Credit: LucasfilmA new report suggests Disney may be heading back to the sequel trilogy to revive a major Star Wars character.
Star Wars returns to the big screen later this month with The Mandalorian and Grogu, Disney and Lucasfilm’s first big-screen release since The Rise of Skywalker in 2019. The Jon Favreau-directed film arrives after years of canceled projects, creative reshuffles, and the franchise shifting heavily toward Disney+ series.
However, not everyone is convinced the film will become the comeback Disney needs.
Early box office tracking has pointed toward a potentially soft opening by Star Wars standards, with some analysts warning it could debut below Solo: A Star Wars Story. If the film underperforms, rumors suggest that Lucasfilm is willing to move away from the MandoVerse in general, ditching a planned crossover film.
Star Wars fans have also questioned whether the movie feels too much like an extended streaming episode, with early teasers criticized for feeling more like commercials than trailers.
Amid these concerns, a recent report has suggested that Disney is turning to the sequel trilogy for an upcoming project.
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Disney Taps Sequels Star For Future Project
According to insider Daniel Richtman, Lucasfilm has reportedly held talks with sequel trilogy star John Boyega about a possible return for Finn in the Star Wars franchise.
This follows a recent comment from Boyega during MEGACON Orlando, where he suggested that he’s recently been in contact with Lucasfilm president Dave Filoni. When one fan shouted, “Get Dave [Filoni] on the phone,” Boyega surprised the audience by replying: “I actually have, actually.”
No specific project has been linked to the discussions so far, though speculation has already turned toward the studio’s developing post-Episode IX plans. Simon Kinberg is working on another trilogy, making that a possible landing spot for the character.
One possible option is the still-developing Rey-focused Star Wars movie starring Daisy Ridley, which is set after the events of The Rise of Skywalker (2019). However, the project – said to follow Rey’s new Jedi Order – has faced repeated setbacks since its announcement at Star Wars Celebration in 2023, including multiple writer changes, development delays, and ongoing uncertainty about when – or even if – it will begin production.
When Finn was introduced in The Force Awakens (2015), he immediately stood out as one of the sequel trilogy’s most original ideas. A former Stormtrooper breaking away from the First Order offered Star Wars a perspective the franchise had barely explored onscreen, with the potential for a deeply personal story about identity, indoctrination, and rebellion.
Instead, the character gradually drifted into the background as the trilogy continued. The Last Jedi (2017) paired Finn with Rose Tico (Kelly Marie Tran) on a divisive side mission to Canto Bight, while The Rise of Skywalker repeatedly teased major revelations about the character without fully committing to them. Many fans also expected Lucasfilm to explore Finn’s hinted Force sensitivity in greater depth.
The biggest missed opportunity, however, may have been the wider Stormtrooper storyline itself. Finn’s history positioned him perfectly to lead defections from the First Order or confront the morality of soldiers raised from childhood to serve the regime. Instead, much of that material remained largely untouched, leaving one of the trilogy’s strongest concepts feeling surprisingly incomplete by the end of the saga.
John Boyega’s Criticism of ‘Star Wars’
John Boyega has spent years speaking candidly about his frustrations with the Star Wars sequel trilogy and the way Lucasfilm handled his character. In a widely discussed 2020 interview with British GQ, the actor argued that Finn was initially positioned as a major lead before gradually being pushed to the sidelines.
“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. “It’s not good. I’ll say it straight up.”
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The actor also pointed toward wider issues involving race and representation within the franchise. During the GQ interview, Boyega said Disney knew exactly how to support characters like Rey and Kylo Ren but struggled with characters played by actors of color, including Finn and Rose.
“You knew what to do with these other people, but when it came to Kelly Marie Tran, when it came to John Boyega, you know fuck all,” he said. “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 additionally faced intense racist backlash after his casting was announced in 2014, with some online users attacking the idea of a Black Stormtrooper before The Force Awakens had even been released. The actor later said the experience exposed deeper problems within parts of the Star Wars fanbase and left him feeling isolated during the trilogy era.
Despite those criticisms, Boyega has softened slightly toward the franchise in recent years. The actor has repeatedly said he remains open to returning – although, in 2021, he specified that he would only do so if Kathleen Kennedy and JJ Abrams were involved. Kennedy has since exited her role as president of Lucasfilm.
More recently, he claimed that he would return if it were a film (no Disney+ projects) and if it involved Poe Dameron (Oscar Isaac) and Chewbacca (Joonas Suotamo).
Would you like to see John Boyega return as Finn?
