
He said that "We always wanted to write Rey as the central character" and that other female representation in the story was also important.

On creating a female lead for the new trilogy, Abrams stated that from his initial discussions with writer Lawrence Kasdan, he was excited at the concept of having a woman at the center of the story. Abrams originally intended to name the character "Keera", but during filming in Abu Dhabi, Abrams revealed to Ridley that he was thinking of going with "Rey". Ridley recalled that director and writer J. J. Arndt said that he struggled with introducing the young woman as the main character in his story while keeping her from being overshadowed after her early meeting with Luke Skywalker, whose role in the film was eventually minimized. The character was known as Kira in the early stages of production, and Arndt described her as a "loner, hothead, gear-head, badass". Screenwriter Michael Arndt said that he found Lucasfilm President Kathleen Kennedy's offer to write Episode VII daunting in mid-2012, but he became interested when it was explained to him that the tale was about the origin story of a female Jedi and he met with George Lucas. Ridley has garnered multiple accolades for her performances as Rey, including two Saturn Award nominations. Reception to the character and Ridley's performance has been highly positive. As the last remaining Jedi, she makes it her lifelong mission to rebuild the Jedi Order from the ground up. Rey later controversially adopts the name Rey Skywalker to honor her mentors and their family legacy, even though she truly is Rey Palpatine.

Despite being enemies, Rey and Kylo Ren share a connection called a 'Force dyad' and eventually become romantically involved with each other. Powerful with the Force, Rey trains to be a Jedi under Luke Skywalker and General Leia, and faces adversaries such as Kylo Ren, Supreme Leader Snoke and the resurrected Emperor Palpatine-who is revealed to be her grandfather in The Rise of Skywalker. She later becomes involved with the Resistance's conflict with the First Order. Rey is introduced as a scavenger who was left behind on the planet Jakku when she was a child. She also appears in the film's sequels, The Last Jedi (2017) and The Rise of Skywalker (2019), and related Star Wars media. Abrams, and Michael Arndt for The Force Awakens (2015), the first installment of the trilogy, and is portrayed by Daisy Ridley.

Rey is a fictional character in the Star Wars franchise and the main protagonist of the sequel film trilogy.
