John Boyega Reveals He Had A "Transparent, Honest" Conversation With Star Wars Producer

Star Wars actor and activist John Boyega has made little secret of his dissatisfaction with the direction the series took over the three films he starred in. In September, he spoke about the way he felt his character Finn had been sidelined, and his belief that his race had played a part in this. Now he has revealed that he has had "transparent, honest conversation" about the issues with franchise producer Kathleen Kennedy.

In an interview with the BBC, Boyega explained that his "really nice" conversation with Kennedy was "beneficial to both of us." The actor went on to explain that it was now possible to have difficult discussions that might not have been possible previously.

"These types of conversations, you can go into the realm of sounding like you're just trying to save your own career, but what is great now is that it is now a conversation that anyone has access to," he said. "Now people can express themselves about this knowing that any character we love, especially in these big franchises, the Marvels or the Star Wars, we love them because of the moments they are given, we love them because of those moments, and they're 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."

Boyega previously stated that while the white stars of the recent Star Wars movies, specifically Daisy Ridley and Adam Driver, were given characters with "nuance," other actors weren't as well served.

"What I would say to Disney is do not bring out a black character, market them to be much more important in the franchise than they are and then have them pushed to the side," he said in September. "Like, you guys knew what to do with Daisy Ridley, you knew what to do with Adam Driver. You knew what to do with these other people, but when it came to [Rose Tico actor] Kelly Marie Tran, when it came to John Boyega, you know f*** 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."

Boyega also took part in a Black Lives Matter rally in London earlier this year, where he passionately spoke out about injustice in the wake of George Floyd's death.