John Boyega – Rebel Lead

He shot to fame with the first film in the Star Wars sequel trilogy at 22, and looks to closing this chapter of his professional life in 2019. What’s next?

- Pete Carroll

FINDING FAME CAN SEEM AWFULLY like acquiring Midas’ touch, what with all its trappings from a loss of privacy to increased public scrutiny. John Boyega should be intimately familiar with this – despite landing his first major acting gig starring in Joe Cornish’s cult hit Attack the Block in 2011, his meteoric rise to fame came only four years later with the release of Star Wars: The Force Awakens, which saw him playing Finn, a stormtrooper-turned-rebel.

Directed by JJ Abrams, The Force Awakens marked the start of the franchise’s sequel trilogy, which extended the main Star Wars saga with “episodes” seven to nine. It was a critical and commercial success, and established Boyega as a leading man who could hold his own – even in large-scale Hollywood-esque productions. With that came superstardom, of course, but there was still more to come.

Boyega reprised his role in the film’s 2017 sequel The Last Jedi. It was well-received by critics and audiences, but saw backlash from parts of the Star Wars fan base, which levelled criticism – vitriol, even – at director Rian Johnson’s treatment of the material. Much was made of how the plot points that Abrams had left behind for him to expand upon were seemingly disregarded, and newly introduced characters such as Rose Tico, played by Kelly Marie Tran.

Despite this, The Last Jedi confirmed Boyega’s status as a Hollywood star while cementing his legacy in the Star Wars universe via his character, Finn. Its ending also set the stage for The Rise of Skywalker, which will mark Boyega’s third outing in the series and the conclusion to the Star Wars saga – at least for now. The movie will be released worldwide in December this year.