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No more Finn? John Boyega says he’s ‘cool’ with never coming back to 'Star Wars' franchise
The sequel trilogy may be all we ever see of Star Wars’ reformed Stormtrooper.
As Finn (aka FN-2187, his Imperial-issue Stormtrooper moniker before defiantly embracing the role of Rebel scum), John Boyega was among the new generation of actors to bring some much-welcome youth to the Force. Alongside Star Wars newcomers Adam Driver, Oscar Isaac, Daisy Ridley and more, he leapt to the top of the list of fans’ best-loved new characters in 2015’s The Force Awakens, and gave Rose Tico (Kelly Marie Tran) her epically defining character moment in 2017’s The Last Jedi.
Though Finn fans might’ve wished for a bigger Boyega role in 2019’s The Rise of Skywalker, the actor says he’s content with how he left the galaxy far, far away in the sequel trilogy’s final film. But, as Boyega recently explained to SiriusXM Tell Me Everything host John Fugelsang, he fondly considers his Skywalker Saga stint a part of his acting past…but not necessarily part of his acting future.
Asked whether he’d ever reprise his Star Wars role as Rey’s biggest ex-Imperial ally, Boyega said he feels Finn ended the trilogy with enough closure to simply leave the character alone.
“At this point, I'm cool off it; I’m good off it,” he shared, capping a lengthy discussion of Black actors’ experiences in the Star Wars universe. “I think, to be fair, the allies that I've found within Juel Taylor and Jamie Foxx, Teyonah Parris, Viola Davis — all these people I've been working with — versatility is my path. And I think Finn is at a good confirmation point, where you can just, you know, enjoy him in other things: the games, the animation. But I feel like '[Episode] VII' to '[Episode] IX' was good for me.”
That bit about “versatility” isn’t just chatter: Boyega’s been warping from one distinctly different project to another this past year, including his role alongside Foxx and Parris in the upcoming Taylor-directed sci-fi movie They Cloned Tyrone, which is slated to premiere at Netflix later this year. On the big screen, Boyega’s set to star alongside Davis in Sony’s historical epic The Woman King, which lands in theaters on Sept. 16 — less than a month after the debut of drama-thriller Breaking, which stars Boyega as a Marine Corps veteran in distress.
On the Star Wars side of things, future theatrical features appear to be in a holding pattern as creators Tony Gilroy, Jon Favreau, and Dave Filoni expand George Lucas’ iconic space opera on the small screen.
Taika Waititi’s mysterious Star Wars film currently seems to be the surest bet among Disney’s several buzzed-about big-screen projects, though there’s far less mystery when it comes to TV: Andor, the prequel series to Rogue One: A Star Wars Story, blasts onto Disney+ starting Sept. 21, followed early in 2023 with more Din Djarin / Baby Yoda adventures in Season 3 of Favreau’s The Mandalorian. Favreau and Filoni also are teaming with Rosario Dawson on spinoff series Ahsoka, which is tentatively set to debut at Disney+ sometime next year.
If you’re looking for more sci-fi adventure, check out Battlestar Galactica, Heroes, Warehouse 13, Eureka, SYFY's Resident Alien, Sliders, Intergalactic and more on Peacock now.
