‘Killa Bee’: Daisy Ridley To Play British Nurse Turned MMA Fighter In Sports Biopic

“Star Wars” franchise actress Daisy Ridley is looking to take a page from “The Smashing Machine” and “Christy” with her latest feature project, “Killa Bee,” which will see her playing the role of a British ICU nurse from Southampton turned MMA fighter, Bryony Tyrell, in the true-life sports drama that will be directed by Kenton Oxley (“Farah”).

The compelling hook of “Killa Bee,” as outlined in the report from Deadline, is that the mother of two, who went from nursing for the National Health Service by day to the competitive and sometimes dangerous realm of MMA fighting by night. Becoming one of Britain’s biggest prospects with a previous background in kickboxing, while she was studying for a master’s in nursing and molecular biology at university.

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“Killa Bee” boasts a script penned by Ruth Sewell and will be produced by Knockout Productions in association with Picture Perfect and Moviehouse Entertainment. The producing team assembled includes the likes of Lucinda Thakrar, Mark Vennis, and executive producer Michael Foster.

Ridley said in an official statement regarding the sports drama, “Bryony’s story is one of extraordinary courage and resilience. I was deeply moved by her emotional and empowering journey. I can’t wait to bring her spirit to the screen.” It feels like a role perfect for the actress after having gone through a tremendous amount of fight/action training for the trilogy of “Star Wars” films and more recent action roles like Martin Campbell‘s “Cleaner.”

Production on “Killa Bee” is said to start sometime in Q2 of 2026, with Capture launching world sales on the sports project ahead of the American Film Market next week.

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We’re still expecting to see Ridley, eventually, return to a galaxy far, far away as Rey Skywalker with the gestating “Star Wars: New Jedi Order,” which has director Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy attached to helm, but has been held up in various development stages at Lucasfilm as other “Star Wars” movies like “The Mandalorian & Grogu” and “Star Wars: Starfighter” have moved ahead into production. Keeping our fingers crossed that we’ll indeed be getting more Rey in the near future.