When Star Wars: The Force Awakens hit theaters last year, it ended on one of the most serious cliffhangers in recent memory: will John Boyega's Finn be okay? Not since Han Solo found himself frozen in carbonite at the end of The Empire Strikes Back have we feared for the future of an awesome Star Wars character like this. We've kept our fingers crossed that Finn will awake from his coma when Star Wars: Episode VIII premieres in theaters next year, but it turns out that Rian Johnson initially had a hilarious (if somewhat morbid) plan for the character's future.
During an appearance on the Future Filmmakers at Star Wars Celebration, Star Wars: Episode VIII director Rian Johnson spoke out about Finn's fate, as well as a hilarious idea for the character's depiction in the next film. He said:
We did at some point joke that it would be great to just have him be in a coma for the whole movie and keep cutting back to him.
From there the crowd erupts with laughter at the prospect. Rian Johnson continues to explain that each of these cuts back to Finn would have him uttering some nonsense in his unconscious state, and at no point in the entire run time of the movie would the former Stormtrooper wake up. Of course, by the end of the panel it's revealed that he's kidding and Finn will indeed wake up and move around during the next film, which will come as a relief to the many fans that worried about Finn's potential fate.
Of course, just because we know that Finn will manage to wake up during the events of Star Wars Episode VIII doesn't mean we know how he will factor into the story. Although production on the film has wrapped, the story remains an incredibly well kept secret. We DO know that the film will buck Star Wars tradition by taking place immediately after the events of The Force Awakens, which means that the Finn we see in Episode VIII could very well find himself still reeling mentally and physically from his near death experience.
Finn's severe injuries at the end of The Force Awakens shocked fans not just because no one expected it, but because of how violent it was. The violence in Star Wars films has almost always felt incredibly sanitized, but when Kylo Ren (Adam Driver) digs the hilt of his light saber into Finn's shoulder, and then subsequently slashes him along the back, it's all pretty intense for this particular franchise.
Just in case you don't quite remember, check out Finn's bold showdown with Kylo Ren below for a quick refresher course in the sheer brutality of that fight:
We will keep you up to date with all of the latest and greatest information related to Star Wars: Episode VIII. The next installment in the iconic saga will hit theaters on December 15, 2017.
