John Boyega Assumed Finn Would Become a Jedi in ‘Star Wars’ Trilogy and Rey Would ‘Turn Against’ Him Like ‘Obi-Wan and Darth Vader’

https://variety.com/2025/film/news/john-boyega-finn-jedi-star-wars-rey-obi-wan-darth-vader-1236488037/

30 comments

  1. > “I think I assumed he was Force-sensitive from ‘The Force Awakens’ script or at least by the time I got to the end of ‘The Force Awakens’ script,” he said. “I thought they were planning dual Jedis. I actually thought that they would Obi-Wan and Darth Vader us a bit. That we would turn against each other or something along those lines.”

    >

  2. IMO, that would’ve been a better story than what we got

  4. Anycase any one is wondering, Fin is force sensitive. You just dont know that from watching the movies, because Jar Jar Abrams forgot to include the scene where fin finally tells Rey that he is. Thats what he was running around all last movie about with “Rey I need to talk to you”. But it played out more, like romantic nonsense.

    Some reporter asked Jar Jar about it during a presser and this is what he said Fin was going to tell her.

    I used to really like John, but after his “it was the racist fans fault” I cant say I give a fuck that he got screwed over by disney anymore. First time I saw him out in public, it was brilliant. Like watching an actually star wars fan being so happy about being in the franchise. Dudes smile was reaching his ears. First movie came next, and his character was the best thing about it.

    Then he can relegated to side kicks side kick by Johnson for some(Racist as fuck) reason. And the character just never recovered. By the end of the final movie, he was joke. All the promise of the opening movie just thrown away in the trash. Felt bad for the guy, he got so screwed by Disney courting China’s box office.

    But blaming the fans… Nah, man. Thats some bullshit. Every single fan Ive ever seen speak about John and his character wanted more for him. They wanted him to be a jedi, and be more involved in the story. Him coming out with “fans are only comfortable with Black actors as the best friend but react with outrage when they take on leading roles, calling it pandering.”…

    Fuck that guy. Disney fucked him over, not the fans.

  5. So he wanted to be the star? I get that they ruined Finn but from the first trailer it was pretty obvious the center of this Trilogy was Rey not Fin.

  6. John Boyega was done absolutely fucking filthy by Disney. He was by far the more charismatic actor between him and Daisy Ridley, and his character had a more interesting background. All to appease foreign markets that didn’t want to see a leading black man in Star Wars (*cough* **Asia** *cough*).

  7. They shot promo material of him holding a lightsaber. The character does briefly wield one in The Force Awakens. I would also think he was going to be a Jedi with that buildup. But after that scene, the movies never follow through on it. He never uses a lightsaber again in the sequels. So those promos and that scene end up feeling like they were hinting at a bigger Jedi storyline they didn’t commit to. It’s really baffling.

  8. Whatever happened in Force Awakens really didn’t matter in the 2nd film, the 3rd really drove home they were grasping at straws for money.

  9. I thought him and Poe were gonna end up together. They had the best chemistry in the films.

    Wouldn’t mind seeing him and Oscar Isaac in a buddy comedy.

  10. Rey turning dark was right there but they balked because Disney. I’m sure that was the plan but someone got scared

  11. That sounds cool but what if instead after the first movie he does nothing ever again?

  12. I like Jon, and he got done dirty by racist Disney, but years before the sequels even came out it was rumored the star was a girl. When they were casting the sequels, it was emphasized that “Rey” was the hero/center of the story. So it just feels a little…disingenuous to pretend like he was sold the idea that he’d be the main character or one of the two main characters. He was always a supporting character.

  14. This guy and that one Asian woman’s stories really didn’t go anywhere.

    Like… why did they even put them in the movies? Just for the sake of diversity?

  15. The problem is that sounds interesting & engaging. Which isn’t the goal. You have to constantly react & retcon based on what redditors/hack youtube critics complain about.

  16. Good luck with those sorts of stories in this political imperial environment.

  17. He assumed that there was going to be good writing!

  18. Someone get this guy the guiness world record for most years spent complaining about a role.

  19. I’ll die on the conspiracy hill that Finn didn’t become a Jedi because of racism in China, and the mouse wanted to maximize the Chinese market. Finn is extremely TINY on the Chinese poster for Force Awakens, it’s nuts.

    Like it’s totally viable and actually novel for BOTH Finn and Rey to become Jedi in the same movie. There was no place or rule that said: “only one main character can learn to be a Jedi per saga movie”.

    Especially in the sequel trilogy where the Jedi are dying out—all the more reason to train two. You even have the plot line of Rey taking to the Jedi training super quick and no one knows why…and it turns out she’s Palpatine’s grandkid, sure who cares whatever—but then she turns and replaces Kylo.

    Which gives Kylo an out for redemption, which could have been cool since he kills his dad…woulda been dramatic, and would make WAAAAY more sense for Kylo to take the yellow saber and become a neutral force user, since no way the republic would want him back after he killed a famous war hero and general, even if it was his dad.

    Like Finns arc even is just so much better suited to become a Jedi. He was a literal stormtrooper; they coulda made him grow to hate the empire. It’s so good.

    There seems to be threads there. Because it’s inexplicable otherwise. I don’t think the conspiracy is true, but there have been rumors and it makes so much sense considering how small Finn is on the Chinese poster. I’ll never get over that.

  20. They dropped the ball so badly with this and we know why they sidelined John.

  21. A literal case of main character syndrome.

    Also I don’t know if this is mentioned often but the new Star Wars movies and shows aren’t very good.

  23. God no. Please stop rehashing nearly 50 yr old ideas. The character is 10 years older than Luke with no force recognition his entire life. This is an actor who has no respect for the universe he’s playing in being selfish for his own benefit

  24. Modern Hollywood wouldn’t make a female Mary sue the bad guy lol

  25. Listen, I agree that what they ended up doing with Finn was not great, especially in TROS, but I thought it was pretty clear at the end of The Force Awakens that Rey was the future Jedi, and Finn was the Han Solo or Leia-type for this trilogy. It was a clear subversion of expectations and once Rey calls the saber to her to fight Kylo, it was pretty clear to me that “oh okay, so Rey is the Force sensitive one, and Finn is just a badass courageous guy that tries to do the right thing”

    I truly don’t understand fans that think anything in that movie ultimately was setting him up to be a force user. I get that the marketing sucked by giving him the lightsaber all the time, but again, to me after seeing the movie, it became clear that was just them purposefully misleading the audience so that the Rey Jedi reveal was more impactful.

  26. So that’s the reason why he’s been whining ever since? Because he assumed the direction those awful sequels were going to go?

    May we never have to deal with childish, immature and unexperimented actors like him again in SW. Devoid of talent at that other than shouting “REY!” for 6 hours straight.

  27. Then he is an idiot.

    There was nothing in the first story to suggest such a direction. Holding a lightsaber even briefly just means held a lightsaber. It’s using the force while wielding it that makes the difference and the first film made it very clear he wasn’t.

    The second didn’t either and for the third to do that would have made a ridiculous film even more ridiculous. He probably shouldn’t share that nugget of stupid anymore.

    Finn was a poor copy of Solo and that was always the fundamental problem. Just like Rey was a poor copy of Luke and Poe was for Leia. Everything about that trilogy was a poor lazy copy of the OG trilogy and that was the problem.

    Actors did what they could but only so much can do to overcome a lazy storyteller which is what Abrams is. Just for a while he did have a run of great concepts that hid how bad a storyteller he is.

  29. We got fucked out of the greatest Star Wars story that could have been. Remember this folks. But no, we got fucking palpatine.

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