Joking about it last night on The Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon, the actress - who plays Rey - revealed what she hoped was a joke made by her father on the set of The Last Jedi.

The team were in Ireland filming the scenes that pick-up directly from the end of The Force Awakens when Ridley Snr was introduced to Hamill.

“He likes [Star Wars],” Ridley said of her parent. “He came to the set.

“He came to Ireland when we were sort of re-doing the end bit for the beginning of The Last Jedi.”

When asked if her dad met Hamill, she added: “Yeah… I don’t know if he was joking, but he did say, ‘who do you play then?’”

As Fallon cringed, Ridley laughed and added: “He must have been [joking].”

The host also asked about the influence of the late Carrie Fisher.

“I think it was a lead by example thing,” Ridley said. “Carrie just never shrunk from what it is, what she was… everything.”

Fisher will give her final performance as General Leia in Star Wars: The Last Jedi when it is released on December 14.

Ridley has appeared on a slew of TV shows in recent days, talking also about the latest royal engagement.

She also confirmed that she has now seen a finished edit of the film.