John Boyega Had an ‘Honest’ Call With Kathleen Kennedy About ‘Star Wars’ Criticisms
Daisy Ridley might be “totally satisfied” with her character’s Star Wars ending, but her co-star John Boyega had a very different read on The Rise of Skywalker. In several blunt interviews after the film came out, Boyega said he had “moved on” from Star Wars, and expressed in no uncertain terms that the way Finn and other minority characters were treated in The Rise of Skywalker — where they were “[marketed] to be much more important in the franchise than they are and then ... pushed to the side” — was “not good.”
Boyega’s comments received a ton of attention — including from executives inside the world of Star Wars. In a new interview with the BBC, Boyega reveals that he got a phone call from Lucasfilm president Kathleen Kennedy where she “verbally showed her support” for his comments. He called it “a really nice, transparent, honest conversation that was beneficial for both of us,” then added:
These types of conversations, you can go into the realm of sounding like you’re trying to save your own career. What’s great now is that it’s now 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 or Star Wars, we love them because of the moments that they’re given, we love them because of their heroic moments that these producers all decide for these characters. So we need to see that in our characters that may be Black and from other cultures.
It’s fine that Kennedy expressed her support to Boyega, but the real difference will come whenever we get a new batch of Star Wars movies, and we see if the changes Boyega wants are reflected in them. In the meantime, Boyega will next be seen in Steve McQueen’s Small Axe: Red, White, and Blue, which will premiere on Amazon Prime on December 4.
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