John Boyega has said the Star Wars sequel trilogy would have been a lot different if he had been a producer on the films.
The British actor, 33, played Stormtrooper turned rebel, Finn, in three Star Wars movies released between 2015 and 2019. Although the films were a financial success, fans remain divided on the narrative direction the trilogy took Star Wars in, especially due to its treatment of iconic characters like Luke Skywalker and Han Solo.
Boyega was asked, hypothetically, if he would have changed things in the films if he had worked as a producer. “You would have had a whole completely different thing,” he said.
The actor said that he wouldn’t have killed off Han Solo and Luke Skywalker in the manner that the films did.
“The first thing we’re going to do is fulfil their story, fulfil their legacy,” Boyega told fans at a convention in Florida, according to Popverse. “We’re going to make a good moment of handing on the baton.”
Boyega added that the new characters wouldn’t “just grab stuff and know what to do with it. No. You’ve got to struggle like every other character in this franchise. I’d do that.”
If given the opportunity, Boyega would have expanded the Star Wars universe as much as possible while also respecting the stories that have gone before. “If we’re expanding the lore, we have to do it within the respective boundaries that stay true”.
He also declared that “Luke Skywalker wouldn’t be disappearing on a rock. Hell no. Standing there and he’s, like, a projector? I would want to give those characters way more way more.”
Boyega has previously spoken out against the bigoted reaction he received when he debuted in 2015’s The Force Awakens.
Speaking in a documentary called Number One on the Call Sheet: Black Leading Men in Hollywood, Boyega condemned the fans who rallied against his role in the films.
“You can always tell it's something when some Star Wars fans try to say, 'Well, we had Lando Calrissian and had Samuel L Jackson!,’” he said. “It's like telling me how many cookie chips are in the cookie dough. It's like, they just scattered that in there, bro!”
“They're okay with us playing the best friend, but once we touch their heroes, once we lead, once we trailblaze, it's like, 'Oh my God, it's just a bit too much! They're pandering,'" he added.
Boyega’s co-stars, Daisy Ridley and Kelly Marie Tran – the latter of whom became the first woman of colour to have a leading role in the franchise – also received a huge amount of abuse from fans who were angry with the inclusive casting choice.
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