John Boyega has expressed “frustration” with Disney’s kid-gloves handling of fan protests when he was cast as a “Black Stormtrooper” in 2015’s Star Wars: The Force Awakens. But the British actor says he’s made peace with it after seeing how differently the company recently handled similar fan criticism of Moses Ingram in Obi-Wan Kenobi.
“That’s the peace that I felt,” he said on on SiriusXM’s Tell Me Everything With John Fugelsang. “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, fulfills my time where I didn’t get the support.”
Asked if he was bitter that he didn’t get the same kind of protection Ingram did from Disney, Boyega took the long view.
“It doesn’t make me feel bitter at all. It makes me feel like sometimes you are that guy. And my dad taught me that. Sometimes you’re not the guy to get the blessing and sometimes you are Moses, you know, you lead the people to the mountain, but you see the destination. You don’t get to go in, you get others to go in. And that’s where you get your happiness from,” he said.
“And for me to see other people accepted, and then at the same time to see that the studios now are like, ‘Okay, cool. This is not an elephant in the room conversation. We need to support our Black client.’ It’s fantastic.”
As to whether he would ever essay the role of Finn again in a Star Wars film, “At this point I’m cool off it. I’m good off it,” Boyega said. “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.”
He continued: “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.”