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Growing up, many of us had that cool aunt who gave us candy and encouraged us to break the rules. In Boyega’s case, his aunt happened to be the Princess of Alderaan. While John Boyega and his Star Wars co-star Carrie Fisher weren’t actually related, her warmth and essence made her feel like family.

“Carrie Fisher is that cool auntie,” Boyega says during his Popverse-hosted spotlight panel earlier this month at Emerald City Comic Con 2025's Main Stage powered by Xfinity. “The rich cool auntie that comes in once in a while, and then she just goes away for 6 years and has an amazing life.”

Carrie Fisher passed away in 2016, but Boyega says he’ll never forget what she taught him. “For me, Carrie Fisher represented freedom and being able to be yourself in an industry and in a path that is sometimes based on not being yourself. There’s just a grounded energy. She just had a ‘I don’t give a shit’ kind of attitude that I liked,” Boyega says.

“I remember one time, you obviously have to keep a strict diet, and I was dieting, and I don’t know if anyone has tried any of these diets over the years. Lean meats? Good veg? I was doing all of that, and it gets to a point where it plateaus, and it gets really boring. Or you have a bad day and you’re like, ‘I just want a Snickers bar man.’”

“I had one of those days, and everyone else was like, ‘John don’t do it. This is serious work.’ And Carrie came up to me and she said, ‘Fuck it! Eat!’ I said, ‘Carrie, I don’t got no candy on me.’ She said, ‘I’m going to make sure I’m going to have candy waiting in your trailer by the time you get back.’ And she did. She fed me carbs, and sugars, and food.”

John enjoyed the candy, and the next day got back on his diet. He realized that Carrie had taught him an important lesson about forgiving yourself and taking breaks. “It was the essence of that. The mother essence of that. You will have bad days, and it’s cool to just take a break. Just make sure you get back in the gym and run that off tomorrow. I needed that, just because it was tiring.”

You can watch The Force of Talent: Spotlight on John Boyega from ECCC 2025's Main Stage powered by Xfinity for yourself as part of Popverse's all-encompassing coverage of Emerald City Comic Con 2025. Be there from anywhere.

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