Why Is John Boyega "Done" With Star Wars?
Image Source: Games Radar
Star Wars Actor John Boyega announced he is stepping away from the Star Wars franchise. Boyega played Finn in the sequel trilogy. “At this point, I’m cool off it. I’m good off it.” he stated during an interview on SiriusXM's “Tell Me Everything with John Fugelsang.” After he filmed The Rise of Skywalker he received a large amount of racist fan harassment. After Boyega’s harassment, he had a “very honest, a very transparent conversation” with Disney executives to not set aside Black and POC characters.
Despite this conversation happening, Moses Ingram received racist fueled hate from her appearance in Obi-Wan Kenobi. Boyega was pleased to see the support Ingram received from Disney and Ewan McGregor after the remarks made. “Moses Ingram being protected made me feel protected,” he stated. “Because when I started it wasn’t really a conversation you could bring up.” Rather than being upset, Boyega is pleased with the way actors of color are being protected.
Boyega stated that “versatility is [his] path” for the foreseeable future, but he did joke about returning eventually to the franchise. The end of “The Rise of Skywalker” leaves lots of room to continue Finn’s story arc. There is room to explore more of his force powers as well as his family’s story and if they are also force-sensitive. Much of Fin’s backstory was left out and was sidelined during the movies since they focused on Rey. This originally left the possibility of a continuation of Finn’s story in a new movie but with Boyega unlikely to return to the franchise there is not very much hope for there to be a continuation of his storyline in movie format. There is a possibility for other forms of media to include more of his story arc such as books, comics, and animated TV shows.
Image Credit: Screen Crush
Boyega has moved on from franchises and has started acting in non-franchise movies including some novel adaptations. Some of the movies he has worked on since Star Wars include Rebel Ridge, Naked Singularity, Hold Back the Stars, Borderland, and Small Axe.
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Sources: Indie Wire, Screen Crush, Screen Rant [1], [2]