Star Wars’ Daisy Ridley turns action hero in first look at new thriller from Casino Royale director

Daisy Ridley in Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker
(Image credit: Lucasfilm)

Did anyone have Daisy Ridley going full Die Hard on their 2024 bingo card? Now, we’ve got our first look at the Star Wars actor playing an everyday-worker-turned-hero in Cleaner, a new action thriller director by Casino Royale’s Martin Campbell.

The image comes courtesy of Screen Daily, and shows Ridley looking a little worse for wear with a bloodied and bruised face – but still rocking a Strokes t-shirt.

There’s a chance Cleaner slipped under your radar when it was first unveiled last year. In May 2023, Deadline revealed that Ridley would be playing Joey Locke, an ex-soldier now cleaning windows at London’s iconic Shard building.

The outlet even had a snippet of the premise, in which "radical activists take over an energy company’s annual gala at the Shard." Unfortunately for them, their demonstration is "hijacked by a zealous extremist within their ranks, who is ready to murder everyone in the building to send his anarchic message to the world." Presumably, it’s up to Ridley to save the day.

No release date yet for Cleaner, though it’s looking set to be a busy period for Ridley, who is also attached to an upcoming Rey standalone film.

Set 15 years after the events of Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker, the film – directed by Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy – will bring back Daisy Ridley’s Jedi as she aims to rebuild the Jedi Order.

Ridley recently broke her silence on the project in an interview with Collider. She said: "I'm very excited. The story is really cool. I'm waiting to read a script because, obviously, I don't have any other updates. It's not what I expected, but I'm very excited."

For more on what’s coming to cinemas and a galaxy far, far away, be sure to check out our upcoming movies guide, as well as a look ahead to the upcoming Star Wars movies you should be excited about.

Bradley Russell

I'm the Senior Entertainment Writer here at GamesRadar+, focusing on news, features, and interviews with some of the biggest names in film and TV. On-site, you'll find me marveling at Marvel and providing analysis and room temperature takes on the newest films, Star Wars and, of course, anime. Outside of GR, I love getting lost in a good 100-hour JRPG, Warzone, and kicking back on the (virtual) field with Football Manager. My work has also been featured in OPM, FourFourTwo, and Game Revolution.