The Rise Of Skywalker’s Jodie Comer Talks Keeping Her Role A Secret, Shares What It’s Actually Like On A Star Wars Set

Rey's Mother (Jodie Comer) hugs young Rey goodbye in Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker (2019)

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Many actors dream of being involved with an iconic franchise, and Star Wars is sure to be one that’s on many performers’ bucket lists. This seems to have been the case for Killing Eve star Jodie Comer, who was able to join the beloved space saga through 2019’s The Rise of Skywalker. Of course, her inclusion is something she couldn’t just shout to the world. She had to keep it a secret, along with any details on what it was like to be on the set.

In Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker, Jodie Comer plays the role of Rey’s mother in a flashback, in which she and Rey’s father were murdered by Emperor Palpatine’s assassins. So you can understand why the actress had to remain silent about her involvement in the movie. She recently reflected on this very thing:

It was spectacular. But I had to keep that a secret for a long, long, long time.

There’s always been secrecy involved when it comes to major movie properties, and that’s arguably increased with the rise of social media. For Star Wars, Lucasfilm and Disney go to particularly great lengths to ensure details don’t leak. Former The Mandalorian star Gina Carano once discussed the intense amount of secrecy involved in the Disney+’s show’s production. Rise of Skywalker director J.J. Abrams also revealed that the studio once took precautions in his own office while he was working on The Force Awakens. You can revisit both of Abrams’ films on Disney+, which you can sign up for using this link.

Luckily, Jodie Comer managed not to spill the beans and, based on her recent comments to EW, it sounds like there was a lot to hold in. Comer recalled her experience as being relatively “eye-opening,” and she seems to have learned a lot about the inner workings of Star Wars:

Hearing the detail that goes into the makeup and the costumes, it was so eye-opening. Speaking about green screen and visual effects, when I got Star Wars, I was like, 'They'll probably be a lot that I don't see.' But these kind of figures, their mouths move and they were remote-controlled and there was so much there that you didn't have to imagine.

Many of us would be like a kid in a candy store if we had the opportunity to be on the set of a Star Wars production. Unfortunately (for us), it’s an opportunity that so few people get. With this, we can simply live vicariously through the actors, writers and crew members that get to live the dream of being smack dab in the middle of the galaxy far, far away.

Erik Swann
Senior Content Producer

Erik Swann is a Senior Content Producer at CinemaBlend. He began working with the publication in 2020 when he was hired as Weekend Editor. Today, he continues to write, edit and handle social media responsibilities over the weekend. On weekdays, he also writes TV and movie-related news and helps out with editing and social media as needed. He graduated from the University of Maryland, where he received a degree in Broadcast Journalism. After shifting into multi-platform journalism, he started working as a freelance writer and editor before joining CB. Covers superheroes, sci-fi, comedy, and almost anything else in film and TV. He eats more pizza than the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles.