John Boyega Now 'Comfortable' With Finns Portrayal in the Sequel Trilogy

There's no way they're bringing Rey back and not eventually bringing Finn back. I can't wait.

 

Fingers crossed that if this happens, the pick up lose threads from TROS.

 

Has Daisy actually mentioned she's returning as Rey?

 

Nothing is known for certain; it's all just rumors, speculation, and conjecture, but there has been a fair bit of activity to indicate that something might be going on with Rey/Ridley, Star Wars-wise. Bast case scenario, we'll know more in about 2 1/2 weeks.

 

My theory is they keep the Rey part a surprise for the film especially if she only has a small role. It would be a smart piece of marketing to keep that a secret. If they announce there's a new film set after the sequels featuring a new cast/story that would likely be enough for people start theorizing. Building that hype would be a natural way of setting up a Rey feature.

 

I'm not a bit surprised. Money talks. Neither Boyega or Ridley have done anything really 'big' since TROS; I actually expected them to change their tune a few years down the line!

 

Well, let's be entirely fair. Movies are, in fact, their careers, right? That's what they do for money? Are they expected to work for one of the biggest revenue producing franchises in history and do so for peanuts? Christ, just putting up with some of the nyah-nyah and BS from some segments of the "fanbase" should garner them extra $$$. I feel like talent such as Ridley, Boyega, Isaac, etc.. should require LFL to bring an armored truck full of cash to the table, and I think they will.

Also, I don't know how it works with everyone, I'm guessing that it varies from actor to actor, but sometimes there are clauses built in to insure availability on a long-term basis. I forget who, but recently an actress stated that her contract with LFL required her to be available for subsequent media productions and even specified the possibility of spin-offs and other appearances. Basically, she was committing to play this character well beyond the scheduled production.

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EDIT: It was Adria Arjona, who played Bix Calleen on Andor. Her contract mentioned more than 2 seasons and a spin-off series possibility, so she is somewhat tied to this character beyond just Andor. If I'm not mistaken, Giancarlo Esposito has also hinted that he is contracted for 4 or 5 seasons of The Mandolorian. So, it is obviously a "thing" in Hollywood, and it's very possible that most SW actors have similar clauses, and it's not a matter of "if" so much as "when" and "how much" is being negotiated.

 

With major franchises like SW no one knows which character, or actor, will be the breakout star.
With the OT, everyone thought it was Luke. It turned out to be Han Solo.

 

I agree. I've said it before, I am SO glad that I was not around in 2015 for all the toxicity, because I would not have made it through. As far as the treatment of Finn, I'm mostly just kinda... Meh. Yeah, I do wish they had spent more time developing Finn and some of the other characters, and not made it so off-balance with Rey and Kylo. BUT. I don't see that, or Disney's lack of "defense" as being race-based. Not necessarily. And it bears pointing out that since those days, Disney has truly made strides in inclusion and making their stance very clear. To me, especially in today's social climate, there is a lot to be said for how someone recognizes and corrects when certain behaviors are in need of change.

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Great point. And really, all the more reason that there could be similar clauses in the contract for a lesser-known actor. I would say that Boyega, as well as Ridley and Isaac were at points in their careers pre-TFA, that they would be more amicable to such a contract. Harrison is a prime example. Wasn't he working on the lot as a carpenter when GL asked him to audition? He had a bit part in American Graffiti, but he wasn't a working actor. Look at his career now. Then again, someone like Esposito with The Mandalorian, that guy was TV Gold, so it's very possible he was able to demand that sort of longevity from a franchise that he knew could provide him years of work in every imaginable format.

 

This only happened in your mind.

https://www.nbcnews.com/news/world/...s-after-fears-emotional-speech-could-n1226756

 

I personally feel that many characters saw next to no evolution and didn't come anywhere near their potential due to bad writing. Finn was one of those. Kelly Tran's character was another. Captain Phasma was the worst-case example of an intriguing character who was not allowed to get anywhere. An interesting character with potential, played by a great (and unique) actor, essentially thrown away as was Aurra Sing back in the days of The Phantom Menace. I'm really getting sick of seeing that happen in Star Wars, and the sequel trilogy was particularly bad for it.

I'm hoping I won't see more of the same in Mando or any of the other series, Andor in particular. I'm glad John Boyega was able to navigate, emotionally, to a better place than where Disney left him, so that he can continue to move through his career with some positive energy. If he hadn't been able to do that, it could've gotten bad. It's nothing new in the industry.

 

Sounds like there's still a lot of cases of the "supposed to"s going around.

 

Ok, now. Let's take a moment to put things in context.

That speech is amazing. It is everything that much of the world was feeling at that moment.
It has absolutely not a thing to do with Star Wars.

The comments that Boyega made about Finn's character development and the treatment he and Kelly Marie Tran received and Disney's culpability, we're made in an interview shortly after. Probably too soon after. When taken together, the BLM speech and the interview (GQ?) it is not too hard to see where Boyega was coming from. I would never pretend to know those feelings or his perspective, but with this most recent article, it would seem as though with time, and discussions since 2020, feelings have smoothed, and tensions have improved, which is important, whether Finn ever appears in a movie ever again or not.

I believe the "megaphone and crowd" comment was meant metaphorically rather than the actual event in Hyde Park.

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Long story short, it looks like both John and Disney have grown and learned valuable lessons over the last couple of years, and that says a lot for both. He is an amazing, passionate, funny and talented man, and has a long successful career ahead of him. As a die-hard fan, I hope part of it will continue in Star Wars.

 

Define big, because they're not that many things bigger then Star Wars.

It's not like they haven't gotten work since 2019.

(Daisy's roles) https://m.imdb.com/name/nm5397459/ Arguably Chaos Walking and Twelve Minutes biggest role.

(John's roles) https://m.imdb.com/name/nm3915784/ I've only heard of The Women King.

 

You are mistaken.

John Boyega literally and categorically did not voice his displeasure about Disney or his role in Star Wars with a megaphone.

Think about what actually happened, as described in that and all the other reports of John's speech. And then think about John's current stance, plus the insinuations that he's accepted cash to change his tune and what that implies about John, his integrity and his attitudes about the murder of George Floyd.

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I believe if you think for just a few minutes about that time, the actual context and John’s outrage about a senseless murder and trying to equate that with disappointment about the Canto Bight plotline of The Last Jedi (which is what it amounts to, in the context of John’s approval of Abrams, whose decision it was to split Finn up from Rey and send her off alone to be trained as a Jedi) then the ludicrousness of that idea and the tasteless lack of proportion required to stand by that notion becomes apparent.

 

I think it's ludicrous and tasteless for a white male to even attempt to assume what John Boyega was feeling or thinking in that moment beyond what he and his emotions were telling us that he was feeling. I saw a lot of silly white entertainment journalists that couldn't wait to twist his words about 'not knowing if he would have a career after...' But, to me, he wasn't speaking as "Star Wars Actor, John Boyega" he was speaking as a man. Any Black person that spoke up at that time had to have those fears, and why wouldn't they?!

Again, it is not my place to justify or explain his state of mind. Any and everything he said through that megaphone was 100% valid. There is no gray area there. If anyone doesn't fully support his words, that clearly puts them in the opposition. Period. It's obscene to try and tie-in an argument about Star Wars, unless HE does so and again, it is nobody's right to say his feelings were not valid. At the time those comments about Finn's development vs. Rey or Kylo's development, racial tensions were at a boiling point. Did that trigger his feelings, or did that simply trigger his speaking out about his feelings? It really doesn't matter! Luckily, it seems now that he has been able to find some resolution, and he brought an important discussion to the forefront and had a part in some social evolution. I find it rather offensive that he would have "changed his mind" based on being paid to do so. If you have not actually watched the entire BLM speech, go to YT and do so, then say that's a man who could be paid off.