Daisy Ridley has one of the more enviable careers in Hollywood, graduating from a handful of bit roles in British television to the lead of the most bankable franchise in film history in short order. But it’s easy to see why Star Wars producers were so keen on her and now that her time in that galaxy is up, Ridley’s moving onto her post-Rey career. And she’s lined up her first project.
The script for The Ice Beneath Her has apparently been the subject of a fierce bidding war in Hollywood for the last few months, with multiple studios vying for the psychological crime thriller. The movie is based on Swedish novelist’s Camilla Grebe 2015 bestseller and is in the Gone Girl vein, and will be directed by the director trio known as Radio Silence, who handled 2019’s deliciously subversive slice of social commentary Ready or Not.
Ridley is set to star as a psychological profiler who gets wrapped up in the case of a young woman’s murder.
Post-Star Wars careers are historically interesting. While Harrison Ford went onto become of the most iconic actors of his generation, Mark Hamil opted for a more offbeat career (he voiced the Joker in the WB’s beloved Batman: The Animated Series) and Carrie Fischer became a renowned script doctor. The early-’00s prequels elevated Ewan McGregor and Natalie Portman’s careers and helped Liam Neeson pivot to Taken–type action movies, but effectively squashed Jake Lloyd and Hayden Christensen’s Hollywood dreams.
The current batch of Star Wars leads are nicely set up for their future. Oscar Isaac is already beloved far beyond the franchise that made him an a-lister and John Boyega is starring in an upcoming heist flick alongside Olivia Cooke. With Ridley set for her own anticipated project, it’s a safe bet you’ll be hearing about her for a long time to come.
