Daisy Ridley is getting rave reviews from critics for her performance in The Force Awakens, so it is very likely she is primed to shoot into super-stardom in short order after her starring turn in the first film of the sequel trilogy. In an interview with Variety that released today, Ridley sat down to discuss Rey as a character, the similarities and differences between the character and the actor, future prospects, and whether or not she has seen the script for Episode VIII.

With the film’s release, actors have been freed to loosen the secrecy a bit. So, in this piece Ridley goes into a bit more detail than she might have a few days ago. Slight character spoilers can be taken from this interview for those who haven’t seen The Force Awakens yet, so if you worry about such things proceed at your own risk…

Ridley on How she relates to Rey as a character:

Her hopefulness. I think that was something driving me through the auditions — even though it felt so insanely out of anything that I could’ve imagined, there was something inside of me that was telling me that I could do it, even though I was riddled with doubts and insecurities, so probably that. She’s much more hopeful than I am, and much braver than I am; for a woman who had been alone for such a long time to be so open to what’s going on, and letting journeys happen, and letting relationships happen, I think is really incredible.

Ridley on working with Abrams and the progression of Rey as a character over time:

She changed from when we first began, she became softer. And I think that’s probably me, because Americans tend not to understand me, so it helped, slowing down the speech and everything just made it softer than I am and that’s nice, because watching it, I was surprised, like, “Oh, that was cool and that’s not me.” But it was definitely a collaboration. Obviously, the script was incredible. I didn’t have to do anything with that, but J.J. is incredibly collaborative. Every day, we would all run through the scenes, and depending on how we felt, things would change. We would tweak things. We would just talk things through to make sure we were all on the same page … To see Harrison and J.J. together was amazing, because J.J.’s a huge fanboy so he’d be like, “Oh my god!” and then obviously they would talk through things. And I’m incredibly inexperienced, so to see someone as experienced as Harrison, seeing how he works and what it is that he does to make things click so well is incredible.

Ridley on the Rey and Finn dynamic:

The thing that’s exciting is, BB-8 is her first ever friend, so that relationship was wonderful and then with Finn… she’s never really had even relationships in her life, so to have someone that not only is talking to her like she’s a person, but also because they’re the same age and they’re both searching for something, and they can see that in each other, and it’s fun. It’s a wonderful combination of things. He’s sure of himself — kind of like me and John — he’s pretty sure of himself and that’s helpful, that’s like an anchor. And he’s brave, he tries to do the right thing, and he risks things for her, and that’s never happened to her before.

Ridley on whether she has seen the script for Episode VIII:

I have. It’s very good; very good. Let’s see “VII” first and then we’ll talk about “VIII.” [Laughs.]

Check out Variety for the entire interview including just why Daisy Ridley thinks she’s so different from her character.