Before J.J. Abrams was brought in to bookend the Star Wars sequel trilogy with Episode IX: The Rise of Skywalker, director Colin Trevorrow (Jurassic World ) had been tasked by Disney to cap off the epic journey of the Resistance heroes Poe Dameron (Oscar Isaac), Rey (Daisy Ridley), and Finn (John Boyega).
Trevorrow’s idea for Episode IX had a completed script and even a title: Duel of the Fates, inspired by the name of a song by series composer John Williams. If you look it over, you can tell that it’s a very different beast from The Rise of Skywalker.
We’ve also gotten to see concept art for the movie, and to be honest, every bit of it looks parsecs better than what Abrams came up with. There were scenes of Rey with a double-bladed lightsaber and Chewbacca taking out the Knights of Ren…who actually had a purpose in this movie.
Several pieces of concept art depicted a climactic final battle on the city-planet of Coruscant, the Captial of the Galactic Republic in the prequel films and headquarters of the Galactic Empire in the original trilogy, and eventual home base for the First Order. In Trevorrow’s movie, former First Order stormtrooper-turned-Resistance fighter Finn (John Boyega) was given the task of leading Resistance forces on the ground during the Battle for Coruscant. He’s front and center on a piece of concept art Collider founder Steve Weintraub recently posted to his Instagram:
In addition to Finn, we also see Rose Tico (Kelly Marie Tran), Poe Dameon (Oscar Isaac) and Chewbacca at his back. They’re all standing amidst what appears to be the rubble of a crash site in the underbelly of Coruscant. This means that, if events unfold as they do in the script, Rey has just slain Supreme Leader Kylo Ren and the First Order — now truly leaderless after General Hux’s death by Seppuku — begins to fall.
One thing the concept artist couldn’t have predicted is how similar this would look the sight of John Boyega speaking up recently at a Black Lives Matter protest in London:
LONDON, ENGLAND – JUNE 03: Actor John Boyega speaks to the crowd during a Black Lives Matter protest in Hyde Park on June 3, 2020 in London, United Kingdom. The death of an African-American man, George Floyd, while in the custody of Minneapolis police has sparked protests across the United States, as well as demonstrations of solidarity in many countries around the world. (Photo by Dan Kitwood/Getty Images)
Boyega was speaking to people peacefully protesting the asphyxiation murder of George Floyd, an unarmed Black man who had been detained and subdued with his wrists handcuffed behind his back by former Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin and three of his fellow officers. The killing lasted nearly nine minutes and was filmed, in its entirety, by several bystanders who were begging the officers to let Floyd up.
“Look I don’t know if I’m going to have a career after this but, f**k that.”
— The Nikki Diaries (@thenikkidiaries) June 3, 2020
John Boyega. pic.twitter.com/KPFDUUFGlM
Days later, Chauvin was arrested and charged with third-degree murder and second-degree manslaughter, later changed to second-degree murder. His accomplices — Tou Thao, J. Alexander Kueng and Thomas Lane — were arrested and charged with aiding and abetting the murder.
“Look, I don’t know if I’m going to have a career after this, but fuck that,” Boyega told the crowd on June 3. “Today is about innocent people who were halfway through their process. We don’t know what George Floyd could have achieved, we don’t know what Sandra Bland could have achieved, but today we’re going to make sure that won’t be an alien thought to our young ones.”
It’s been over a week since Boyega’s speech, and his career did not suffer. Celebrities and studios alike showed their support for the actor, prompting him to post a message of thanks to Instagram:
"I want to thank you all for the love and support you have shared over the last few days, although nothing I have done is for praise, or is truly even enough, in the grand scheme of things. This is an intense time for our community, and the most important thing is for us to maintain momentum and not lose sight of how critical it is to pursue long term solutions and commitments, for the sake of our generation, and the next."
With the Star Wars sequel trilogy over and done, we don’t know whether Boyega will ever return to that galaxy far, far away, but we wish him the best in whatever he path he chooses. Because thanks to the space he helped create, there is now room for socially conscious Black actors who aren’t afraid to speak their minds and stand up for what they believe, without fear of losing their jobs and hurting their careers.
Star Wars has always been a politically-charged franchise, telling stories of people coming together to resist brutal fascist authority. In the prequels, it tells the story of a corrupt politician who rises to power through the spread of misinformation. Only by people from all different clans and creeds coming together on the outskirts of society can the Emperor be stopped not once but twice and peace given a chance.
The series has never shied away from exploring issues that reflect the political, religious and social aspects of our everyday lives, and it’s great to see its stars confronting the issues in the real world head on.
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