John Boyega Discusses Finn as a Jedi Theories with Digital Spy
Going way back to before The Force Awakens was even released, people have been speculating about whether the character of Finn might be force sensitive or even become a Jedi himself. There were the trailers and posters that featured him prominently with a lightsaber. There were moments throughout the film where a viewer could make the conclusion that some level of force sensitivity was playing out. And, there was his ability to hold his own for a few minutes in single combat with Kylo Ren. But what does John Boyega think of that idea?
From Digital Spy:
Would I like to be a Jedi? I think it would be more interesting if they had more than one person be a Jedi – but I think that that is the one of the unspoken laws of Star Wars. They only have one who has to go away and train.
Honest answer or more misdirection? Clearly Boyega is indicating that Finn will not spend this film training to be a Jedi, but he also skirted around the issue of the character’s potential force sensitivity. So what does he hope for as Finn’s character continues to develop as the films progress?
I hope it takes an interesting turn; not in terms of being a Jedi, but there are loads more stronger characters in the Star Wars universe that can go up against Jedi and they don’t necessarily have to be a Jedi. I would like to explore that more; the whole Boba Fett vibe. I would like to explore that for Finn, but who knows?
The idea that Finn might be heading down that Boba Fett type road rather than that of a Luke or an Obi-Wan makes sense given his character development thus far. But then again, there are many fans who even theorize that Boba Fett was force sensitive, so the door is never quite closed on these sorts of things. There’s always room for a surprise or two. Especially now, with increased confidence that we will likely see more movies with these characters after this trilogy, there is plenty of time for Finn’s story to develop. And, who knows what sort of unexpected twists and turns it might take along the way.
Head to Digital Spy for the full piece. And, let us know in the comments how you think Finn’s character will develop over the long term.
Why theorize? I say the man is upset – as many of us are – that it seemed Finn was going to do great things in TFA and ended up being the comic relief, and maybe his side quest in TLJ isn’t as great 🙁 I love this character and I think it had great potential.
I think it still does and he doesn’t need to be a Jedi to be great.
Finn has clearly been demoted to a supporting role in TLJ. It is all about Rey and Kylo Ren for KK and LucasFilms, and even Poe may get a bigger role than Finn going forward.
Finn was already demoted to supporting role in TFA. He’s the goofy sidekick who’s job it is to stand around an admire Rey’s brilliance. I’m actually hoping for more this time around. More for him, Isaac, and Gleeson to do.
There’s simply just too much going on. When you have a villain who is as complex as Kylo Ren, it’s going to be difficult to establish 3 more protagonists in the story. We’ve never had a villain like him in Star Wars before because he’s more than just the “bad guy,” he may very well be considered one of the main characters in TLJ and IX. Between him, Rey the Jedi, and Poe the likely successor to the resistance post Leia, it’s hard to juggle Finn. This is also probably why JJ originally had plans to kill off Poe in TFA. But I’m sure they’ll figure it out. He has potential for a nice character arc as well.
Wasn’t Finn supposed to be Rey’s love interest ? That was his arc , but apparently they decided to drop it too.
If she’s not a Skywalker I think it’ll be Ben. Looks like maybe Finn has Rose?
Did people really think he was going to be a Jedi?
I think this stems from the scene after the Hosnian system is destroyed. We hear screaming while seeing Finn boarding that ship and then turning to look at the sky.
When it’s obvious those screams are coming from the other people on Takodana. It’s amazing how bad Star Wars fans are at watching Star Wars movies.
Technically in the novelization, he hears the “sound from the skies”, which makes no sense as sound doesn’t travel in space. But KK and LF decided against making Finn force sensitive; otherwise, he would get more attention than Rey.
Quite a theory there. QUITE A THEORY THERE.
sadly, it’s not true. I just checked the novelization. It says nothing of the kind.
It reads that crowd that had filed outside the castle turned their eyes to the sky. Finn doesn’t come into it until the next paragraph where he asks Han where Rey is. The scene is written from Han’s POV.
So based on a false premise, then layed with baseless speculation about the intentions of LFL…this is an internet theory all right!
Sorry, it is not in the novelization (my mistake!), but it is in the script, which I quote :
”
EXT. MAZ’ CASTLE – DAY
Finn boards the Alien Freighter. The SOUND FROM THE SKY
makes him turn back. He sees the PATH OF FIRE and his blood
runs cold, his heart sinks.”
Oh I got ya. No worries! Haha, it happens.
I would still say, from that description, the sound from the sky seems like the path of fire and not screams.
Yeah, of course not, how could we, oh, wait…
https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/d880ae13d2915420b47bf883ff56e91752d1bcb1972a0f721f3f71b1272d8504.jpg
“Would I like to be a Jedi? I think it would be more interesting if
they had more than one person be a Jedi – but I think that that is the
one of the unspoken laws of Star Wars. They only have one who has to go
away and train.”
Hello prequels and comics.
I think he means, Kenobi-Anakin, Anakin-Ashoka, Kannan-Ezra, Obi Wan-Luke, Yoda-Luke, Luke-Kylo, Luke-Rey?
I am not sure if it is a rule or not, but Jedis only have one aprentice at the same time, and there is only 1 Jedi available.
Don’t care for the Finn character. Boyega just does not have much presence on screen. Would have loved to see what someone like Leslie Odom Jr could have done in the role.
I disagree. I think Boyega had an excellent, adventurous presence and great chemistry with Ridley. My only minor complaint was some of his overly emphasized expressions, reactions and that’s on director, not the actor.
I completely disagree with you. And i think you are under the assumption that ‘Finn’ is a ‘black’ role. JJ was a huge fan of Boyega after Attack The Block and he wanted him in Star Wars, Finn’s character had no pre-set nationality, and yeah….
Anyways, I love Boyega, on and off screen. he’s awesome.
When did I say it was set?
could be, that’s why i said ‘i think’.
No “could be” about it.
what a racist comment to make! anyone can be a terrible actor with any skin color
I disagree also. He and Daisy did carry the story forward. My complaint is they should have made him tougher and less cowardly. I understand they changed his character to suit the overall arc of the new trilogy. But would of loved to see a hard nosed soldier who ends up becoming more compassionate in the end.
I mean, wasn’t that EXACTLY the promise of the character? A stormtrooper who realizes he’s on the wrong side? That’s a hell of a compelling setup for the character, and would have given Boyega some meaty stuff to play, but they did sweet FA with it in TFA.
Exactly, something new besides the abandoned orphan, for a change. I think that given the chance, Finn would have stolen Rey’s thunder if they’d given him more screentime and development.
He overacted like no one’s business. I literally have to skip ever time the I’m in charge scene comes up.
I think that’s direction, not necessarily a choice Boyega made. It’s a terrible exchange to be sure though.
He wasn’t cowardly at all.
That is probably why he won a BAFTA for his role as Finn. I mean, by not having “much presence on screen”.
Yes – “Best Performance as a Character with Totally Inconsistent Motivation”
Jared Leto won an Oscar and he has turned in a couple of terrible performances.
But he didn’t win the oscar for those poor performances though. Boyega won his BAFTA for Finn. There’s literally not a comparison here.
He won an award for being a rising star. Not specifically for his performance as Finn if we are getting technical.
It was arguably his only truly substantial role at that point. Attack the Block was entirely forgettable.
isnt that tube hes in, some sort of BAFTA tank?
I think Boyega has a great screen presence and a lot of charisma, I think a lot of people would agree.
what, he senses that trash needed to be taken out as a sanitation storm-trooper???…nah,,,let him be the comic relief that he already is. And doing a fine job at it!
I thought the debate about Finn being force sensitive had already been settled.
If Del Toro’s character is a rogue mercenary, he could potentially convince Finn to work with him by the end of the film, and it might actually be the most sensible choice.
Sure… once Rey goes to the dark side and proves vastly more dangerous than Kylo… Finn trains with the Mandos. Together he and Kylo try to bring her down.
I don’t believe that for a second… but I wouldn’t be against it.
I would because that’s some of the worst EU stuff.
Hey I liked Legacy of the Force one of the only EU stories that felt like Star wars
I didn’t completely hate that arc. Except for the times it felt like they pulled punches. I never really liked Jacen’s fall or Mara’s… “results” the rest I felt was decent.
Which story was that?
Other than…all of them….
Jacen turning dark and Jaina learning to beat him from the all knowing Mandos.
Enough with the Jedi already! Finn doesn’t need to be another boring Jedi. It’s the smugglers, the adventure, all the techie military stuff that make Star Wars great! Let Boyega do his thing…
There’s a new trailer you know. What’s with the lag here?
You mean the TV spot?
https://www.starwarsnewsnet.com/2017/11/new-star-wars-the-last-jedi-tv-spot-shows-battle-of-crait-plus-new-shots-of-luke-leia.html
Whoops, yeah, it was billed as a trailer in The Guardian:
https://www.theguardian.com/film/filmblog/2017/nov/03/star-wars-the-last-jedi-trailer-five-things-we-learned
His over acting and enunciation of every word is ridiculous. Kill him off and give more screen time to Poe.
I have to say, after many re-watches of TFA, Boyega’s screaming and over-acting is one of the sore spots that sticks out. I almost want to mute the movie when he starts screaming “REEEYYYYYYYYY!!!!!!” when Kylo carries her off into the ship. He has good moments (mostly the comic relief stuff), but his propensity to act hyperactively in each scene gets tiring.
I hear ya, but still not as cringe-worthy as every utterance of the word, “hope” by Diego Luna & Felicity Jones .
I agree, Jyn was especially cringe-worthy at times.
Harrison Ford and Mark Hamill are both guilty of this in The Empire Strikes Back. It’s almost a Star Wars tradition. And as someone else suggests here it’s at least half a matter of direction. The ‘REEEYYY!’ bit is a bit uncomfortable at least initially but it’s something to do with the heightened nature of the material. More naturalistic or otherwise restrained acting would soon seem odd in Star Wars. Imagine Ricky Gervais as Snoke…
I honestly can’t think of one scene in ESB that was over-acted by either Harrison Ford or Mark Hamill.
For Harrison it’s the corridor conversation on Hoth with Leia, for Hamill the first few minutes on Dagobah. I think they’ve both been subtler since.
Even though I don’t agree, I’m happy to hear your examples and perspective. Cheers!
You may have a point there. Once they get to flirting in the Falcon though…just perfect.
ANH maybe, but not ESB.
“Honest answer or more misdirection?”
Trailer editing aside, have we had any instances of anyone involved in Disney-era Lucasfilm truly misdirecting fans? Has anyone lied about anything? I ask because it seems to be mentioned a lot as if it happens all the time, but I can’t think of any instances of it.
Nah. People latch onto rumors and theories and then blame Lucasfilm for misdirection when they turn out not to be true.
This right here
Mark Hamill does it all the time regarding Rey’s origins….and appears to be having a blast doing it.
please don’t make everyone force sensitive. its nice having some regular people be heroes as well.
Everyone? They need more. So far you have Luke, Rey, Kylo, and SNoke. That’s four people in the galaxy of trillions. By the end of this trilogy Luke and Snoke and maybe even Kylo might be gone. So that just leaves Rey to restart the Jedi?
its five people actually and you are assuming quite a bit about future plot lines.
Seriously… it blows my mind how frequently Leia’s force-potential is ignored by the fans.
Anyone else think that the ‘bubble’ they have Boyega in, in that shot at the top is one of these- https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/5a6df4084d8fc49c72991cea87492176d4300cf369f05da8e41c4dc8637650d9.jpg
Basically a 1960/70’s Phone booth cover?
I met my wife wearing two of those at a Terry Gilliam fashion show. (It was love at first sight.)
Boyega brings up a good point. Whether you want him to end up a Jedi or not. This trilogy needs to lead to a new trilogy or maybe even in episode 9 where there are Armies of dark force users and light force users and a few that have no allegiance to any side. They need to get away from this one Jedi chose one storyline. Or the Saga films will become old real quick.
That would start to drift from mythopoetics and Joseph Campbell and the like, away from being Star Wars really. Commercially it might make sense, if keeping the brand going is the aim, to move away from the familiar elements but I can’t see that being satisfying. A Star Wars X-XII that revolves around an anarchic universe would be an unsatisfying fraying of the fabric. A three-trilogy story is – touch wood – not a strained-seeming thing. I’m not keen on another trilogy myself unless it stands alone, whether that is KOTOR 1-3 or something else that’s self-contained. Other than a decade or more’s break and then a genuine reboot I can hardly imagine what would work, even to people who are 8 years old right now.
Though I do not think everyone needs to be potential Jedi or even “just” Force-sensitive, I wouldn’t really mind if they chose to make Finn one of these people.
We haven’t explored much of the “regular Jedi” potential in the Star Wars movies so far. They only appear in the PT as a bunch but we don’t really get to know any of them. We always focused on the Skywalkers and the higher ranks of the Jedi Order.
Besides, there’s evidence he may have some abilities.
1) Even though he lived through years of brainwashing he still find within himself the will to not kill for the FO and escape.
2) Even though he is untrained, he still holds his own against Kylo. And don’t give me the argument that he gets beaten quite badly pretty fast. Just look at how long the Jedi sidekicks last when Mace Windu comes to arrest Palpatine at the end of the PT.
For this reason I would be okay with Finn turning out as a potential Jedi as long as he’s no “Chosen One” or other “Incredible Potential” and just a simple standard Force-sensitive person who could be a regular Jedi.