Daisy Ridley Returns To ‘Star Wars’ In This Adorable ‘Forces Of Destiny’ Short

Undoubtedly one of the best things about Star Wars: The Force Awakens was the introduction to the considerable talents of the young and relatively unknown actor Daisy Ridley. Ridley’s Rey — effervescent, scrappy and loveable — is now one of the things I’m most excited about when Star Wars returns in December with The Last Jedi.

Now Ridley’s loaned her voice to a delightful little animated short, Star Wars: Forces Of Destiny. The new series aims to highlight the women of the Star Wars universe via a series of short animated films, each one narrated by Lupita Nyong’o’s Maz Kanata.

Ridley’s Rey is the first Force Awakens star to get the full animated treatment for Forces of Destiny, along with the adorable BB-8, as they trek through the ‘Sands of Jakku’, trying to avoid a hungry Nightwatcher worm with a taste for BB-8.

The short begins with Maz Kanata (voiced by Nyong’o) musing, “The choices we make, the actions we take. Moments, both big and small, shape us into forces of destiny”, which, yeah, is a little cheesy. But remember, Disney owns Star Wars now, and no one loves cheesy animation more than the Mickey Mouse company.

Plus, though the opening is a little twee (and a dastardly underuse of Lupita Nyong’o, which is becoming characteristic of the Star Wars franchise), the short itself is great. That’s mostly down to Ridley’s performance. Even just with her voice, Ridley is able to emote all the gumption and good grace that makes Rey such an exciting heroine to root for.

Another great thing about the short? We cop another earful of that brilliant little woodwind ‘Rey’s Theme’, composed by the great John Williams, which is a prodding reminder of how much lighthearted fun The Force Awakens (and Ridley’s performance) was.

Also: BB-8! That lil metal snowball of cuteness. Needless to say, the whole thing has me pretty jazzed for the return of those wonderful Force Awakens characters in the upcoming (and hopefully excellent) The Last Jedi.

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Matilda Dixon-Smith is Junkee’s Staff Writer. She tweets at @mdixonsmith.