<Tr> <Th> Affiliation </Th> <Td> Resistance </Td> </Tr> <Tr> <Th> Homeworld </Th> <Td> Jakku </Td> </Tr> <P> Rey is a fictional character in the Star Wars franchise, portrayed by English actress Daisy Ridley . First appearing as the main character in Star Wars: The Force Awakens, Rey is a scavenger who was left behind on the planet Jakku when she was a child, and later becomes involved with the Resistance's conflict with the First Order when her solitary life is interrupted by BB - 8, the droid of ace Resistance pilot Poe Dameron, and a runaway Stormtrooper named Finn . </P> <P> Screenwriter Michael Arndt said that he found Lucasfilm President Kathleen Kennedy's offer to write the Star Wars sequel trilogy daunting in mid-2012, but he became interested when it was explained to him that the tale was about the origin story of a female Jedi and he met with George Lucas . The character was a young woman known as Kira in the early stages of production, and Arndt described her as a "loner, hothead, gear - head, badass". Arndt said that he struggled with introducing the young woman as the main character in his story while keeping her from being overshadowed after her early meeting with the Luke Skywalker character . Ridley recalled that director and writer J.J. Abrams originally intended to name the character "Keera", however during filming in Abu Dhabi, Abrams revealed to Ridley that he was thinking of going with "Rey". </P>

When did rey first appear in star wars