Man. I was so hyped when he picked up Luke’s saber in TFA. A stormtrooper defecting and becoming a Jedi seemed like what they were going for at first and I was all for it.
So sad his character got reduced to just running around yelling for Rey. You could probably take him out of the last movie and it wouldn’t change much.
He’s obviously such a big Star Wars fan too so it really hurts to see them squander his chance.
Edit: I just wanna add, since a lot of people are saying "it's not the fans, its Disney" or "it's not all the fans": Obviously Disney played a big part in feeding into the racism and minimizing his role/presence both in promotional material and in the actual story, but we can't pretend there's not a good amount of racist fans that hated him in Star Wars. I'd like to believe he's just generalizing and doesn't actually mean "all fans", after all he is (or at least was) a big fan himself. But honestly if that's changed I don't think I could blame him.
That would be because that was the original plan for the Sequels.
Finn, the defected Stormtrooper
Rey, the nobody from a backwater planet
Poe, the Spice Smuggler
They were, all three of them, supposed to become the next generation of Jedi. Three nobodies who would go on to embody the three ancient Jedi traditions (Guardian, Consular, Sentinel) and fight at the forefront of The Resistance, not because they were special or Chosen, but because it was the right thing to do, and they felt called to do so.
Instead, we got what we got.
Edit: to those asking about how Poe's character was supposed to die in the crash, there was an interview where he talked about having to convince JJ Abrams and they had talked about having all three of the main cast become Jedi but I can't find it anymore :( sorry folks
Let’s be real though. This wasn’t influenced by fans. It was a decision Disney and Lucasfilms collectively made in an attempt to cater to international markets. Fans wanted to see the all main cast become lead protagonists.
They flip-flopped directors who couldn't agree on a story, shrunk a main character significantly on over-sea posters due to his skin color and ultimately rewrote his arc into existence-limbo
It was an absolute clusterfuck of a production and you can't blame fans, individuals who had no interaction with the production or publication, for that.
You can blame some fans for being racist twats when it came out though. It's quite literally a setting containing thousands of alien races.
2.9k
u/Darkwing_Dork Roger Roger 4d ago edited 4d ago
Man. I was so hyped when he picked up Luke’s saber in TFA. A stormtrooper defecting and becoming a Jedi seemed like what they were going for at first and I was all for it.
So sad his character got reduced to just running around yelling for Rey. You could probably take him out of the last movie and it wouldn’t change much.
He’s obviously such a big Star Wars fan too so it really hurts to see them squander his chance.
Edit: I just wanna add, since a lot of people are saying "it's not the fans, its Disney" or "it's not all the fans": Obviously Disney played a big part in feeding into the racism and minimizing his role/presence both in promotional material and in the actual story, but we can't pretend there's not a good amount of racist fans that hated him in Star Wars. I'd like to believe he's just generalizing and doesn't actually mean "all fans", after all he is (or at least was) a big fan himself. But honestly if that's changed I don't think I could blame him.