Mark Hamill, Daisy Ridley Recreate Iconic ‘Star Wars’ Picture For Actress’ 24th Birthday

Shooting a Star Wars film is probably the most fun that an adult can have while keeping their pants on. Even shooting on her 24th birthday didn’t dampen the spirits of Daisy Ridley, as she celebrated this occasion by posing for a rather familiar photo alongside her Star Wars 8 co-star, Mark Hamill.

In fact, Mark Hamill is so enamored with Daisy Ridley that he decided to take to his Twitter account to share the image of the pair to the world. And it instantly reminded people of a certain image from Empire Strikes Back.

What iconic photo were Mark Hamill and Daisy Ridley recreating with the above? Well, it was the image from Empire Strikes Back when, after finding Yoda on Dagobah, Luke Skywalker decides to carry the diminutive Jedi on his back. Here’s a picture of the scene to help jog your memory.

It’s been quite a year since Daisy Ridley celebrated her 23rd birthday. This time last year the British actress was still relatively unknown, even though she’d already been cast as Rey for Star Wars: The Force Awakens and had been filming for some time.

Now, Daisy Ridley is one of the most in demand young actresses in Hollywood, with her performance in Star Wars: The Force Awakens being roundly praised as one of the most impressive elements from the seventh installment to the beloved franchise.

In fact, Daisy Ridley proved to be so popular that soon after Star Wars: The Force Awakens had made its way to its $2 billion gross, which confirmed its status as the third highest grossing movie of all time, rumors started to emerge that Daisy Ridley was being pursued for the role of Lara Croft in a potential Tomb Raider reboot.

Daisy Ridley shares her workout routine after defending herself against body shamers https://t.co/TJWa7hvgtw pic.twitter.com/sKc5erJwUd

— People Magazine (@people) April 9, 2016

But before Daisy Ridley can even really consider what she would bring to such a role, she has the small matter of filming the follow up to Star Wars: The Force Awakens. We expect to see Daisy Ridley star opposite Luke Skywalker himself, played by Mark Hamill, in quite a few more scenes in Star Wars 8 than she did in The Force Awakens.

And Mark Hamill has lit up social media with not just images of Daisy Ridley and his co-stars Lupita Nyong’o and Oscar Isaac, but a variety of other pictures from behind the scenes on the blockbuster.

Obviously there’s a lot resting on the shoulders of Star Wars: Episode VIII to try and match The Force Awakens. Especially since J.J. Abrams, who co-wrote and directed The Force Awakens, has left the franchise and has been replaced by Rian Johnson, who has both written and directed the film.

MTV #MovieAwards winner Daisy Ridley thanks #StarWars for recognizing diversity https://t.co/ft6QRqVxXK pic.twitter.com/shyXbnaty4

— People Magazine (@people) April 11, 2016

Johnson is a sturdy set of hands to replace J.J. Abrams, though. After shooting to mainstream consciousness with Brick back in 2005, which won him the Special Jury Prize for Originality Of Vision, he followed this up with 2008’s The Brothers Bloom and 2012’s Looper, as well as directing three of the most popular episodes of Breaking Bad in the shape of “Fly,” “Fifty-One,” and “Ozymandias.”

All of this work conspired to get Rian Johnson the position as the writer and director of Star Wars: Episode VIII, which he is currently working very hard on and shooting ahead of its release date of December 15, 2017.

[Image via Twitter]