John Boyega was asked by “Hot Ones” to rank the films in his “Star Wars” trilogy, which kicked off on a high note in 2015 with the beloved “Star Wars: The Force Awakens” and then got polarizing with 2017’s “The Last Jedi” and 2019’s “The Rise of Skywalker.”
“‘Star Wars: The Force Awakens’ is most definitely the best,” Boyega answered. “Second, for me, comes [‘The Rise of Skywalker’]. The worst – in the most respectful sense – is [‘The Last Jedi’]. But they’re all lovely.”
Boyega cracked a smile and gave some side eye, alluding to the fact that many “Star Wars” fans already know Boyega’s grievances with the space franchise. He notably told GQ magazine in 2020, “What I would say to Disney is do not bring out a Black character, market them to be much more important in the franchise than they are and then have them pushed to the side. It’s not good. I’ll say it straight up.”
“You guys knew what to do with Daisy Ridley, you knew what to do with Adam Driver,” Boyega continued at the time. “But when it came to Kelly Marie Tran, when it came to John Boyega, you know fuck all. So what do you want me to say? What they want you to say is, ‘I enjoyed being a part of it. It was a great experience…’ Nah, nah, nah. I’ll take that deal when it’s a great experience. They gave all the nuance to Adam Driver, all the nuance to Daisy Ridley. Let’s be honest. Daisy knows this. Adam knows this. Everybody knows. I’m not exposing anything.”
Boyega became the rare studio-employed actor to publicly criticize his own franchise, and he’s glad he spoke out.
“I’m surprised actors before hadn’t said anything,” Boyega recently told Esquire magazine. “Cause that’s what creates the whole taboo of it all… I’m just glad now that the conversations are being had on a mass level, so it doesn’t feel like one actor is a rebel against the system.”
“Once you make certain statements, everybody knows where you stand, so people don’t approach you trying to play the game,” Boyega added. “Since then, I’ve worked with Netflix, I’ve worked with Sony and other studios, and they’re very much aware of how I am, how I operate, and they found that they can still do their job. When you’re the one actor saying it, it becomes like, ‘Oh my God.’ But I’m glad now.”
Whatever criticisms Boyega has made about “Star Wars,” they have never stopped the actor from loving the space franchise. He told Total Film magazine earlier this year that he remains a “massive, massive” “Star Wars” fan.
“I still am in love with it. I bloody love it,” the actor said. “But it’s almost nicer not having to be in it, and not having to deal with that. It’s weird, you just go back to being a fan again and see yourself in the games.”
Next up for Boyega is Netflix’s “They Cloned Tyrone,” co-starring Jamie Foxx and Teyonnah Parris. The film streams July 21.