The Book of Boba Fett Promises Big Surprises

Director and showrunner Robert Rodriguez gave hints in a recent interview….

With Spider-Man dominating the Disney news cycle, an important story in The Hollywood Reporter jetpacked under the shields.

Even the headline stating, “How ‘The Book of Boba Fett’ Will Shake Up’ Star Wars,’” was off-target during a week when most were avoiding spoilers for No Way Home.

However, now with a quiet moment here at the Bishop homestead, blue milk in hand, and goggled bucket hat on head, we can begin to re-think our expectations about the revelations coming to Star Wars on Disney+ on December 29.

“I usually avoid premier properties — you’ll never be able to please everybody; it’s a losing game,” Rodriguez told THR. “That changed with Boba because he was a character that was always underserved. It was a character way more popular than he should have been, based on [his limited screen time]. So it’s almost like starting with an original character.

“You can kind of do anything you want, so long as you make him cool…”

Boba Fett has always been cool. From his on-screen beginnings on ill-fated Star Wars Holiday Special to the deleted scenes from The Clone Wars, it’s the mystery behind the armor-clad character, which continues to intrigue fans old and new.

THR’s James Hibberd explained:

Boba Fett was designed by Star Wars creator George Lucas, art director Joe Johnston and legendary illustrator Ralph McQuarrie for 1980’s The Empire Strikes Back. The terse, green-helmeted bounty hunter was based loosely on Clint Eastwood’s Man With No Name in Sergio Leone’s Westerns (right down to jangling spurs on his boots). Fett then suffered a rather ignoble death by falling into the toothy Sarlacc pit in 1983’s Return of the Jedi. Yet after purchasing Lucasfilm in 2012, Disney had other plans for Fett rather than letting the character “slowly digest for 1,000 years.”

Enter Rodriguez, who “resurrected” Fett in the highly re-watchable Season 2 episode of The Mandalorian entitled “The Tragedy.” The episode, which featured a short standoff between Ming-Na Wen’s Fennec Shand with Boba Fett versus the titular Mandalorian, ended with Fett working to rescue The Child from the clutches of Moff Gideon.

Again, the more we learn about Fett, the less we know. And the new series looks to blow the helmet off those limited facts.

“I think the design of the costume, especially the helmet, is iconic,” said Lucasfilm’s Dave Filoni. “The details, from the dent on the crown of the helmet, the emblems, scuff marks, cloak, and braids all spoke of a greater story and adventure that the character had experienced. I think it was always fun to imagine what those adventures were.

“Now we get to tell some of them.”

Rodriguez added, “Boba bites off more than he can chew, and we definitely do not make it easy for him.

“It’s easy to sit on the throne; it’s not easy to stay on. So what’s it like for a bounty hunter to have to suddenly become a leader? Where’s the push and pull in that? What is he trying to become?

“We really go in-depth into the character.”

Read the entire THR story.

The Book of Boba Fett premieres on Disney+ on December 29.