Daisy Ridley in 2026: She Escaped the Star Wars Shadow and Won Hollywood
It’s been ten years to the day since Star Wars: The Force Awakens debuted in theaters, reshaping the pop culture landscape and sending a “total unknown” named Daisy Ridley into orbit. For many actors, getting the lead role in the biggest franchise on Earth is a golden ticket – but it’s one that risks sending them off in a permanent direction.
But if we peer toward the 2026 cinematic horizon, Daisy Ridley in 2026 hasn’t just weathered post-franchise life—she’s orchestrated one of the most intriguing career pivots in modern Hollywood. Making the leap from a galaxy far, far away to the gritty coastlines of Tasmania and the verdant beaches of the Philippines, Ridley has risen not only as a star, but a ‘creative architect’ of her own destiny.
The Tasmanian Gothic: Finding Horror in Humanity
Ridley’s 2026 begins with a bang on January 2 with We Bury the Dead. Stop when you’re about to be surprised by a standard jump-scare fest. Directed by Zak Hilditch (apocalyptic heartbreaker These Final Hours), this film uses the zombie trope as a Trojan horse for discussing something far scarier: grief.
For Ava Newman (Ridley), a woman searching for her husband in Tasmania after a military experiment goes wrong that kills 500,000. Ridley, however, gets her hands dirty — literally, in the film. She becomes part of a “body retrieval unit,” bringing the terror down to the physical, mind-numbing experience of death well before the ghostly aspect spins in.
There is certainly no shortage of horrors in the film, but Ridley says the most “bone-chilling” moment contains zero zombies.
“An uncomfortable, awkward dance begins and turns into the potentially unsettling, a moment that grabs you by the bones and doesn’t let go.”
In a “dance of delusion,” Ava (Georgina Campbell) is persuaded by a grieving soldier (Mark Coles Smith) to don his deceased wife’s attire and slow dance with him. It’s a fraying moment of mindmelt that confirms the beasts outside have nothing on the traumas within.
The Vibe: 28 Days Later meets a high-stakes emotional drama. Ridley says the practical effects were so convincing that during a scene with a “fast zombie,” her mind “was trying to work out whether we were acting or whether I was in genuine fear.”
A Star Wars Reunion in Paradise
The other end of the scale is The Last Resort, which has film Twitter aflame for one specific reason: the meta-narrative.
The rom-com teams Ridley (Rey Skywalker) with Alden Ehrenreich (Young Han Solo). It’s an extraordinary meeting of Star Wars legacies. They both bore the tremendous weight of the franchise on their shoulders, and to see them in a grounded, charming setting just feels like a victory lap.
Shot on location in the Philippines, the story centers on Brooke (Ridley), an ambitious hotel executive, and Ben (Ehrenreich), an easy-going expatriate pilot. It’s a classic “duty versus freedom” story, but the chemistry is really what’s enticing. Ridley has also commented on the “joyful” response of fans to the casting, and the unique connection she and Ehrenreich have. After years of saving the galaxy, seeing these two try their hand at love and hotel management is a happy, lighthearted antidote to the blockbuster-heavy season.
The Return of the Jedi (and a New Philosophy)
The agency was also a big part of the Lightsaber room in the ‘New Jedi Order’ Thread. While Ridley is expanding her horizons, she’s not abandoning her origins. Ridley Clarified, The story is set 15 years after The Rise of Skywalker. Ridley, now 33, is excited to return as a more mature Rey who is no longer a student, but a master rebuilding an order.
But what really characterizes this period of Ridley’s life is her worldview. In recent interviews, she boiled her professional credo down to four words:
“I’m not an arsehole.”
It feels obvious, but in Hollywood, it is revolutionary. From her days behind the bar before she was famous, Ridley is insistent on timeliness, preparedness and treating the crew well. Whether she’s submerged in prosthetic gore in Western Australia or dazzled by the President of the Philippines during a rom-com shoot, she keeps her feet firmly on the ground.
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Conclusion
As we near 2026, Daisy Ridley has already demonstrated that she can “genre defy.” She’s not running from her past, but she’s not resting on it. She’s an action star, a scream queen, a romantic lead and producer all at once.
If We Bury the Dead and The Last Resort are any indication, Daisy Ridley in 2026 has definitively laid to rest the “one-role wonder” myth. She’s crafted a career that is resilient, varied, and most importantly, deeply human.
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