John Boyega Reflects on Star Wars Fandom’s Problem With Black Heroes

Ever since he called time on the galaxy far, far away, John Boyega has been frank in discussing the ways he was both frustrated by, and pushed back against, the racism he experienced in being cast as one of Star Wars‘ latest generation of heroes, and the struggles he faced in Finn’s journey across the sequel trilogy. But as part of an interview for a new Apple TV+ documentary about Black men in Hollywood, the actor further opened up on the franchise’s predominance of white heroes.

“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,” Boyega said in part during an interview for Number One on the Call Sheet: Black Leading Men in Hollywood, now streaming on Apple TV+, via Variety), before further discussing the ways Star Wars fans defend a lack of prominent characters from non-white backgrounds.

“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,” Boyega continued. “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.’”

Boyega has frequently discussed how he felt about Finn’s role in the sequel trilogy being unsupported and sidelined in the face of culture-war commentary about the presence of a Black primary character in The Force Awakens, but his latest commentary is especially pointed in the wake of the cancellation of The Acolyte, a Star Wars series lead by a significant non-white cast, including Amandla Stenberg’s dual leading role as the twins Osha and Mae Aniseya. The Acolyte was the latest in a long line of Star Wars projects that found itself the target of bad faith and harassment over its diverse cast prior to, and even after, its untimely cancellation last year, but also the latest in a long line where Lucasfilm and Disney, in the wake of the bigoted harassment that actors like Boyega and Kelly Marie Tran faced during the sequel trilogy, failed to step up and defend up its targeted stars.

For as many strides that the studio has made in moving to defend minority talent—moves Boyega himself has praised in the past, like the studio’s open support for Moses Ingram after the Obi-Wan Kenobi actress faced racist abuse for her performance as the Imperial Inquisitor Reva—it’s clear there’s still plenty of ways to go to both elevate more diverse leading roles in Star Wars‘ future… and ways for Lucasfilm and Disney to defend those potential stars from being sidelined.

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