Star Wars is one of the most popular and money-making franchises in the world. Fans always hope to see a proper and welcoming inclusion of the community they belong to, whether it's a race, gender, or sexual one, in every media representation. Black people have made significant contributions to Star Wars and its vast scientific space universe, but that legacy of black visibility in the franchise has been tainted by the problem of casting people of color in prominent roles, only to reduce their importance and role later on.
However, the next installment of the billion-dollar multimedia franchise might have the opportunity to turn things around as a new report resurfaced that Damon Lindelof's upcoming Star Wars film is eyeing a person of color as the lead actor. Jeff Sneider revealed to The Hot Mic podcast that the mysterious Star Wars film will feature a non-white actor, which drew speculation that John Boyega might be reprising his role.
Sneider shared, “So I’ve heard that the lead in Lindelof’s new movie, the Star Wars movie. Is Lindelof directing this movie? I don’t know. So I heard that the lead will be a person of color and likely, though it’s not confirmed, it’s what I took from it, it’s a man. I couldn’t get a name or coloring like that.”
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Despite fans’ campaign for Boyega to make his return in the Star Wars universe, some hope that a new face from the people of color community will be introduced so that the franchise can have the chance to grow its roster of POC and make the representation all the way better.
In August, Boyega expressed his sentiments about returning to the galactic franchise. “At this point I’m cool off it. I’m good off it,” he said on SiriusXM’s “Tell Me Everything With John Fugelsang.” “I think Finn is at a good confirmation point where you can just enjoy him in other things, the games, the animation. But I feel like ‘[Episode] VII’ to ‘[Episode] IX’ was good for me.”
Early in 2022, it was announced that Lindelof would pen a Star Wars motion picture, while Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy, who directed Ms. Marvel, would helm the film. It was also reported that production discussions were held in secret for two weeks after the Star Wars Celebration. Other rumors state that the movie will take place after The Rise of Skywalker's events and may even feature some of the sequel trilogy's cast members.
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The said upcoming Star Wars film is expected for a 2025 release.
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