At Florida Supercon 2025, John Boyega — the actor behind Finn in the Star Wars sequel trilogy — didn’t hold back when asked how things would look if he had been in charge. And based on what he shared, his version of the galaxy far, far away would have taken a pretty different path from the one Disney and Lucasfilm chose.
Boyega’s Take: Legacy First, Overpower Later
“If I was a producer on Star Wars from the beginning,” Boyega told fans during his spotlight panel, “you would have had a whole completely different thing.”
He was clear about one major change right away — he would not have killed off the original trilogy heroes so quickly. “First of all, we’re not getting rid of Han Solo, Luke Skywalker, all these people. We’re not doing that,” he said. “The first thing we’re going to do is fulfill their story, fulfill their legacy. We’re going to make a good moment of handing on the baton.”
That’s a big deal because many fans still feel those characters were written off too soon or without enough weight. And Boyega’s next point hit another sore spot among longtime viewers: the power level of the new generation.
“Our new characters will not be OP’d [overpowered] in these movies,” he said. “They won’t just grab stuff and know what to do with it. No. You’ve got to struggle like every other character in this franchise. I’d do that.”
That comment was a pretty obvious reference to Rey, who many felt gained Jedi skills too quickly. As one fan put it, “Rey being able to go toe to toe with Kylo Ren in The Force Awakens always felt unearned.” Another user added, “They prepped Finn to be the new face of Star Wars — then they just put him on the backburner and ran the trilogy into the ground.”
No More Luke on a Rock
Boyega also criticized how The Last Jedi handled Luke Skywalker, who spent most of the movie isolated on Ahch-To. “Luke Skywalker wouldn’t be disappearing on a rock,” Boyega said. “Hell no. Standing there and he’s, like, a projector? I would want to give those characters way more way more.”
That frustration isn’t unique to Boyega. Many fans still feel the sequel trilogy didn’t do Luke justice. “The Luke that was set up in The Force Awakens is definitely not the Luke we got in The Last Jedi,” one fan wrote. “Snoke being afraid of the new Jedi rising if the Resistance finds Luke doesn’t line up with the Luke in the next movie.”
A Bigger Galaxy With Deeper Lore
Beyond character arcs, Boyega said his version of Star Wars would have drawn on parts of the universe that the films mostly ignored. “I’d look to the Old Republic stories,” he explained. “And see what we can add to the continuation of that. I would definitely want to see Force Unleashed stories in there. I would try to expand the Star Wars universe as much as possible while respecting the lore.”
This is another idea that resonates with many fans. There’s been a long-standing wish for Disney to dive into the deep cuts of the galaxy — from the Old Republic to the darker corners of Jedi and Sith history — instead of sticking too closely to the Skywalker family story.
Fans Say the Sequels Missed the Mark
Boyega’s comments struck a nerve because they echo many of the frustrations that fans have shared for years. Some felt misled by the early marketing, which suggested Finn might become a Jedi. “I wouldn’t be surprised if, just like how the trailers of The Force Awakens tried to lead us to believe Finn was going to be a Jedi, they also led him to believe the same. Only to pull the rug out from all of us,” one commenter said.
Others still can’t believe the lack of planning behind the trilogy. “Even now, I still don’t know how Lucasfilm created a sequel trilogy without having a complete story prepared, and just half-assing everything.”
In fact, even director Rian Johnson has admitted that his planned trilogy was never fully mapped out from the start. In a recent interview, he revealed that the project was “all very conceptual” and never had a full outline or treatment in place, which only fueled the sense that the sequel era was being built on the fly rather than following a clear vision.