After Sharing Thoughts On Toxic Fandom, John Boyega Returns To Twitter To Hype His New Movie With Viola Davis

Actors like Star Wars’ John Boyega have never had a problem speaking their minds. After all, this is the same actor who wasn’t afraid to follow his heart by giving a passionate speech in support of the Black Lives Matter movement. While his Star Wars character, Finn, would fight his enemies with a lightsaber, Boyega in real-life was fighting the toxic fandom in 280 characters or less on Twitter. He eventually took a break from social media, but recently the 30-year-old returned to the platform, and is using his words to promoting his upcoming movie with Viola Davis.

After taking a break for over eight months, John Boyega returned to Twitter on July 5th for a very special reason. He announced on Twitter that the trailer for his new movie with Viola Davis, The Woman King, would be premiering the next day.

John Boyega was very active on the social media platform up until October 2021. During that time, he fought through varying frustrations with Star Wars fans on social media. There seems to always be something that fans of the popular franchise have something to say about the British actor’s time in Star Wars– including the time he was fighting Reylo shippers. Fans weren’t exactly happy with him when he joked around about who his character’s friend, Rey, “eventually lays the pipe [with].” But the Detroit actor did not take things in silence. He had no problem engaging with the fandom on Twitter by telling them to “fack off.” Hey, you don’t mess with an actor who’s gotten some training using a lightsaber.

This wouldn’t be John Boyega’s first brush with criticism. When he made his debut as Finn in Star Wars: The Force Awakens, he suffered backlash for being a black man in a leading role. The racial element of certain fan critiques also led his co-star Kelly Marie Tran to exit social media completely. 

The actor isn’t the first Star Wars star to take a break from social media, as Daisy Ridley also tried something similar, but it’s nice to see him back for promotion for The Woman King! He also excitedly tweeted the trailer of his upcoming historical epic film:

The Woman King is based on the true story of the all-female military regiment, the Dahomey Amazons. Viola Davis stars as General Nanisca who comes into conflict with the French army aiming to overtake their kingdom. It makes sense why Boyega would be excited about the opportunity to portray the real-life king of one of the most powerful states of Africa during the 18th and 19th centuries. Based on the The Woman King trailer, it looks like fans of Black Panther and the Wonder Woman movies will love this new action-packed flick as we see Amazonian Woman kicking ass as they defend their kingdom. 

While John Boyega may have moved on from the Star Wars franchise, we can expect to see great upcoming projects from him going forward. Be sure to watch the actor and Viola Davis in The Woman King in theaters on September 16th.