Actor John Boyega has not been particularly happy with the recent direction that ‘Star Wars’ has taken and has openly criticised the sequel trilogy many times, especially after the premiere of ‘Star Wars Episode VIII: The Last Jedi’.
However, the actor, who portrayed First Order stormtrooper turned Resistance fighter Finn in the sequel trilogy, has said that he is more than open to doing more ‘Star Wars’ movies if given the opportunity.
The actor had previously critcised the makers for their treatment of black characters, lazy writing and lack of imagination, particularly in ‘Star Wars: Episode IX – The Rise of Skywalker’.
The actor had accused the makers and studio of capitalising on casting racially diverse characters, particularly black characters before completely sidelining them from the story.
According to ‘The Hollywood Reporter’, in an interview with TechRadar, done sometime before the SAG-AFTRA strikes, the actor said: “That was a few years ago, so they were the subject of that particular project. But I’m open to all characters and scripts that are enjoyable, have a great cast attached and a terrific director. So yeah, I’m open to all opportunities.”
Sometime back in 2020, Boyega had spoke at length about his experience on working at the ‘Star Wars’ sequels.
The actor spoke of his frustration with the story writing and particularly how his character Finn was handled, as well as how a part of the fanbase and the industry as a whole treated him badly.
As reported by ‘THR’, during a September 2020 interview with British GQ magazine, the actor revealed his frustration of how his once big character in ‘Star Wars Episode VII: The Force Awakens’ was completely cast aside in ‘The Rise of Skywalker’.
“You get yourself involved in projects and you’re not necessarily going to like everything,” he said at the time.
“(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.”
Boyega also claimed that his fellow white lead actors’ characters weren’t impacted in the film’s storyline in the same way.
“You knew what to do with these other people, but when it came to Kelly Marie Tran, when it came to John Boyega, you know f*** all,” he said. “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.”
‘Star Wars’ sequel movies are now slated to proceed with a ‘New Jedi Order’ movie set 15 years after Episode 9, where Rey, who is now a Jedi Master will be seen re-building the Jedi Order in a post-First Order galaxy.
