'I am really close to my castmates,' the actor told ET.
John Boyega's Star Wars castmates had his back after he spoke out in support of the Black Lives Matter movement. ET's Kevin Frazier spoke to the 28-year-old actor, who revealed that Daisy Ridley and Oscar Isaac were among the co-stars to express their "full support" of him following his impassioned speech at a London protest.
"I am really close to my castmates, specifically Oscar and Daisy," he said. "I have had really transparent and lovely conversations that I will never forget in my career, so we were already speaking about things. Me saying this was not a shock to them, but they did text me to say they support me."
"... Many people in the industry have reached out to have these transparent conversations. That has really, really helped," he added.
Despite the support he received from the cast, Boyega is unsure if he'd return to the Star Wars franchise in the future.
"I don't know what's going on with Star Wars," he said. "I think while I'm alive, that's one thing, but it would just depend on story and it would depend whether Daisy and Oscar are coming back. I wouldn't wanna be running around by myself or anything."
As for his speech, which went viral after videos of it made their way online, Boyega said "it was just me expressing how I feel about certain issues."
"I just feel like it probably hit a time where people can relate, and a lot of people in that position would've probably said the same thing," he said. "It's always good to have someone that has a stage and a position to be able to speak from a very true perspective and it was an honor to be able to do that for you all."
The response from the people present at the protest "meant a lot" to Boyega.
"[With] the illusion of fame and money and stability, people feel like, 'Why would he care about us? You're good. You're made. Why would you care?'" he explained. "It's good, through action, to break down those obstacles, so we can always identify our true allies, people who truly have our backs."
Boyega's hope is that, now that he's spoken out, it will be easier for the next person to do so.
"For me to be in that position, with those people marching, I'm just essentially one body in a massive group, but to have that influence to push their message, it was just a good thing to do," he said. "... Perhaps because I have now come out with this, for the next actor to be in that position, that is not going to be an alien conversation."
Next up, Boyega is set to star in the third episode of Steve McQueen's Amazon Prime Video anthology series, Small Axe. In the project, Boyega portrays real-life figure Leroy Logan, a Black man who joined the British police force after his father was assaulted by two officers. Telling the story, Boyega said, was "so important" to him.
"Storytelling can sometimes be revolutionary in terms of exposing a different perspective... can help prompt research, [and start a] more intricate and critical dialogue," he said. I just think it's very, very important in this process, as we decide what we're fighting for or what we support, how we morally approach these kind of scenarios that we're seeing in the world today."
Boyega's episode of Small Axe, "Red, White and Blue," will premiere Dec. 4 on Amazon Prime Video.
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