Last week when the first trailer for Rogue One: A Star Wars Story landed, fans did what you would expect them to do. They tore it apart and analyzed it to a psychotic degree. It’s certainly what we did. The other thing that fans did was try to figure out if this second of the new Star Wars movies would have any bearing on the first one. The primary question was whether the new character of Jyn Erso might be the long lost mother of Daisy Ridley’s character Rey from Star Wars: The Force Awakens. Ridley herself has now spoken on the topic and while she hasn’t made an outright denial, she’s certainly implying that it is not the case.
During the MTV Movie Awards, the cable channel asked Daisy Ridley specifically about all of the online chatter going on that was tentatively connecting the two lead Star Wars women. Ridley told MTV that we probably shouldn’t get all that excited.
“I’m not being funny you guys, but just because she’s white and got brown hair… it doesn’t mean she’s my mom.”
Daisy Ridley likely hits the nail on the head as we have so little information about Jyn Erso at this point as the only reasons to really make the connection are circumstantial. They’re both white and they’re both brunettes, and while that does help the two characters look similar, which could imply a genetic connection, it’s hardly that conclusive. As we pointed out in our analysis of the idea, the chronology as we currently understand it doesn’t really indicate that the timing is right. While we couldn’t use existing evidence to say definitively that Jyn isn’t Rey’s mother, it’s not looking likely.
And to be sure, Daisy Ridley is in a position to know what she’s talking about. She can speak with authority about who is or is not Rey’s mother because the actress does know what the answer is. Well, probably. While it’s possible that Ridley is using some careful language to imply Jyn Erso isn’t the answer, without actually denying it because it’s actually true, we’re inclined to continue our search for the answer elsewhere as Jyn probably isn’t it.
