The season 2 finale of The Mandalorian left fans with plenty of questions, but none were more pressing than a surprise announcement about something called “The Book of Boba Fett” would arrive in December 2021. Was it the next season of The Mandalorian, switching its focus from Din Djarin (Pedro Pascal) to the infamous Star Wars bounty hunter? Or was it its own standalone series? Without a clarifying word from executive producer Jon Favreau or Lucasfilm, speculation ran high across the weekend of December 19, 2020 on the nature of Fett’s new story.
Thankfully, Favreau appeared on Good Morning America December 2020 airing to dispel some of the confusion regarding The Book. Nearly a year later, the series trailer debuted. So let’s take a look at everything we know so far.
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Joining him on this new journey will be Fennec Shand (Ming-Na Wen), the mercenary he rescued in The Mandalorian’s first season. Seemingly indebted to him, if even by just her own code of ethics, the pair will continue on as Fett plans his next move.
The only other actor confirmed for the series so far is Jennifer Beals, who briefly appears in the trailer as a Twi’lek. Her purpose in the series remains to be seen – in fact, we’re not ever sure if her appearance is a one-episode guest stint or something longer term. But from her brief moment in the trailer, we’ll suggest she’s running whatever establishment Fett and Shand just walked into.
And if we might indulge in some more speculation, we imagine the other bounty hunters from The Empire Strikes Back — Dengar, IG-88, Bossk, Zuckuss, and 4-LOM — may appear at some point. Also, there may be room to do an episode on Jodo Kast, the imposter Boba Fett who appeared in the Expanded Universe while Fett himself recuperated from his encounter with the Sarlaac.
Come to think of it, revealing how he actually survived his seeming death scene in Return of the Jedi would make for a strong chapter as well. Also, you have to wonder how long before Fett’s actions in Jabba’s palace attracts the attention of Cobb Vanth (Timothy Olyphant), other elements on Tatooine, or even the other Hutts.
(Photo by © 2020 Lucasfilm Ltd. All Rights Reserved.)
One last speculation: as we suggested earlier, Din Djarin may make an appearance in the series as the voice seemingly emanating from a translator while an Ithorian is on screen at 1:48 of the trailer sure sounds like Djarin. Or, at the very least, Pascal. We also imagine Djarin will be interested in Fett’s activities following the events of The Mandalorian’s second season and whatever agreement he and Bo-Katan Kryze (Katee Sackhoff) made about the Darksaber.
On the production side, Robert Rodriguez — who directed the episode re-introducing Boba Fett to The Mandalorian’s sector of space — will serve as executive producer with Favreau and stalwart Star Wars creative Dave Filoni. Lucasfilm president Kathleen Kennedy and Colin Wilson will also serve as an executive producers with long-time Star Wars veterans Karen Gilchrist and Carrie Beck taking co-executive producer roles. John Bartnicki will produce and John Hampian serves as co-producer.
As Favreau clarified during his GMA appearance, The Book of Boba Fett will come before the third season of The Mandalorian, but not replace it; in fact, Favreau said the third season will “pretty soon follow” The Book of Boba Fett in terms of production. Whether or not this means the new season will stream immediately after Fett concludes is anyone’s guess. It is rather clear, however, that The Mandalorian will return sometime in 2022.
The year 2022 appears to be the big one for Star Wars on Disney+ with Obi-Wan Kenobi and Andor debuting alongside that third season of The Mandalorian. There is also the potential for at least one other live-action Star Wars project to join that group as well.
(Photo by © 2020 Lucasfilm Ltd. & ™. All Rights Reserved.)
Alongside the Ahsoka series, The Book of Boba Fett will take place in the era five or so years after Return of the Jedi. For lack of an official name, we’ll call it the New Republic era. In an echo to the early Expanded Universe novels, games, and comics, it is a time when the newly established Republic faces a lot of backlash from Imperial enclaves and plenty of internal tensions the Rebel Alliance set aside to combat the Empire.
That issue will likely be covered more closely in Ahsoka or the third season of The Mandalorian, but it will also factor into Fett as organized crime is constant in the Star Wars galaxy, as is the central government’s inability (or apathy) to police it. We’ll hazard a guess that a show more focused on scum and villainy made a standalone Fett series attractive to Favreau and Filoni as they devised the Mandalorian spinoffs — well, assuming the series is just about Fett becoming the godfather of space. As we’ve already seen, he is a man of his word, and it is possible the resources of the Hutt criminal enterprise could be utilized in some other goal.
(Photo by © 2020 Lucasfilm Ltd. & ™. All Rights Reserved.)
During the Investor Day presentation, Lucasfilm president Kathleen Kennedy mentioned The Mandalorian, Ahsoka, and the now seemingly defunct Rangers of the New Republic would culminate in an event. Presumably, Fett will be part of this culmination as well and we wouldn’t be surprised if it is all leading to the liberation of Mandalore. As we’ve seen in The Mandalorian, Kryze is still trying to free it from Imperial Remnant control even as most people assume the planet was, as Fett put it, “turned to glass.” She’s also still trying to be its ruler, which may lead to some conflicts with Din Djarin in the near future.
But if Djarin decides to lead the liberation effort himself, he will no doubt call on Fett to help – perhaps even offering the boon of legitimizing him as a Mandalorian. That would be reason enough to barge into Jabba’s palace and kill Bib Fortuna.
Then again, having fulfilled his promise to help Djarin recover Grogu, Fett may be acting on his own. Either way, it is clear The Book of Boba Fett will have a lasting impact on this New Republic era.
(Photo by © 2020 Lucasfilm Ltd. & ™. All Rights Reserved.)
As the next chapter of the New Republic era, The Book of Boba Fett premieres on December 29, 2021. It is still unclear how long The Book will be, although eight episodes is a reasonable expectation; however, as seen with the upcoming Andor, a 12-episode order is also possible.
The Book of Boba Fett premieres on Disney+ on December 29, 2021.
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