One of the biggest stars of the Star Wars sequel trilogy, John Boyega, who played Finn in the series, has revealed he is now open to returning to a galaxy far, far away.
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The Rise of Skywalker actor was recently busy promoting his upcoming Netflix movie, They Cloned Tyrone, which is due to release on Friday, before the SAG-AFTRA strike began. In an interview that was released today, but took place ahead of the aforementioned strike, with TechRadar, Boyega was questioned about a possible return to the beloved franchise.
In the past Boyega has made many comments about his future with Star Wars. He infamously claimed that he wouldn’t return for a Star Wars television series (“you ain’t going to Disney plus me”) while promoting the last entry in the sequel trilogy, Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker in 2019. The following year the actor criticised Lucasfilm and Disney’s decision to sideline minority characters as the sequel sequel trilogy developed telling GQ in 2020, “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.” And went on to add, “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 f**k all. So what do you want me to say? What they want you to say is, ‘I enjoyed being a part of it. It was a great experience…’ Nah, nah, nah. I’ll take that deal when it’s a great experience. They gave all the nuance to Adam Driver, all the nuance to Daisy Ridley.”
Boyega also made comments indicating that he would be open to a return if The Force Awakens and The Rise of Skywalker director, J.J. Abrams, was involved and also that he’d like to explore the concept of Finn leading a Stormtrooper rebellion on Coruscant. However it was just last year that the Attack the Block star told SirusXM that he was happy to not return to the Star Wars franchise, but that he felt the Star Wars films were a good experience for him and that he was happy for Finn to exist and be enjoyed in other mediums, but that he was, “good”, in regards to revisiting the franchise.
During his chat with TechRadar, the topic of a possible return to the Star Wars franchise was brought up, with the outlet asking Boyega if he’d be open to a return to a galaxy far, far away following comments he had made in the past. The actor revealed that he was “open” to all projects that he’d consider enjoyable and that had both a great cast and director attached. Despite the question itself focusing on Star Wars, Boyega opens it up to a wider range of productions and doesn’t single out the one franchise he was asked about.
“That [those comments] was a few years ago, so they were the subject of that particular project. 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.” – John Boyega via TechRadar
Following the release of the article and rampant speculation on social media, Boyega took to Twitter to say, “If I am cast in any new projects, trust me, you will hear from me on any of my social media platforms. There’s no news so far, so disregard any article that says otherwise. None of them have the exclusive. I am open to sleeping now. Thanks.”
The tweet itself is in direct reference to the recently released TechRadar article. The speculation of a Finn return started in April when it was announced at Star Wars Celebration that Boyega’s sequel trilogy co-star, Daisy Ridley, was returning to lead a movie directed by Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy which would see Rey Skywalker building a new Jedi order. Following the announcement, John Rocha of The Hot Mic claimed that Boyega was going to star alongside Ridley in the recently announced flick, but his Hot Mic co-host, reputable insider and journalist, Jeff Sneider, claimed that he has not heard about Boyega being attached to that film.
Personally I’ve not heard of Boyega’s involvement, but I was told by a singular source around the time of Rocha’s comments that the idea had been floated, but that’s it.
I’d like to Boyega return alongside Ridley in the upcoming Star Wars flick due to be released in May of 2026, but I’m committed to the idea and Boyega’s latest comments don’t fill me with hope either. It seems as if in the moment the interview was conducted that the actor was keeping an open mind on a possible return, but it’s clear from all the comments from Boyega I’ve linked, he clearly goes back and forth on the idea of revisiting the character of Finn. The only thing I hope is that Steven Knight, the writer of the upcoming untitled Ridley led film, and Obaid-Chinoy, do the character justice if he’s in their plans for the project and I’m sure that Boyega would carefully consider rejoining based on how his character would be treated.
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