The first episode of The Book of Boba Fett, the first of the Mandalorean spin-offs, will air on 29 December and is expected to tell us what Fett has been up to since the shocking season two finale. In this article, we recap how Boba is connected to the 'Mandalorean', who is involved in the making of the spin-off and what we might expect on screen.
An old friend
Boba Fett first appeared in public in 1979 at the San Anselmo Fairgrounds parade. George Lucas invented the bounty hunter for the Star Wars sequel, but decided it would be best if the public got to know the new character before the film premiered. Hence Boba's first public appearance and screen debut - he made an appearance in the infamous Holiday Special, becoming one of the few reasons this creation is worth watching.
The original trilogy positioned Boba Fett as the most dangerous bounty hunter in the galaxy, a ruthless loner who had the hallmarks of Clint Eastwood's character from Sergio Leone's The Dollar Trilogy. However, the screen did not find Bob much used. Yes, in 'Empire' he tracked down Han and Leia on Bespin, and at the end of the film he brought Solo frozen in carbonite on Tatooine to Jabba, but right at the start of 'Return of the Jedi' Fett had an extremely inept fall into the jaws of Sarlacc and fell... Or did he?
Despite his brief stay on screen, Boba appealed to fans in a galaxy far, far away. With the advent of the Expanded Universe, book and comic book writers decided that Fett's story could not end up in the stomach of a sarlacc. Boba returned to the other side of the world and never left the scene, and by the end of the pre-Disney era he had managed to become Mandalore - the leader of all surviving Mandalorians.
The authors of the Expanded Universe also invented a backstory for the hunter. According to the original version, Boba was once a simple stormtrooper whose name was Juster Meryl. When Lucas returned to a galaxy far, far away with the prequel trilogy, he rewrote Fett's biography as he saw fit. It turned out that Boba was an exact replica of another bounty hunter, Jango Fett, the donor whose genetic material was the basis for the Republican clone army. The young man suffered the death of his father at the hands of Mace Windu, attempted revenge, served time in prison and eventually followed in his father's footsteps by becoming a bounty hunter.
Boba is alive
After George Lucas sold Lucasfilm to Disney and the new owners dumped the entire Extended Universe into the Legends section, Boba's first biography remained canon. But the story of his entire life after falling into the jaws of the sarlaccus did not.
However, it didn't take long for fans to guess whether or not the hero had survived. First, writer Chuck Wendig hinted that the hunter may have survived the fall: one of the characters in the Consequences trilogy, a Tatooine marshal named Cobb Vance, bought a complete set of Mandalorian armour from the Javs, corrupted as if he had been on acid.
Then, in the first season of The Mandalorcian, in the final chapter of The Rifleman, we were shown a pair of someone's feet. Then, in the first season of The Mandalorcian, in the final chapter of The Rifleman, we were shown a pair of someone's feet, and we were immediately informed by discerning fans that the stranger's boots made exactly the same sound as Boba Fett's boots. But fan theories were not confirmed at the time.
A year later, in the ninth instalment of the series, Dean Jarrin travels to Tatooine... and meets Cobb Vance dressed in his familiar Mandalorian armour. Vance tells the story of how he found the armor and gives it to Mando in the episode's finale. And at the very end of the episode, we see a familiar figure watching the departing Mandalorian.
Fett finally returns to a galaxy far, far away in the episode "Tragedy", where he follows Mando to the planet Tython to retrieve his iconic armor.
The return of the hunter
The second season of Mandalorean tells us almost nothing about how Boba Fett survived his fall into the jaws of the Sarlacc and why he chose to remain on Tatooine. All we know is that he saved his ship, saved Fennec Shand's life in the finale of "The Rifleman", and at the beginning of "The Marshal" was apparently headed to Mos Pelgo to get his armour from Vance, but Dean beat him to it.
Finally reunited with his armor on Tython, Fett decides to help Mando retrieve Groga and remains in the narrative until the end. Before the season two finale, there were rumors online that Boba would die in the final episode and Dean Jarrin would inherit his ship, but series creators Jon Favreau and Dave Filoni had their own plans.
A few days before Salvation premiered, there was a Disney Day where Lucasfilm president Kathleen Kennedy revealed the company's upcoming plans: she announced two Mandalorian spin-offs, Ahsoka and The New Republic Rangers, but didn't say a word about Bob. What a surprise it was for fans when, at the very end of Salvation, Fett, accompanied by Fennec Shand, returned to Tatooine, killed Bebe Fortuna and took the throne that once belonged to Jabba. It was then that viewers knew they would see a continuation of the story in The Book of Boba Fett.
What's under the cover?
The Book of Boba Fett is being worked on by the same team that created Mandalorean. Jon Favreau and Dave Filoni remain executive producers of the series, only this time they are joined by acclaimed director Robert Rodriguez, creator of The Music Man, Dusk Till Dawn, Sin City and Children of Spies, as a third showrunner. He has already worked as a guest director on an episode of Mandalorean and apparently has taken a liking to it.
Rodriguez will direct three episodes of The Book of Boba Fett. Favreau, Filoni and Bryce Dallas Howard, already familiar from "Mandalorean," as well as franchise newcomers Steph Green and Kevin Tancharoen ("Mortal Kombat: Legacy," "Agents of S.H.I.T.," "Arrow") will direct another series.
The plot of the series is being kept under wraps. All that is known is that seven episodes are planned to air on Wednesdays. The creators promise plenty of spoilers and unexpected twists. Rodriguez admitted in an interview with The Hollywood Reporter that all trailers, teasers and commercials are composed of footage taken from the first half of the first episode to avoid spoilers.
From what we've seen in the trailers, Fett intends to fill the power vacuum left by Jabba's death in the underworld, but not everyone is on board with that. We're also finally told exactly how Boba came out of Sarlacc's stomach - some footage directly hints at flashbacks. The plot of the series is being kept strictly secret. All that is known is that it is planned for seven episodes, which will be broadcast on Wednesdays. The creators promise plenty of spoilers and unexpected twists. Rodriguez admitted in an interview with The Hollywood Reporter that all trailers, teasers and commercials are composed of footage taken from the first half of the first episode to avoid spoilers.
From what we've seen in the trailers, Fett intends to fill the power vacuum left by Jabba's death in the underworld, but not everyone is on board with that. Also, we're finally told exactly how Boba came out of Sarlacc's stomach - some footage directly suggests flashbacks. This is where credible information ends and speculation begins.
Boba vs Crimson Dawn
The creators of The Book of Boba Fett are trying to keep the content of the series a secret. But if you understand the logic of Lucasfilm executives, you can get a pretty good idea of the planned plot.
Lucasfilm's current management abhors individual solo stories and does its best to give viewers a sense of an interconnected galaxy. Every studio project sooner or later ends up being part of something bigger. Alexander Fried's Alphabet Squadron trilogy, announced several years ago, turned out to be a companion video game to Star Wars: Squadrons, and Timothy Zahn's Thrawn: Domination, finished last month, will surely be a prologue to what we'll see in Ahsoka.
The highlight of the year in the world of Star Wars comics was the Bounty Hunter Wars crossover. The plot is simple enough: after the events of Cloud City, Boba Fett quietly carried Han Solo frozen in carbonite to Jabba, but did not reach Tatooine - at the first stop the precious cargo was stolen by the hunter.
The kidnapper turned out to be someone familiar from the Han Solo film. The kidnapper was a member of the Crimson Dawn guild, whose first love, Ki'Ra, took over after Maul's death. Fans have since taken the heroine's return as an allusion to the possible filming of Han Solo 2, but after all, the comic actually brings Ki'Ra to the role of Boba Fett's most likely opponent in his solo series.
Stay tuned. The events of the crossover begin with Ki'Roo's sidekicks robbing Boba Fett. One such insult is enough to send all the culprits to the afterlife, but Ki'Ra doesn't stop there. In the course of the crossover, he intrigues against the other criminal cartels, pitting their representatives against each other and trying to take their place. Given the power vacuum created by Jabba's death, Ki'Ra has benefited most from the Hutt's untimely demise.
"The Bounty Hunter War" is just the first part of an epic crossover story conceived by screenwriter Charles Soule. The first installment of the next part of the story, Crimson Power, was released in December. In it, Ki'Ra continues to turn the criminal cartels against each other, but her main goal is even more ambitious - the girl dreams of tearing the galaxy from the grip of Darth Sidious. We know exactly how Palpatine ended up, and there's no doubt that nothing will come of this venture. What then would be left for the girl but to return to criminal activity?
Even the trailers hint at Crimson Dawn's involvement in the series, in which Boba and Fennec Shand are attacked by bandits dressed all in crimson - who else would they serve? A plot reconstruction appeared on Reddit and 4chan not long ago - it's now been removed. Its author confirms that Ki'Ra will be the main villain of the series, and promises other new faces as well. If these rumours are to be believed, The Book of Boba Fett will contain Cad Bane, Captain Rex, Echo and Rancor Moochie from The Married Party. Why, we've yet to see Fett ride a Rancor. And in the season finale, Boba is supposed to be approached by Dean Jarrin himself, who will need help to free Mandalore. But we'll see the release itself in Mandalore season 3.
