Star Wars has been around long enough that many of the people who are now involved with making the franchise's new projects grew up with the original movies, and some of that group also had their childhood years coincide with the Prequel Trilogy. Take John Boyega, the actor currently bringing Finn to life on the big screen. His gateway to the world of Star Wars was opened when his sister gave him a Darth Maul action figure. As Boyega revealed during an Ask Me Anything on Reddit:
Getting a Darth Maul action figure passed down to me by my sister. It belonged to my sister and then it was mine. The black and red was a bit scratched but it still made for a good figure for a few years and then I watched the prequel films.
To promote his upcoming movie, Pacific Rim Uprising, John Boyega recently held a Reddit AMA, and naturally the session veered into Star Wars territory on several occasions, which included him answering how his Star Wars fan journey began. Boeyga was seven years old when Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace arrived in 1999, and while it sounds like he didn't catch the movie while it was in theaters, he was still growing up in that sweet spot when the Prequel Trilogy was expanding the Star Wars mythology. And if there's one thing you can count on with a Star Wars movie, it's plenty of merchandising, which includes toys for fans young and old alike. Boyega's sister scored a Darth Maul action figure, and by giving it to the future actor, she also added a new member to the continually-growing fandom.
While The Phantom Menace has its issues, Darth Maul remains one of the movie's most popular elements nearly two decades later, with Ray Park's Sith Lord (who was voiced by Peter Serafinowicz) proving to be a worthy opponent for Qui-Gon Jinn and Obi-Wan Kenobi. It's nice to hear that John Boyega got a lot of good use out of that Maul action figure, and that led to him partaking in the Star Wars movies. Little did that boy know that years later, he would be portraying one of the main protagonists in a new era of Star Wars movies. Who knows, maybe there's a kid out there right now playing with a Star Wars toy who will also appear in one of these movies in a few decades (because Disney will probably still be churning them out).
You can watch/re-watch Finn's latest Star Wars appearance when The Last Jedi arrives on Digital HD next Tuesday, March 13, with the Blu-ray and DVD release following on March 27. Episode IX is scheduled to hit theaters on December 20, 2019, so stay tuned to CinemaBlend for updates on that movie and the rest of the Star Wars franchise.
