Star Wars: Finn’s character could have been so much more

Finn’s story didn’t go deep enough in the Star Wars sequel trilogy

When Star Wars: The Force Awakens came out, I was so excited to learn more about Finn. Here’s a stormtrooper who finally took off his helmet because he saw all the wrong in the First Order.

Watching Star Wars throughout the years, you never got the feeling that stormtroopers were anything more than soldiers who followed orders. You didn’t know if they believed in the cause or were part of the Empire’s military because there wasn’t anything else to do.

More from Finn

• John Boyega is excited to ‘just be a fan again’ post-Star Wars
• The most popular Star Wars ‘ships’ on AO3
• Andor reveals Finn is not the first stormtrooper to join the rebellion
• No more Star Wars for John Boyega
• Star Wars could continue Finn’s story – with or without John Boyega

As along as the good guys won, who cares what happened to the stormtroopers?

Finn made you look at stormtroopers differently. There were actual people under the masks. People who loved and feared, were happy and said, and people who definitely had their own ideas of how the Empire and the First Order operated.

I looked forward to his journey because he was a defector, but also he was so new to this world. The First Order took him when he was just a child. He didn’t know any other family.

Would he seek out his past? Would Finn try to get friends to join him? How would he reconcile the murder and destruction the First Order bestowed on the galaxy with what the rebels are trying to do?

Yet, none of these things happened. We didn’t explore any of it and Finn’s story was largely one that felt incomplete as the credits for The Rise of Skywalker went by.

Not only did it feel incomplete, Finn’s story had new elements right at the end that never got explored.

In Episode IX, he was a Force user – something he had apparently wanted to tell Rey the entire movie, but never had the chance. After we spent two movies realizing Rey’s powers, it felt strange to throw that in for Finn in the end.

I like the idea of Finn being a Force user. It certainly evolves his character and further drives the point that your beginnings don’t define you. It’s who you are and how you treat people that matter.

Instead, Finn became a character that it seemed the writers didn’t know what to do with. He had a presence that was never utilized to its full capability. He had a story that could have been fleshed out to give him a richer story.

While there are other mediums that tell Star Wars stories and, hopefully, more of Finn’s story, I would have enjoyed seeing how it would have played out on screen.

Stream the Star Wars movies on Disney+.