Rian Johnson, director of Star Wars: The Last Jedi, has revealed why so many of Finn’s scenes were cut from the movie.
The Last Jedi was a packed affair. There was an awful lot going on in the sequel to Episode VII that naturally not all the planned material would make it into the film. This goes the same for scenes that were shot for key characters like John Boyega’s Finn.
With The Last Jedi mostly focusing on the dynamic between Luke, Rey, and Kylo, Finn’s presence in the film is not as substantial as it might have been, and to explain the decisions made, Johnson has told the following to Digital Spy:
“A lot of the Finn scenes that were cut are connective material,” Johnson explained. “For instance, there’s a scene where he’s on the ship, and BB-8 comes in and shows him… basically, BB-8 shows him a recording he made of Rey saying goodbye to him. That’s when he decides, ‘Oh my God, I’m going to go save Rey.’
“In a scene like that, it was totally lovely. But once we realized that we could take it out and the audience would know he’s holding Rey’s beacon, and ‘Oh, he’s going to save her’, and they would make that leap – suddenly, you can’t justify that scene being there.
“I think as opposed to Rey, where somebody like Rey had longer sequences on the island that were with Luke – with Finn, because his was a little more plotty in terms of it, there were more little scenes like that where we were like, ‘Oh, we can do without this, we can do without that’, and have his character arc still hold up,” Johnson said.
While Johnson admits that he’s disappointed not to get more of Finn into the film, he admits how fond he is of Boyega: “You can see it in the deleted scenes, he’s freaking fantastic. John Boyega at his worst is better than most people at their best.”
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In Lucasfilm’s Star Wars: The Last Jedi, the Skywalker saga continues as the heroes of The Force Awakens join the galactic legends in an epic adventure that unlocks age-old mysteries of the Force and shocking revelations of the past.
Star Wars: The Last Jedi sees returning cast members Mark Hamill (Luke Skywalker), Carrie Fisher (Leia Organa), Adam Driver (Kylo Ren), Daisy Ridley (Rey), John Boyega (Finn), Oscar Isaac (Poe Dameron), Lupita Nyong’o (Maz Kanata), Domhnall Gleeson (General Hux), Anthony Daniels (C-3PO), Gwendoline Christie (Captain Phasma), Billie Lourd (Lieutenant Connix), Andy Serkis (Supreme Leader Snoke), Peter Mayhew and Joonas Suotamo (Chewbacca), Tim Rose (Admiral Ackbar), Mike Quinn (Nien Nunb) and Warwick Davis joined by new additions Jimmy Vee (Pan) as R2-D2, Kelly Marie Tran (Ladies Like Us) as Rose, Benicio Del Toro (Guardians of the Galaxy) as DJ and Laura Dern (Jurassic Park).
