Rey's Return to STAR WARS Reportedly Paused as Lucasfilm Prioritizes Other Projects — GeekTyrant

Geek Tyrant

23-06-2025

The Rey-centric Star Wars movie may be hitting pause… again. According to industry insider Daniel Richtman, the long-gestating New Jedi Order film, which would see Daisy Ridley reprise her role as Rey under the direction of Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy, is reportedly back on hold.
Richtman says, 'The Rey movie is on hold once again, as both the Shawn Levy and James Mangold Star Wars films are moving forward first. The project is not canceled — just temporarily on hold.'
This shift isn't entirely unexpected. After Peaky Blinders creator Steven Knight exited the project, a new writer was never publicly confirmed. Despite that uncertainty, Lucasfilm still appeared to view the film as a priority… until now.
The status of Rey's next chapter has been murky for a while. One moment it's full speed ahead, the next it's reworking behind the scenes. But don't count Rey out just yet.
In fact, a previously report suggests she still plays a major role in Lucasfilm's long-term plans.
'Rey, the scavenger-turned-Jedi played by Daisy Ridley in the last three episode movies, is key to the franchise's next turn. That potentially puts Kinberg's trilogy story development, as early in its conceptual stages as it may be, on a collision course with the Rey standalone movie that is actively in the works with director Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy.'
The report went even further, noting that Ridley's Rey is more than just another character. According to one unnamed source: 'She is the most valuable cinematic asset, in some ways maybe the only one, Star Wars has right now.'
That might explain why writer-producer Simon Kinberg ( X-Men: Dark Phoenix ) is reportedly developing a new trilogy that could feature Rey in some capacity, though how it connects to New Jedi Order is still unclear.
As for Ridley herself, she spoke about her return last year in an interview with Premiere magazine:
"They simply asked if I wanted to do it, based on an idea, without the script being written yet. But if I hadn't been convinced by the concept, the movie wouldn't have been made. I took a day to think about it and I told myself that I had had great times making those films.
'This new adventure seemed fun to me, so why say no? My thoughts on the subject are quite simple: if I didn't think the story was worth telling, I wouldn't have come back."
The project was said to be set 15 years after The Rise of Skywalker , with Rey building a new Jedi Order from scratch. Whether that vision still stands or gets absorbed into another project remains to be seen.
For now, the wait for Rey's return continues… again.