John Boyega became a household name after playing in the Star Wars sandbox. Why doesn’t he want to return then?
By Justina Terhember
British-Nigerian John Boyega became a superstar playing Finn in the ‘Star Wars’ sequel trilogy, so it came as a bit of a surprise when he said he doesn’t want to return to the franchise. During media rounds for the upcoming ‘The Woman King’. He said: “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.”
Boyega discussed, quite expectedly, his experience facing racism with ‘Star Wars’ fandom, particularly how Moses Ingram (co-star of Ewan McGregor in ‘Obi-Wan Kenobi’)’dealt with her own experience earlier this year. Disney and McGregor came to Ingram’s defense and publicly decried the racist backlash she faced.
“Moses Ingram being protected makes me feel protected. Do you understand what I’m saying? It makes me feel like, ‘Okay, cool. I am not the elephant in the room.’ Because when I started, it wasn’t really a conversation you could bring up,” Boyega said. “But now to see how blatant it is, to see Ewan McGregor come and support… for me, [it] fulfills my time where I didn’t get the support. And for me to see other people accepted, and then at the same time to see that the studios now are like, ‘Okay, cool. This is not an elephant-in-the-room conversation. We need to support our Black client.’ It’s fantastic.”
