We all witnessed something special the day Star Wars: The Force Awakens came out. No, I don’t mean the return to the galaxy far, far away—though that was neat, too—but rather the arrival of Daisy Ridley onto the scene. As evidenced by the crazy amount of Rey cosplays we saw this year at WonderCon, the star of J.J. Abrams‘ foray into George Lucas‘ world made a lasting impression on countless fans, thanks to her tenacity, spirit, and flat-out-great performance in the film. All of which was revealed, it seems, in the actress’ audition for the film.

In an exclusive new video from BuzzFeed, Ridley’s audition gets the talk-through treatment, as Abrams dissects what their Rey really needed to have, and why Ridley was the one who had it. But I mean, if you watch the video below, you’ll see that pretty quickly—you don’t need to be an actor, Padawan, or Jedi Master to tell the Force is strong with this one.

Ridley’s ability to connect, even in these quick few moments, with such intensity to the material is not only impressive, but incredibly powerful. Her emotional connection to Rey is strong, and it’s no wonder Abrams found his star in that moment.

“This character needed to be vulnerable and tough, sweet and terrified,” Abrams explained in the video. “And to find someone that no one knew who could do all these things took a lot of looking.”

For more from video—and a slew of other fancy features—check out the release of Star Wars: The Force Awakens on Digital HD April 1 and on Blu-ray April 5.

What do you think of Ridley’s audition? Let us know in the comments below.

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HT: BuzzFeed
Image Credit: BuzzFeed/Lucasfilm

Alicia Lutes is Managing Editor of Nerdist. Find her on Twitter (@alicialutes) or on her podcast, Outlandish, on iTunes.