John Boyega Believes Black Actors Can Only Play Friends in Star Wars. I don’t agree.

John Boyega, the actor who played Finn in Disney’s “Star Wars” sequel trilogy, recently said that he felt that “Star Wars” limited black actors to the “friend” characters.  I do not believe this to be the case. Sure, Disney did do that, but many fans were upset that Boyega’s character wasn’t given a much larger role in the sequel trilogy.

Variety used a headline that indicates Boyega blamed the fans, but that isn’t exactly what he said.

During an interview in “Number One on the Call Sheet: Black Leading Men in Hollywood” on Apple TV+ John Boyega said,

“Lemme tell ya, ‘Star Wars’ always had the vibe of being in the most whitest, elite space. It’s a franchise that’s so white that a Black person existing in [it] was something. 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!’ 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.”

“You guys knew what to do with Daisy Ridley, you knew what to do with Adam Driver. But when it came to Kelly Marie Tran, when it came to John Boyega, you know fuck all. So what do you want me to say? What they want you to say is, ‘I enjoyed being a part of it. It was a great experience…’ Nah, nah, nah. I’ll take that deal when it’s a great experience. They gave all the nuance to Adam Driver, all the nuance to Daisy Ridley. Let’s be honest. Daisy knows this. Adam knows this. Everybody knows. I’m not exposing anything.”

While “Star Wars” was more white, initially, many changes have happened over the years.

Lando Calrissian (Billy Dee Williams) is an important character in the franchise. He was a successful businessman and leader who took care of his people. He also led the attack on the second Death Star, and later was a major player in “Solo: A Star Wars Story” and “The Rise of Skywalker.”

Mace Windu (Samuel L. Jackson) was an incredibly important Jedi in the prequel trilogy. Not a “friend” or “side” character at all.

Darth Vader was voiced by James Earl Jones, making him 1/2 black and arguably more widely known than David Prowse (the man in the suit.) Jones’ voice at Darth Vader is one of the most recognizable and iconic in pop culture.

Plus, it’s “Star Wars” so many actors play characters that are aliens. Rosario Dawson for example plays Ahsoka Tano.

Saw Gerrara is important in “Andor” and was a big character in “Rogue One.”

Many other characters appear that are not white or black throughout the films as well.

Many thought John Boyega’s Character Finn was robbed.

When it comes to Disney’s choices for the sequel trilogy, many fans feel that Boyega’s character Finn was robbed. The trailers for “The Force Awakens” led people to believe that Han, Luke, and Leia would be together again, but also that Finn was going to be the next lead/ Jedi. Instead, it ended up being Rey.

While Finn was a hero at the end of “The Force Awakens,” he was a coward trying to run away by “The Last Jedi.” Even his chance to sacrifice himself was stopped by Rose Tico, so he couldn’t even have that heroic moment.

Finn was a wasted character with an amazing story arc. An ex-Stormtrooper turned Jedi would have been amazing and fresh, but that was all ruined by the second film.

I can tell you that many fans felt that way. Poe was also underutilized and altered after the first film.

This is better directed at Kennedy and Johnson who derailed his path to becoming a Jedi. Ignoring this makes it look like a studio puff piece.

— Bob Barker (@Capt_Barker) March 31, 2025

Everyone was stoked when he picked up that lightsaber. Disney is the one who turned him into comic relief.

— CurmudgeonRPG (@CurmudgeonRPG) March 31, 2025

Pretty sure I saw lots of folks upset in how his character was written saying Disney missed out on a great character arc in favor of Mary Sue Palpatine.

His beef is with Kennedy, not the fans

— Jedi Ghost Wisconsin Irish James (@blackdoglurking) March 31, 2025

I’m tired of stars scapegoating fans, when it’s their own bosses that are more deserving of their anger. Boyega got a raw deal from Lucasfilm, and that’s not the fault of Star Wars fans.

— Colin Hussey (@cehussey) March 31, 2025

So we’re just going to ignore that these “toxic fans” were openly disappointed when Finn didn’t get to be the Jedi, and that him being sidelined is one of the reasons we checked out? pic.twitter.com/gFOicIOjVC

— Lady Runesong (@LadyRunesong) March 31, 2025

Funny, my recollection of the fans is that they despised what was done to Finn in the second two movies in the trilogy as they wanted him as the next Jedi. These are the same fans crying out for Mace to return in BoBF season 2 & Lando to get his movie. These issue is the studio.

— Following The Nerd (@nerdfollowing) March 31, 2025

JJ and Ryan Johnson

He deserved better. Honestly a Rogue storm trooper turning Badass Jedi would have been awesome. But unfortunately JJ ruined it.

— Dylan G (@DylanG9199) March 31, 2025

What a rough thing to say. Considering we, the majority of the fanbase thought he was going to be the main character in The Force Awakens and were let down when the trailers were misleading.

— Jarred Brown (@JarredBrown3) March 31, 2025

The ones who dismissed and ruined Finn were the people behind the camera and not the audience.

Many wanted Finn to be far more important. He was my favorite character in the sequel trilogy.

Frankly, his comments seem more like sour grapes than anything. But I understand his anger toward Disney/Lucasfilm, but then again, he took the role.

What do you think? Comment and let us know.