John Boyega rose to international fame after starring as Finn in the Star Wars sequel trilogy. With that popularity, he also faced a lot of racist backlash from fans, thus forcing him to leave the franchise and stay away from it for good.
The actor is not the only one who experienced harassment from Star Wars fans as Kelly Marie Tran and Moses Ingram also became victims of racial slurs. Disney was very aware of this, and it seems there was no corresponding action from the company.
ALSO READ: Was John Boyega Underpaid For His Debut In Star Wars Franchise?
John Boyega Is Never Coming Back To Star Wars
During an interview with SiriusXM’s Tell Me Everything With John Fugelsang, actor John Boyega confirmed he is done with Star Wars and has no plans to go back ever again.
“At this point, I’m cool off it. I’m good off it. I think Finn is at a good confirmation point where you can just enjoy him in other things, the games, the animation. But I feel like ‘[Episode] VII’ to ‘[Episode] IX’ was good for me.”
The Pacific Rim: Uprising actor received harassment from Star Wars fans following his appearance in the Skywalker trilogy. In fact, he told GQ that Disney should not exploit Black characters in their movies.
“It’s so difficult to manoeuver. 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.”
Boyega spoke with an executive at Disney after reaching out to him about the said harassment. The actor confessed he had a very transparent conversation with the Disney boss, as per his interview via The Hollywood Reporter:
“There was a lot of explaining on their end in terms of the way they saw things. They gave me a chance also to explain what my experience was like. I’d hope that me being so open with my career, at this stage, would help the next man, the guy that wants to be the assistant DOP, the guy that wants to be a producer. I hope that the conversation is not such a taboo or elephant in the room now, because someone just came and said it.”
Fans could not help but lament how Disney treated Boyega and his Star Wars character. Check out their reactions below:
He was already a massive fan. Look at that reaction. He was overjoyed to be apart that much larger world. And then Disney used him.
With the body of work he has accumulated and the accolades he has received, I hope king Boyega gets a bag just like Daisy did when he returns.— The Black Stubs (@TheBlackStubs) January 21, 2024
John Boyega was the only reason I cared about Force Awakens prior to the OG trio being announced. The worse part about it is I think that although he’s healed with Star Wars I don’t think he’ll go back to working with Disney again and he deserves the love Hayden and Ahmed got.
— P. (@redheadedhermit) January 21, 2024
John doesn’t need Star Wars. @JohnBoyega is a Golden Globe and Critics Choice winner. This puts him at a level that requires substantial funding from Lucasfilm. If he returns the script better be Finn centric and he should be top billed. I remember seeing these images on… pic.twitter.com/J3kb9SbqMi
— Casey Ryback (@CaseyRyback00) January 21, 2024
watching all over the trailers for the trilogy, you would’ve thought he was the lead. and and he was, yet they split his screen time into thirds with oscar and daisy, and for essentially no real plot? no real hero or story, or proper ending.
— ju (@juliannemv) January 21, 2024
Finn really was the biggest missed opportunity, to have someone who used to be a STORMTROOPER become a Jedi would’ve been so unique and something special
— Krypto (@legpits) January 21, 2024
One thing's for sure if he's not in the Rey movie I'm not watching. Not in theaters or even streaming.
— The Invisible Man (@invisibleman369) January 21, 2024
Interestingly, Boyega criticized the creative team behind the franchise. He revealed they knew how to work around Adam Driver’s and Daisy Ridley’s storylines, but they had no idea how to tackle it when it came to his and Kelly Marie Tran’s. Furthermore, the actor claimed this was a known fact by everyone.
ALSO READ: John Boyega’s $51.8B Star Wars Franchise Debut Was in Danger Due to Tom Cruise
Upcoming Confirmed Star Wars Projects
Last year at the Star Wars Celebration, Lucasfilm and Disney outlined their plans and revealed upcoming projects. At the moment, there’s the confirmed The Mandalorian & Grogu movie led by Jon Favreau and a sequel movie starring Daisy Ridley.
Moreover, Star Wars: The Acolyte and Star Wars: Skeleton Crew are both coming to Disney+ this 2024, while Andor Season 2 is expected to arrive in 2025. Other untitled projects coming from Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy, Dave Filoni, and James Mangold were also announced.
Amid the onslaught of future Star Wars installments, fans will always remember how Disney treated the likes of John Boyega, Kelly Marie Tran, and Moses Ingram.
