Boba Fett is the most famous bounty hunter in Star Wars history. His first appearance was in a nine-minute cartoon segment of the infamous Star Wars Holiday Special in 1978. Despite his failure to betray the Millennium Falcon crew to the Empire, he was one of the few characters to emerge from that special with any credit.
When we next saw him in Star Wars Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back, he was just one of several lethal bounty hunters on the bridge of Darth Vader’s Star Destroyer. None of those mercenaries went down well with Imperial officers, but Boba Fett went down well with fans. He was an immediate hit, and his Mandalorian armor soon made its way into popular culture.
It looked like the bounty hunter had lost his crown a couple of years ago when a different Mandalorian headlined the first live-action Star Wars series. But Mando was only riding on Boba’s cape-tails. The real deal arrived in the closing episodes of The Mandalorian’s second season. It turned out that Boba Fett’s triumphant live-action return to the franchise after 18 years was only a teaser. A headline show of his own, The Book of Boba Fett, began streaming on Disney Plus in Dec. 2021.
Fans expect to learn far more about the lead character given that The Book of Boba Fett picks up in the same period as The Mandalorian, five years after Star Wars Episode VI: Return of the Jedi. Hanging questions include how the bounty hunter escaped a long, painful, and certain death in the Sarlacc Pit on Tatooine in Return of the Jedi and, at the heart of the series, how Boba will handle running Jabba the Hutt’s former crime syndicate after the events of The Mandalorian.
We might also learn more about his origins and just how he established his fearsome reputation. After all, he’s not the only bounty hunter in this galaxy far, far away with the name Fett.
How are Boba Fett and Jango Fett related?
We met Jango Fett in the prequel trilogy. During 2002’s Star Wars Episode II: Attack of the Clones, an assassination attempt on Padmé Amidala sent Obi-Wan Kenobi in pursuit of the bounty hunter behind it. Narratively, it mirrored Luke Skywalker’s solo trip to Dagobah in the middle film of the original trilogy, The Empire Strikes Back. But Obi-Wan didn’t find Master Yoda when he arrived on the ocean planet of Kamino. He found a clone army and Jango Fett.
Jango Fett was a famous bounty hunter, a Mandalorian foundling, and a template for the clones being grown for the Grand Army of the Republic. The clone batches being prepared for the coming war weren’t the only revelation on Kamino. As payment for his role in creating the Republic’s new army, Jango had taken an unaltered clone as a son, calling him Boba.
Boba Fett was raised as a son by Jango Fett but is actually his genetic clone. The mass batches of clones ordered into production by the mysterious Darth Tyrannus is one of the prequel trilogy’s darker aspects. But the fate of young Boba gave it a run for its money.
The last Boba saw of his father was early in the Battle of Geonosis, the first skirmish of the Clone Wars. When Mace Windu beheaded Jango Fett, the pre-teen Boba was left holding his father’s severed helmet in a chilling moment amid the battle. Jango didn’t just pass on his complete genetic make-up to his son. Boba inherited Jango’s ship Slave One, modified his armor, and by the time of The Empire Strikes Back, had matched his reputation. Boba Fett is another Star Wars character that explores the importance of destiny in the saga.
The Mandalorian covered Boba Fett’s attempts to retrieve his father’s armor after his encounter with the Sarlacc Pit, although canonically he’d already had to replace part of it. In season two of The Clone Wars, Boba used his father’s helmet to disguise a bomb in an unsuccessful attempt to assassinate Mace Windu, Jango’s killer.
We should expect the controversial backstory of the prequel trilogy to play its part in Boba Fett’s new series. Perhaps there’ll be time to explore the impact of his father’s other legacy, too ⏤ namely the millions of clone troopers who became the first stormtroopers of the Empire.
The Book of Boba Fett is streaming now on Disney Plus.