Star Wars: Jessica Henwick says it was ‘very hard’ losing Rey role to Daisy Ridley after ‘arduous’ six-month audition process

Actor played first female X-Wing pilot instead

Star Wars actor Jessica Henwick has spoken out about how it felt to lose out on the role of Rey to Daisy Ridley.

Henwick, who ended up playing the first female X-Wing pilot in the franchise, had initially spent six months auditioning to play the lead.

“It was very hard for me when I didn’t get it,” she told NME, adding that the audition process was “very long, very arduous”.

She continued: “But I see why. Daisy did such an incredible job and it was 100 per cent her journey to make. It wasn’t meant for me – my life would have been completely different!”

Henwick can next be seen in The Matrix 4, which was forced to suspend filming earlier this year due to the coronavirus pandemic. The film’s release has been pushed back to 2022.

Last month, Henwick revealed that the movie’s co-director Lana Wachowski is continuing to push filmmaking boundaries in the fourth instalment of the franchise.

“Lana is doing some really interesting things on a technical level in the same way that you know, she created a style back then,” Henwick told ComicBook.com.

She added: “I think she's going to change the industry again with this film. There's some camera rigs that I've never seen before that we're using.”