After first breaking out on the scene in “Attack the Block,” British actor John Boyega rose to new heights of fame playing Finn in the “Star Wars” sequel trilogy.
That hiring also saw him exposed to a lot of vitriolic backlash and racism from some of the darker corners of “Star Wars” fandom. In the past, he’s spoken about his frustrations with franchise owner Disney over that, amongst other creative decisions.
However, in a recent interview with SiriusXM’s Tell Me Everything, he revealed he had made peace with it following how he saw the company handled similar fan criticism of actress Moses Ingram in “Obi-Wan Kenobi” earlier this year:
“That’s the peace that I felt. Moses Ingram being protected makes me feel protected. Do you understand what I’m saying? It makes me feel like, ‘Okay, cool. I am not the elephant in the room.’
Because when I started, it wasn’t really a conversation you could bring up. You know how they went through it. It was kind of like, ‘Let’s just be silent.’ It wasn’t a conversation you could bring up. But now to see how blatant it is, to see Ewan McGregor come and support…It, for me, fulfils my time where I didn’t get the support.”
The actor, who stars in the upcoming “The Woman King,” doesn’t have much interest in returning to a galaxy far, far away at this point:
“At this point I’m cool off it. I’m good off it. To be fair, [with] the allies that I’ve found within Joel Taylor and Jamie Foxx, Teyonah Parris, Viola Davis, all these people I’ve been working with… versatility is my path.
I think Finn is at a good confirmation point where you can just enjoy him in other things, the games, the animation. But I feel like ‘[Episode] VII’ to ‘[Episode] IX’ was good for me.”
You can see the key interview clip below:
