John Boyega, the actor who plays Finn in Star Wars: The Force Awakens, has dropped a couple of hints about Episode VIII – and he’s saying a lot of the right things.
In an interview with Vogue (via Squareeyed), Boyega gave a little more detail on the tone and physicality of the next film, teasing a much darker entry than J.J. Abrams’ inter-galactic popcorn romp.
He called the Rian Johnson-directed sequel “much darker,” but said that he and co-star Daisy Ridley (Rey) are very excited for it. Boyega also stated that because of a more physically demanding role this time around, he will be hitting the gym a bit more. Plenty more lightsaber action for Finn, then?
From what we can gather, Boyega’s comments echo sentiments about the original trilogy, as Empire Strikes Back was considerably darker and more character-driven than A New Hope – it was also a vastly superior film. Abrams was recently forced to defend his contribution to the new trilogy in saying he wanted a “tried and true” mythology that were around long before Star Wars.
“What was important for me was introducing brand new characters using relationships that were embracing the history that we know to tell a story that is new — to go backwards to go forwards,” he said.
“So I understand that this movie, I would argue much more than the ones that follow, needed to take a couple of steps backwards into very familiar terrain, and using a structure of nobodies becoming somebodies defeating the baddies — which is, again, I would argue, not a brand new concept, admittedly — but use that to do, I think, a far more important thing, which is introduce this young woman, who’s a character we’ve not seen before and who has a story we have not seen before, meeting the first Stormtrooper we’ve ever seen who we get to know as a human being; to see the two of them have an adventure in a way that no one has had yet, with Han Solo.
Star Wars: Episode VII – The Force Awakens is now in theaters, followed by Rogue One: A Star Wars Story on December 16th, 2016, Star Wars: Episode VIII on May 26th, 2017, and the Han Solo Star Wars Anthology film on May 25th, 2018. Star Wars: Episode IX is expected to reach theaters in 2019, followed by the third Star Wars Anthology film in 2020.
Irwin Fletcher
I'm an LA journalist who really lives for his profession. I have also published work as Jane Doe in various mags and newspapers across the globe. I normally write articles that can cause trouble but now I write for FTN because Nerds are never angry, so I feel safe.
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