John Boyega is opening up about the Stars Wars universe and if he would be interested in returning for another movie.
His comments come years after he previously spoke out about the treatment of Black characters in Star Wars: Episode IX – The Rise of Skywalker and accused Disney of capitalizing on their casting before pushing their characters to the side in the story.
“That was a few years ago, so they were the subject of that particular project,” Boyega recently told TechRadar, in an interview that was conducted before the actors strike. “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.”
During a September 2020 interview with British GQ magazine, the actor, who played Stormtrooper-turned-Resistance fighter Finn, shared his thoughts on his once prominent character in The Force Awakens being “pushed to the side” 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 like his was.
“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 fuck 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.”
Earlier this year, during an interview with The Times of London, Boyega reflected on his Stars Wars experience as a whole and noted that he now feels “comfortable” with his character Finn.
“For me Star Wars has made the man, in a sense,” he said. “The experiences, the fun times, good times, ugly times, bad times, it makes you who you are as you navigate through the industry, and that has definitely been interesting.”
