John Boyega reflects on childhood friend Damilola Taylor’s 2000 murder: ‘His death haunted me’

LONDON, 4 OCTOBER 2026 —

The star was just eight when his friend was stabbed. Decades on, he’s ready to talk about that day – how it shaped him, and how, as he becomes a father himself, it will shape him as a dad “I feel a bit nervous,” confesses John Boyega, as he sits down in front of the camera. “Speaking about it could possibly help. I haven’t revisited this in a long time.

It took six years and three separate trials at the Old Bailey, costing a total of £16m, to secure a manslaughter conviction. His death shocked the nation not only because he was so young, but because all the suspects were also children. Boyega was one of the last people to see Damilola alive. The pair had enjoyed a close friendship since Damilola’s move to the UK from Nigeria in August of that year.

Watching the film at a Bafta screening a few weeks before its premiere, it’s striking how young and vulnerable the 34-year-old actor looks as he talks about the death of his friend. Boyega is more often seen looking assured and confident, be that his impassioned, impromptu address to thousands of people at a Black Lives Matter protest in Hyde Park, posing for the Pirelli calendar, or portraying an African king in a Hollywood movie.

Usually he stands tall, with broad shoulders supported by a proud stance. But in revisiting the memories of that day, it feels as if he has almost reverted to the eight-year-old child he was nearly 26 years ago when he found out his friend had died. A couple of hours later I reconvene with him at BBC New Broadcasting House to discuss the show.

In person, Boyega is unassuming, with a calm demeanour and a welcoming smile. He has just returned from a trip to New York fashion week and looks surprisingly fresh-faced for somebody who has not long stepped off a transatlantic flight. Boyega is sitting comfortably with his father Samson, his mother Abigail and an older cousin.

It’s a lively space – Boyega lives in Los Angeles now and I get the impression that everybody is excited to snatch a bit of time with him while he’s in London. We immediately get into a five-way conversation about the criminal proceedings around Damilola’s death. Everybody is talking at once.

The first trial collapsed after the judge ruled that the prosecution’s key witness was unreliable and there was controversy about items of crucial evidence that were excluded from the proceedings.

The family closely followed all three trials – in the second, the jury failed to reach a verdict for two of the three defendants on a charge of murder – and there is a sense of frustration at the opportunities missed when it came to bringing the killers to justice. “You would have thought the influence of the Stephen Lawrence case would have been way stronger, if they had actually learned something.

It didn’t come across like that,” Boyega sighs. The police investigation was heavily criticised after it was found to have made a number of significant mistakes. The whole Boyega family knew Damilola; but the actor has previously said very little about him in public. Boyega has worked consistently since his 2011 debut in sci-fi cult classic Attack The Block, including a gamechanging role as a lead in Disney’s Star Wars franchise.

His most recent projects, The Woman King (2022) and They Cloned Tyrone (2023), were both critically acclaimed. He has said that his professional success is in no small part due to being inspired by the way Damilola lived his short life. He has been deeply involved in the documentary. “The first time I watched a rough cut I was in my living room and it was bright out.

Since then, we’ve been watching daily edits, y’know, on a phone, on a laptop, on a little TV. But viewing it in the cinematic setup hits different – it was an emotional hill to get over, seeing the film like that. I feel really impacted by it.” Throughout the 75-minute screening, crying and sniffling could be heard around the room.

“It’s one of those films I wouldn’t watch multiple times because of my personal relationship to it, but it’s definitely a film I will refer to – when my child comes of age I will show him this film.

You need to know the realities of your lineage.” O n Damilola Taylor’s first day at Oliver Goldsmith primary school in Peckham, shortly after his arrival in the UK, a teacher assigned Boyega’s sister Grace to be his chaperone.

She says in the documentary: “My teacher was like, ‘Grace, there’s a new guy and he’s from Nigeria and obviously you’re Nigerian so you understand the language – you can show him around.’” They became a trio, because Boyega and his sister were inseparable at the time. “The only reason I was around him a lot was because I was always with my sister – I inherited Damilola,” Boyega tells me, laughing.

“I stayed because I found him hilarious.” His father chimes in with a poignant memory: “John don’t have many friends – at least not boys. John had girls surrounding him. And I remember asking, ‘John, why are you hanging around girls?’ and he said, ‘Dad, boys are dangerous – they’ll beat me up.’” At lunchtimes, the three of them would run around the playground together.

Boyega describes the day Damilola died as a transformational moment for him.