John Boyega has finally put into words what most of us suspected about Finn’s original trajectory in the Star Wars sequel trilogy — and it’s basically the version we all wanted but never got. In an interview at Fan Expo Boston, Boyega revealed he envisioned Finn as Force-sensitive from the start, with an arc that could’ve led him into conflict with Rey. Not just “friends with lightsabers” conflict — he was picturing an Obi-Wan/Anakin dynamic, a genuine duel between equals on opposite sides of the Force.
And yeah, that would have been incredible. Instead, we got… whatever the sequel trilogy’s creative committee felt like throwing at him from movie to movie.
It’s not like Boyega’s take was out of left field. The seeds were there. In The Force Awakens, Finn holds his own in a lightsaber fight against Kylo Ren — injured Kylo or not, that wasn’t nothing. There were teases in The Rise of Skywalker about something “he needed to tell Rey,” which was heavily implied to be Force-related. But the films never committed. They left Finn in narrative limbo, like they couldn’t decide whether to make him a major Force player or just another blaster-wielding sidekick.
Boyega’s idea would have made sense for Star Wars’ cyclical nature. We’ve seen the apprentice turned rival before. The galaxy keeps playing the same tragic notes — that’s baked into the saga’s DNA. A “Dark Finn” arc could have been compelling as hell, especially in a post-Rise of Skywalker setting. You’ve got Rey building a new Jedi Order, Finn either rejecting her vision or embracing a more extreme path, and the two eventually clashing. There’s drama, stakes, and a thematic echo of the franchise’s greatest conflicts.
Of course, Disney would have to be careful not to lean too hard into the on-the-nose visuals — she wears white, he wears black, you see the problem. But there are ways around that. Not every Jedi-vs.-Jedi fight has to look like a morality play from a high school theater department. Give him a different visual identity. Make his philosophy and his fighting style the focus.
The frustrating part is how Boyega was handled in the actual films. In The Last Jedi, Rian Johnson essentially turned Finn into a cartoon sidekick — sidelined in a subplot that could have been lifted out entirely without changing the main story. It stripped away the momentum he had in The Force Awakens and left him floundering in The Rise of Skywalker. By then, there wasn’t time to give him a meaningful arc, and we were left with hints of Force-sensitivity instead of the full payoff.
Boyega’s been open about his disappointment for years, and who can blame him? The man signed on thinking he’d be part of a bold new era for Star Wars, only to have his character flattened out by inconsistent storytelling and a lack of long-term planning.
If Disney is serious about bringing Rey back for a post-Rise storyline, they’d be smart to bring Finn back too — not just as a familiar face, but as a fully realized character with agency and direction. Give him the arc Boyega wanted. Make him a Force-sensitive with his own beliefs, his own goals, and yes, maybe even his own lightsaber.
Because if there’s one thing the sequels proved, it’s that wasted potential is the real dark side.
Hollywood After Dark 