Lucasfilm is currently working on a new Star Wars film that is bringing Daisy Ridley back as Rey, exploring the post-The Rise of Skywalker world as she seeks to train a new generation of Jedi. Given that focus, many fans have hoped that the film could also bring back John Boyega as Finn, after the final film of the Skywalker Saga hinted at him being Force sensitive and other (non-canonical) material has hinted at him training as a Jedi.
But given his recent comments about Star Wars fans, I’m not expecting Boyega to return to the franchise anytime soon.
Boyega has never been shy about calling out Star Wars creatives or fans, and a few years ago he said he would never return to the franchise. More recently, he was featured in a documentary, Number One on the Call Sheet: Black Leading Men in Hollywood, and he took aim at Star Wars fans.
“Lemme tell ya, ‘Star Wars’ always had the vibe of being in the most whitest, elite space,” Boyega said, according to Entertainment Weekly. “It’s a franchise that’s so white that a Black person existing in [it] was something. You can always tell it’s something when some Star Wars fans try to say, ‘Well, we had Lando Calrissian and had Samuel L. Jackson!’ It’s like telling me how many cookie chips are in the cookie dough. It’s like, they just scattered that in there, bro! They’re okay with us playing the best friend, but once we touch their heroes, once we lead, once we trailblaze, it’s like, ‘Oh my God, it’s just a bit too much! They’re pandering!'”
Number one, and most importantly, this needs to be said very clearly: there is a vocal minority of Star Wars fans online that have without question made comments that are racially motivated, and the hate directed toward minority actors in the franchise has been downright disgusting. It’s sadly not new, and actors like Ahmed Best, Kelly Marie Tran, Moses Ingram, Amandla Stenberg, and many others have shared similar sentiments to Boyega. Racism within this fanbase is real, and must be stood up to – something that Lucasfilm has a mixed track record on. There is no place within this fandom, or anywhere else, for any person to assign value (or the lack thereof) to another person based on their skin color, ethnicity, or culture. Boyega is not wrong about a very real problem that must be called out, and I can’t even imagine the level of rightful anger that must arise when subjected to it repeatedly.
Without trying to diminish that whatsoever, I do think Boyega, as he has in the past, comes across too critical – and of the wrong things. Here’s what I mean. First of all, Boyega paints with a broad brush the Star Wars fandom as being here, and that’s unfair. Other actors and creatives who have spoken into this issue have acknowledged that it’s a small minority of toxic fans that give a bad look to the others, and that most fans are wonderful – but Boyega has rarely, if ever, spoken with that kind of nuance about the fanbase. He seems to view the fanbase overall quite negatively.
Second, Boyega mentions Star Wars fans not wanting a person of color playing the lead, and, again, there is a segment of the fanbase for which that is shamefully true. However, as his criticisms in the past have shown, Boyega is misguided about who to blame. He hasn’t been pleased with what Lucasfilm did with Finn, and he’s long been playing the blame game for that. It began with Rian Johnson, a frequent target of Boyega’s public attacks, and how J.J. Abrams remedied that for The Rise of Skywalker. Which conveniently ignores the fact that Johnson did have an important plot for Finn, both in terms of character growth and excitement (racing fathiers, battling Phasma, leading the ground assault on Crait). Boyega’s comments simply make no sense except when realizing all he really wants is to be a Jedi, and doesn’t like that The Last Jedi didn’t make him one.
But in this specific instance, it seems that Boyega places the blame on the fandom for not wanting a minority lead, even though the fans obviously don’t have control of that. I’ve seen many fans quite sympathetic to Boyega’s concerns about the sequel trilogy and hoping he’ll return in the Rey film, and I think the fans wanted a bigger role for Finn than the directors did. So, again, who is to blame? It seems to me that Boyega is painting with too broad of a brush and lashing out at the wrong people.
All of which he’s entitled to do, of course, but it makes me think we probably won’t be seeing him return to the role anytime soon. As much as I’d love to see Rey training Finn in the ways of the Force, and still hope for a reconciliation one day, I’m not counting on it soon. There’s an obvious rift between John Boyega and the franchise, and I wouldn’t expect it to be repaired soon. But here’s hoping I’m wrong!
Star Wars Thoughts 