Daisy Ridley on Whether John Boyega Could Return To Play Jedi Finn: “That Is Above My Pay Grade”
In a Screen Rant interview that went under the radar a few weeks ago, Daisy Ridley discussed the possible inclusion of John Boyega’s Finn in the new Star Wars film she’ll be starring in, and whether it could fulfill the promise of the character becoming a Jedi.
To be clear, Boyega has not been officially announced as part of the cast, but given Ridley’s involvement with the film as Rey Skywalker, the actress was asked if she’ll be bringing a friend along for the ride. She said:
“That is above my pay grade. [Laughs] I would love to see that, but that is not a decision for me.”
Daisy Ridley was officially announced to be joining the movie at Star Wars Celebration around a year ago, and little else has been revealed about it since then (in part, due to the six-month stoppage forced by the WGA strike last year). However, by this point, Lucasfilm (and probably Ridley herself) must know whether John Boyega is coming back as Finn or not, given that the movie is in early pre-production.
It’s been long theorized that Finn would be a part of the new story, tentatively titled New Jedi Order, and even Boyega was not entirely against the idea of returning when asked about it last year. The actor was disillusioned by how the sequel trilogy, and in particular his character’s arc, turned out. At one point he was promised an arc in which he’d become a Jedi, but after multiple iterations of the overall story of the sequels, that was dropped. Instead, The Rise of Skywalker repeatedly teased that he was Force-sensitive, hence the speculation that he’d now have the chance to pay that off.
Rumors are swirling online about the new film, which is being written by Steven Knight (who will soon shift priorities to the Peaky Blinders movie, set to go up after the summer in the UK) and will be directed by Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy. It looks like Lucasfilm is looking at actors for the main roles, and Angela Bassett could be in contention for one of them.
While the company is currently focusing most of its feature film resources on getting The Mandalorian & Grogu up and running, a movie that will shoot this summer in California, it’s possible they might have some announcements by the time D23 rolls out in August. At the very least we could find out when the movies are set to come out. As of now, it’s looking like The Mandalorian & Grogu will bow on May 22, 2026, and New Jedi Order (w/t), on December 18, 2026 (11 years to the day of The Force Awakens‘ premiere).
Miguel Fernández is a Spanish student that has movies as his second passion in life. His favorite movie of all time is The Lord of the Rings, but he is also a huge Star Wars fan. However, fantasy movies are not his only cup of tea, as movies from Scorsese, Fincher, Kubrick or Hitchcock have been an obsession for him since he started to understand the language of filmmaking. He is that guy who will watch a black and white movie, just because it is in black and white.
