Former “Star Wars” star John Boyega said in a recent interview that he recently had a candid conversation with Lucasfilm president Kathleen Kennedy about the franchise.
Context:
Over the summer, Boyega said in an interview with GQ magazine that non-white characters were pushed to the side in the “Star Wars” franchise. And his character, Finn, did not get a true chance to have a significant storyline, as I wrote about for the Deseret News.
- “You get yourself involved in projects and you’re not necessarily going to like everything. (But) 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. I’ll say it straight up.”
What’s new:
Boyega told BBC News that Kennedy called him to talk about the franchise, Deadline reports.
- “So I got on a phone call with Kathleen Kennedy (Lucasfilm president) and she verbally showed support and we got to have a really nice, transparent, honest conversation that is beneficial to both of us.”
- “I think these kinds of conversations, you can go into the realm of sounding like you’re just trying to save your own career, but what is great now is that it is a conversation that anyone has access to. Now people can express themselves about this knowing that any character we love, especially in these big franchises like the Marvels and ‘Star Wars,’ we love them because of the moments that they are given, we love them because of those moments, and they’re heroic moments that these producers all decide for these characters so we need to see that in our characters that are maybe black and from other cultures.”
Would John Boyega ever return to the ‘Star Wars’ franchise?
Boyega said in a recent interview with Yahoo! Entertainment he would return if Disney ever decided to make “Duel of the Fates,” the rumored ninth “Star Wars” film from Colin Trevorrow, or even an animated show.
- “I’m a ‘Mandalorian’ fan, so Lucasfilm is doing very well with the TV shows,” he told Yahoo! Entertainment. “An animated show would be dope! We could do it from home.”