Daisy Ridley's Rey Was the Best Thing to Happen to the Star Wars Sequels

But the characters and the starting point of the story are widely considered to be pretty decent. Indeed, it's the writers who come in for most criticism. And one character in particular was arguably the best thing to happen to the trilogy.

Before landing the role of Rey, Daisy Ridley was relatively unknown. And she had to go through several auditions to get the part. Not that you'd know it as she was a natural.

As a streetwise scavenger struggling with her identity and finding her way in life, Rey was portrayed by Ridley in a believable and relatable way that drew many fans in regardless of what they thought of the writing.

She was passionate, conflicted, headstrong and yet sweet – just as you might expect somebody from her background to be. And, no she wasn't always right. But she always came from a place of trying to do the right thing.

And Ridley also captured Rey's emotional weakness; something that further endeared the character to audiences.

And if you want to get deeper into it, Rey also taught audiences a valuable moral lesson – that nobody is defined simply by their birth. Her story arc was essentially a quest to find her true self. Not the person she was by virtue of the place she was born in or to which family, but the person she truly was.

Taking the Skywalker moniker was a significant moment in the trilogy as it meant it was Rey herself who determined her own identity.

But, as with so many real-life tales, she wasn't simply afforded the opportunity to discover who she was. Moreover, she was forced to fight to find her place in the world.

But to do that, she required the help, support and guidance of others. Left to her own devices, she could never have hoped to get off the streets and be presented with a chance to develop into the person she became.

While the storylines in the sequel trilogy have been much criticised (and, yes, some of the dialogue leaves a lot to be desired), this aspect of the story is perhaps one that resonates even more today than it did when the trilogy was first released.

And it's fair to say that a large part of that is down to a stellar performance by Daisy Ridley.