Star Wars: Do you think that Daisy Ridley's career will suffer a fate similar to the other female leads in the series?
Probably.share
After all, few science fiction films do much for the careers of their female leads, Sigourney Weaver being a lone exception.
Let's be blunt: Carrie Fisher got her Stars Wars role because she was the child of Hollywood royalty more than anything else. While her abilities have improved over the decades since Star Wars, to claim that she is more than a modest actress is giving her credit which she may not be due.
Natalie Portman's casting was an effort to "strengthen" the weak female role in the film that turned into a disaster. The wooden dialogue, and her lack of chemistry with her co-star, simply dragged her down; and since her apparently unhappy experiences doing the Thor franchise, she seems to have curtailed her sci-fi outings (UPDATE: I wrote this before Ms. Portman accepted the lead role in 2018’s Annihilation. It doesn’t appear however, that this film’s dense narrative will translate into box office success)
Ms. Ridley’s range seems to lend itself to her becoming a successful character actor if she chooses that route. However, with the exception of Harrison Ford, the Star Wars franchise is not known for making its leads into stars, and there’s no reason to believe that Ms. Ridley will break that trend.