Proving there’s life after Star Wars Daisy Ridley has been announced as the star of upcoming novel adaptation The Marsh King’s Daughter. If the title sounds familiar, it’s a property that has been in the works for some time, almost immediately after the novels release. Two years ago we reported that Alicia Viklander would be taking the title role, then radio silence until today’s news. The book, a 2017 psychological thriller by Karen Dionne, follows Helena who is ripped from the normal life she was trying to live after her father, the titular ‘Marsh King’ escapes from prison. Helena and her mother had been held captive in the wild by her father prior to his imprisonment, so you can see where this would post an issue for Helena’s hope of a Rockwellian existence.
Here’s the official synopsis for the source novel:
Helena Pelletier has a loving husband, two beautiful daughters, and a business that fills her days. But she also has a secret: she is the product of an abduction. Her mother was kidnapped as a teenager by her father and kept in a remote cabin in the marshlands of Michigan’s Upper Peninsula. Helena, born two years after the abduction, loved her home in nature, and despite her father’s sometimes brutal behavior, she loved him, too…until she learned precisely how savage he could be.
More than twenty years later, she has buried her past so soundly that even her husband doesn’t know the truth. But now her father has killed two guards, escaped from prison, and disappeared into the marsh. The police begin a manhunt, but Helena knows they don’t stand a chance. Knows that only one person has the skills to find the survivalist the world calls the Marsh King—because only one person was ever trained by him: his daughter.
For Ridley’s part her turn as Helena offers a chance to tread into darker, and more serious territory. While her performance as Rey in the recent Star Wars sequels was universally applauded, the movies themselves were not and didn’t really give her a ton on which to showcase her true acting talent.
The film is being put together by Black Bear, Anonymous Content and STX International, who have chosen Neil Burger (The Illusionist, Divergent) to direct the film.
