John Boyega Says Star Wars’ Treatment of Finn Was ‘Not Good’
So when John Boyega says he’s “moved on” from Star Wars, you should believe him. Based on his his even-stronger comments in a new interview, I would not expect to see him in a galaxy far, far away any time soon.
In his first extensive interview since the Star Wars saga ended, Boyega told GQ about the experience, good and bad, working with Disney and Lucasfilm. While Boyega had positive things to say about director J.J. Abrams — even going so far as to defend him over the mixed response to The Rise of Skywalker (“He wasn’t even supposed to come back and try to save your s—.”) — he is blunt in his assessment that his character was mistreated in The Last Jedi and The Rise of Skywalker:
You get yourself involved in projects and you’re not necessarily going to like everything. [But] what I would say to Disney is do not bring out a black character, market them to be much more important in the franchise than they are and then have them pushed to the side. It’s not good. I’ll say it straight up.
The former Star Wars star wouldn’t even concede that making the Star Wars trilogy was “a great experience.” “Nah, nah nah,” “he responded, “I’ll take that deal when it’s a great experience. They gave all the nuance to Adam Driver, all the nuance to Daisy Ridley. Let’s be honest. Daisy knows this. Adam knows this. Everybody knows. I’m not exposing anything.”
I love a good candid interview, and major kudos to Boyega for speaking openly when there’s enormous pressure, even now, to just say that he loved making the movies and he loved the fans and he loved it all. Even though I enjoyed The Last Jedi more than he did (and maybe disliked The Rise of Skywalker more than he does), I can’t argue Boyega’s point that after debuting three main characters in The Force Awakens, Rey really became the focal point of the subsequent films, with Poe and Finn very much playing supporting roles after that. I can see why that would have been frustrating for Boyega. There was a lot of untapped potential in that character he never really got to explore.
Gallery — Every Star Wars Movie Ranked From Worst to Best: