When The Force Awakens was released into theaters in December 2015, it looked like Star Wars was back with a bang. Admittedly, things felt a little too similar to A New Hope, but J.J. Abrams realized that the easiest and fastest way to get the fans on board was to serve them a hefty helping of nostalgia along with a roster of new characters.
Based on where the story ended, you’d think that Daisy Ridley’s Rey, John Boyega’s Finn and Oscar Isaac’s Poe Dameron were set to lead the franchise into the future and mirror the Luke/Leia/Han triptych in the Original Trilogy. However, by the time we got to The Rise of Skywalker, the focus had clearly shifted towards Rey and Kylo Ren, with their intertwining fates driving the narrative of the final chapter.
After Rian Johnson’s The Last Jedi had made huge changes to both the established mythology and many of the plot threads set up in The Force Awakens, it felt as though the Sequel Trilogy never managed to recapture any sort of momentum. Now, in an explosive recent interview, Boyega’s revealed that his experience on Star Wars wasn’t what he originally hoped it would be, and slammed Disney and Lucasfilm in the process for shunting Finn to the sidelines.
“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. 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*ck all. So what do you want me to say? What they want you to say is, ‘I enjoyed being a part of it. It was a great experience’. Nah, nah, nah. I’ll take that deal when it’s a great experience.”
It looks like Boyega is heading down the Harrison Ford route of not even trying to hide his disdain for Star Wars, with the 28 year-old also recently admitting that he’s glad to see the back of the more toxic fans. The conclusion to the Skywalker Saga split folks right down the middle, and it seems clear that not even the stars of the movies themselves are happy with how things panned out. After all, it can’t be denied that it felt like Episodes VIII and IX had simply lost all interest in Finn’s arc.