Summary
- Daisy Ridley trades her lightsaber for an ax in a new survival thriller.
- Ridley’s recent career resurgence has been marked by strong performances.
-
We Bury the Dead
may continue Ridley’s success, premieres soon.
Star Wars‘ Daisy Ridley trades her lightsaber for an ax in the first look at the new survival thriller, We Bury the Dead. Written and directed by Zak Hilditch, the upcoming film follows a woman who, desperate to find her husband after a disastrous military experiment destroys the population of Tasmania, joins a body retrieval unit, but her search takes a chilling turn when the bodies she’s burying begin showing signs of life. With Ridley in the lead role, the cast also includes Mark Coles Smith, Brenton Thwaites, Kym Jackson, Matt Whelan, Deanna Cooney, and Holly Hargreaves.
Now, first-look images from Ridley’s new survival thriller, We Bury the Dead, have been revealed via Variety. Check them out below:
The first image shows Ridley trading her lightsaber for an ax, and across all three photos, her character appears worn out as she travels to southern Tasmania, hoping to confront her unresolved issues despite an overwhelming sense of futility.
Will We Bury the Dead Continue Daisy Ridley’s Recent Resurgence?
She’s Turned Around Her Career With Some Strong Performances
Ridley rose from relative obscurity to superstardom when she was cast as Rey in the Star Wars sequel trilogy in 2015. However, after Rise of Skywalker capped off the trilogy in disappointing fashion in 2019, Ridley continued to star in a series of critically panned projects. This includes Chaos Walking, a critical and commercial disaster that quickly killed any chance of a film franchise based on author Patrick Ness’ dystopian sci-fi trilogy. In 2023, Ridley starred in the psychological thriller, The Marsh King’s Daughter, another critical and commercial failure.
However, Ridley’s career saw a turning point when she starred in and produced the independent drama, Sometimes I Think About Dying, which was a hit at Sundance in 2023, with her exceptionally sorrowful performance being the subject of much praise. Ridley’s resurgence continued into 2024 with Disney’s Young Woman and the Sea, in which her performance as Gertrude Ederl, the first woman to swim across the English Channel, also received much praise.
Related
Young Woman And The Sea Review: Daisy Ridley Stars In Heartfelt, Genuine Biopic About Daring Swimmer
The film is sincere; it’s not forcing us to feel something as the story unfolds. We do feel, though, thanks to the writing & the actors’ performances.
With We Bury the Dead as her next project, Ridley has a chance to continue her recent resurgence. The film is scheduled to have its world premiere at the Adelaide Film Festival in November, so the critical response will soon become clear. If the positive critical response to Hilditch’s past projects, 1922 and These Final Hours, is any indication, We Bury the Dead should be another promising project for Ridley that showcases another strong performance from the actress.
Source: Variety
