Daisy Ridley Listened to “Mulan” to Prepare for Her Role as Rey, and More “Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker” Tidbits from Today’s Galaxy’s Edge Q&A

Today the official Star Wars social media feeds and YouTube channel held a special Q&A session from Disneyland’s Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge with Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker co-writer and director J.J. Abrams and cast members Daisy Ridley (Rey), John Boyega (Finn), Oscar Isaac (Poe Dameron), Kelly Marie Tran (Rose Tico), Keri Russell (Zorii Bliss), Anthony Daniels (C-3PO), and Naomi Ackie (Jannah).

During the live-streamed event, Daisy Ridley reiterated that she “used to listen to ‘I’ll Make a Man Out of You’ from Mulan” to get into character as Rey. “Just because I love that song. Love the sequence: Mulan finding her strength.”

When asked how it felt to be closing out three trilogies of Star Wars movies across 42 years with this new film, Oscar Isaac replied, “To have been able to have contributed to this crazy cultural phenomenon, and to be a part of telling the last portion of  this massive story is pretty surreal.”

And commenting on Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge itself, J.J. Abrams had this to say: “It’s always a bit weird coming here because it’s so much like the sets that we shoot on. In fact, in the Millennium Falcon it’s almost exactly like the set, but there are no steps where there should be, so there are these imperceptible differences, but it’s incredible how similar it is to where we shoot.”

Watch Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker Livestream Q&A from Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge:

  • Daisy Ridley tried to be more present and appreciate the filming of this final movie because her previous experiences were such whirlwinds.
  • John Boyega will miss Finn’s interactions with new characters and help guide their introductions into the world.
  • Oscar Isaac’s favorite takeaway from working on Star Wars was making true friendships with his fellow cast members and J.J. Abrams.
  • Naomi Ackie took inspiration from watching Ridley and Boyega’s performance together in The Force Awakens.
  • Kelly Marie Tran learned a vulnerability and an “ability to look past things that can be painful or resentful, and lead from love” from playing Rose.
  • Anthony Daniels’ favorite scene to perform as C-3PO was in the Ewok village in Return of the Jedi: “It appears that you are to be the main course of a banquet given in my honor.”
  • Keri Russell says Star Wars is special because it is our current version of mythology.

Watch Daisy Ridley sing “I’ll Make a Man Out of You” from Mulan:

  • J.J. is excited to see Rey and Poe have extended interactions for the first time in this movie, as the whole gang is finally going on an adventure together.
  • Isaac’s favorite droid is the Gonk droid (GNK-series power droid), though no one else in the cast seems to know what that is.
  • A fan explained to Anthony Daniels that he learned it was okay to be afraid because Threepio was afraid in the movies.
  • J.J. Abrams prefers the classic version of Disneyland’s The Haunted Mansion to the current Haunted Mansion Holiday overlay.
  • Oscar Isaac wants to try an “Arnold Palmer” of Blue Milk mixed with Green Milk.
  • J.J. thinks “Mickey Waffles” is a character from Martin Scorsese’s The Irishman.

Finally, the Q&A wrapped up with the Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker cast re-creating their reactions to the end of the movie using only facial expressions, as you can see in the screen capture below:

Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker will be released into theaters on Friday, December 20.