Daisy Ridley is feeling the Force! The actress, who played Rey in Star Wars: The Force Awakens, returns for Episode 8, which has already begun filming with director Rian Johnson. While plot details are still unknown, it looks like there’s a lot more lightsaber action to come from Rey as the actress teased in a behind-the-scenes training video.
Posted to Instagram, the footage shows Ridley flaunting some of her lightsaber skills in front of Force Awakens stunt performer Liang Yang. “I always try to get him to teach me things,” Ridley wrote in the caption, though she admits she still has a ways to go before perfecting this sequence.
See what the Padawan has learned so far in the video below.
So @liangstunts (TRAITOR) is WUSHU FRICKING MASTER and I always try to get him to teach me things... This was today!!! Obvs not great but HE'S amazing and he's also featured at the end our stunt team are the most incredible group of people, so lucky I get to train with them! A video posted by @daisyridley on
Ridley got in on some satisfying swordplay in The Force Awakens, which ended with Rey finding the elusive Luke Skywalker to presumably start her training as a Jedi knight. Both she and Mark Hamill had a little fun posing for a photo inspired by Luke giving Yoda on a piggy back during his own training during The Empire Strikes Back. Based on this video, it looks like Rey’s training is paying off.
I’m still hoping Ridley gets to bring back her signature staff, which was pretty badass in Episode 7. According to Lucasfilm President Kathleen Kennedy, the actress “trained with the swordfight choreographer of Game of Thrones,” in addition to learning “the bōjutsu fighting style.” Although, I am anxious to see her incorporate these techniques into her lightsaber duels.
Episode 8 also features John Boyega’s Finn, Oscar Isaac’s Poe Dameron, Adam Driver’s Kylo Ren, Domhnall Gleeson’s General Hux, Lupita Nyong’o’s Maz Kanata, and more returning cast members. Among the newbies are Benicio Del Toro, Laura Dern, and Kelly Marie Tran. We have quite some time before the film hits theaters on December 15, 2017, but we’ll be getting the first Star Wars anthology film, Rogue One, later this year to hold us over.
