Daisy Ridley is to star in 'Young Woman and the Sea'.

The 28-year-old actress is to lead the cast of the new project which is eyeing a release on streaming service Disney+.

Daisy will portray the history-making swimmer Gertrude 'Trudy' Ederle, who became the first woman ever to swim the English Channel as a teenager in 1926.

Ederle, who also won gold at the 1924 Paris Olympic Games, returned to the US as one of the world's most famous women. She received a ticker-tape parade in New York by a crowd of two million people.

She soon disappeared from the public eye after playing herself in the 'Swim Girl' before embarking on an abortive career in vaudeville. After a fall that damaged her spine, Ederle began teaching swimming to children before her death aged 98 in 2003.

Joaquim Ronning is in talks to direct the movie, which is being produced by Jerry Bruckheimer and Chad Oman.

The script has been written by Jeff Nathanson – who has been trying to bring the story to the big screen alongside Bruckheimer for a number of years. Lily James had been tapped to star in a previous film that never made it to the big screen.

Daisy played the role of Rey in the 'Star Wars' sequel trilogy and has refused to rule out returning to a galaxy far, far away – but she felt 'The Rise of Skywalker' was the perfect finale for her Jedi alter-ego.

Asked about a potential 'Star Wars' return, she said: "I say never say never, but to me 'Rise of Skywalker' was tied up with a bow."