all important aspects of this franchise. Star Wars wouldn’t be what it is without them. But there is one thing that Daisy Ridley thinks more people should talk about when it comes to this popular space opera – the performances.

While in the Den of Geek studio promoting her film We Bury the Dead at SXSW, we got to ask Ridley about Star Wars and what she feels like people tend to gloss over when it comes to the franchise.

“When something is on a larger scale, I think there can be a tendency to not discuss the emotional story as much, and performance and connection and relationships on screen,” she says. “It’s all worthwhile, beautiful. Every film is artwork, every film is an expression of humanity, every film is an exploration to what connects us, what divides us on whichever scale and sort of in whatever genre.”

Ridley does make a fair point. Star Wars has had some incredible performances over the decades from Carrie Fisher and Mark Hamill to Ridley herself and Adam Driver to so many others. The epic action and fight choreography are only one aspect of these stories. In order for them to have the lasting impact they’ve had, the emotional beats have to land as well.

We have to believe that Luke (Hamill) is distraught when he learns that Darth Vader is his father in The Empire Strikes Back. We have to believe that Leia’s death has enough of an emotional impact that Kylo Ren (Driver) changes his tune and helps Rey (Ridley) in The Rise of Skywalker. And we have to believe that the rebels of Rogue One are willing to fight for a future they might not see.

At its core, Star Wars is a series about finding hope when there seems to be none and rising up against fascist oppressors. The meaningful moments of connection and humanity that remind us what these characters are fighting for are a crucial part of this core theme.

Of course not every performance in Star Wars is going to be Oscar worthy. We might be able to look at the prequel films now through a nostalgic lens and appreciate their more…campy approach, but there are definitely some important emotional moments that don’t quite land as well as they should. But as Ridley says, all films, for better or worse, are an exploration of what connects us as humans whether on this planet or in a galaxy far, far away. 

Star Wars is arguably at its best when its performances and dialogue leave as much of a lasting impact as its lightsaber duels. Projects like Rogue One and Andor have certainly set the bar high in that regard in recent years. Hopefully future projects will follow suit, and encourage us to talk further about the “emotional story” at the core of this world.

The post Daisy Ridley Reveals the One Star Wars Thing Fans Don’t Talk Enough About appeared first on Den of Geek.