John Boyega reveals how he thought Finn and Rey’s arc was going to progress in the Star Wars sequel trilogy. During an appearance at Fan Expo Boston (via Screen Rant), the actor talked about his experiences in the galaxy far, far away and shared his initial reaction to Star Wars: The Force Awakens. Based on how the story in that film played out, Boyega thought Lucasfilm was establishing a foundation for another friends-turned-enemies narrative that would ultimately pit Finn and Rey against each other a la Anakin Skywalker and Obi-Wan Kenobi in the prequels.
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“I think I assumed [Finn] was Force-sensitive from The Force Awakens script or at least by the time I got to the end of The Force Awakens script,” Boyega said. “I thought they were planning dual Jedis. I actually thought that they would Obi-Wan and Darth Vader us a bit. That we would turn against each other or something along those lines.”
Throughout the Force Awakens marketing campaign, several promotional materials depicted Finn wielding the Skywalker family lightsaber, implying the trilogy would be about his journey of self-discovery and learning about the Force. Of course, that turned out to be a misdirect, as Rey is the real protagonist of The Force Awakens, taking her first steps into a larger world as she learns about her abilities. The handling of this arc was part of Boyega’s larger frustrations with the sequel trilogy. He was critical of Disney for pushing Finn to the side in subsequent films after setting him up as an important character in The Force Awakens.
Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker confirms Finn is Force sensitive, but the plot point is severely underdeveloped and doesn’t really go anywhere. Finn doesn’t even reveal the truth to Rey; there were takes where he did, but they weren’t used in the final picture. It remains to be seen if Finn’s Force abilities will be explored in a future Star Wars movie, but the character’s story will continue in the canon novel Star Wars: The Last Order. The book’s story chronicles Finn and Jannah’s mission to help young prisoners of the First Order.
Going this route would potentially have generated controversy. Kylo Ren was introduced as a key sequel trilogy villain in The Force Awakens, with Adam Driver’s nuanced performance earning praise. If Finn and Rey had been destined to become enemies, odds are one of them would have to usurp Kylo (similar to Anakin killing Count Dooku in Star Wars: Revenge of the Sith), which would have robbed the sequels of one of their most fascinating characters. Nevertheless, a Rey vs. Finn arc would also have been compelling. Their friendship and natural chemistry is a highlight of The Force Awakens, and watching them become torn apart could have been a poignant development. Yes, it would have been retreading ground from the prequels, but Anakin vs. Obi-Wan was powerful and emotional.
Theoretically, Boyega’s proposed arc could be used in the Star Wars: New Jedi Order movie that follows Rey as she spearheads a new era for the Jedi. Finn could be one of her allies getting a new Temple started and their relationship fractures when they don’t see eye to eye on something. However, not only has New Jedi Order encountered numerous problems in development (cycling through multiple writers), there’s no guarantee Boyega will reprise his role. Daisy Ridley has hinted that she’ll be working with new actors on New Jedi Order, implying Finn’s journey on the big screen is complete.
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