Talking about John Boyega’s relationship with the “Star Wars” universe and Lucasfilm/Disney, in particular, can be a bit tiresome. Not that his issues aren’t relevant, as the actor has brought up some really great points in regards to how his character, Finn, was handled in the Sequel Trilogy. But even with all that “Star Wars” discussion, there’s very little talk of what can be done to help actors who find themselves in a similar situation as Boyega.
Speaking to Variety, during an interview with “The Big Ticket,” Boyega talked about what studios could maybe do to help actors and protect them from the situation that he found himself in when he was part of the “Star Wars” universe. That is to say, protect non-white male actors from the toxic fans that seemingly wanted nothing more than to harass people because they don’t look like the actors they’re used to.
“When one of your actors, especially an actor that’s so prominent in the story, is announced as part of your franchise and then it has a big racial backlash and receives abuse online and that starts to form a shadow on what is supposed to be an amazing gift,” said Boyega, “it is important for the studios to definitely lend their voice, lend their support to that and to have a sense of solidarity not just in the public eye, but on the ground on set.”
Of course, Boyega is referencing his own history with “Star Wars,” where Finn was positioned as the new lead of the franchise before ‘The Force Awakens’ was released and it became clear that Daisy Ridley was, in fact, the new lead. What followed, for Boyega and other non-white male actors in the franchise, particularly Kelly Marie Tran in ‘The Last Jedi,’ is a torrent of abuse from “Star Wars” fans that used bigoted language and harassed people associated with the franchise. This online abuse, unfortunately, coincided with Lucasfilm sidelining those POC characters, leading fans to feel emboldened that they were right about hating Finn and Rose.
“Next time you cast someone in that position, you bring them through the process,” Boyega said. “They need that support. They can’t get Boyega-ed.”
We’ll have to see how this sort of situation is handled by studios in future projects. To be fair, this isn’t a “Star Wars” problem, strictly, as we saw similar abuse with Marvel Studios films, such as “Captain Marvel,” which introduced Brie Larson as the MCU’s most powerful superhero. For now, with no more “Star Wars” films announced, and the Disney+ series focusing on tried-and-true concepts, it’s unclear when Lucasfilm will have to step up again, but hopefully, for the sake of whoever studios cast in the future, Boyega’s words are heard.