Daisy Ridley campaigning to land Judi Dench for next Star Wars film

Written by . Published: November 28 2017

Actress Daisy Ridley is petitioning director J.J. Abrams to find Dame Judi Dench a role in Star Wars: Episode Ix.


The 25-year-old befriended Dench while working on Murder on the Orient Express, and during the movie's production, fellow castmate Josh Gad filmed funny videos featuring members of their all-star line-up quizzing Daisy about the plot for the new Star Wars: The Last Jedi, in which she reprises her role as Rey from 2015's The Force Awakens.

In one piece, which Gad posted on Instagram in February (17), he recruited Dench to try and get Ridley to spill secrets about the upcoming release.

Sitting in a trailer with her scarf pulled over her head, the Dame prodded, "Are you the last Jedi?", as Daisy feigned surprise.

The actress has since revealed the comical clips were all staged, but she and Gad had a little trouble teaching Dench various Star Wars sci-fi terms, because the 82-year-old had "no idea" what she was talking about.

"We did a few (videos) with her, literally crying with laughter," Daisy recalled on breakfast show Good Morning America. "I thought, 'There's no way I'm gonna get through it,' because she... didn't know what anything was, and she kept saying, 'How do I pronounce this?', because her grandson knew, but she just had no idea, it was brilliant."

Despite her lack of Star Wars knowledge, Dench's covered-up look in the funny Instagram post was all her own doing, and now Daisy is eager to have the British acting icon join her in the follow-up to The Last Jedi.

"She put her scarf up and no one told her to do that, and we were like, 'You literally look like a Jedi knight!,'" Daisy continued, "so we've campaigned to get her in Episode IX!"

Abrams directed Ridley in Star Wars: The Force Awakens, and recently agreed to return to write and direct Episode IX after Jurassic World filmmaker Colin Trevorrow dropped out of the project. It is scheduled for release in May, 2019.

Meanwhile, the sequel to The Force Awakens, Star Wars: The Last Jedi, which Rian Johnson directed, opens in theaters on 15 December (17).