The Mandalorian Star Says He’s Been Waiting For Boba Fett’s Return For Years

The Mandalorian season 2 has finally resurrected Boba Fett, meaning that his weak ending in Return of the Jedi is no longer canon. In a great bit of casting, Prequel Trilogy star Temuera Morrison was hired to play the iconic bounty hunter, following on from his role as Boba’s father Jango Fett and voicing him in the video games and special editions of the Original Trilogy. And now, the actor has opened up about what a pleasant surprise it was to be asked back to the Star Wars saga.

While speaking to The New York Times, he recalled how excited he was for his first meeting with Mandalorian showrunners Jon Favreau and Dave Filoni, saying:

“At the time, I was in Los Angeles, meeting on another film,” Morrison said, “so I was pleasantly surprised to get the call. I actually got to the meeting quite early — I was so excited I got there about two hours early.”

Prior to that, Morrison had been aware of the online chatter about the potential for either Jango or Boba to be brought back in the Disney era of Star Wars and had wondered whether he was going to get an offer at some point. Even so, he was surprised and grateful when he was finally contacted, as he thought that Lucasfilm might recast the part.

“There was a lot of stuff online about a possible “Star Wars” bounty-hunter film, and then I was watching all the new “Star Wars” movies coming out, wondering if they were ever going to do anything with Jango Fett. My agent and I had a number of discussions — when are they going to call me? But then I kept forgetting about it. In this day and age, they have a number of options. They could have called other people to play the part. They can go with a fresh face. They could have called the Rock. I felt so grateful that after all this time, something came to be.”

Boba returned in the season 2 premiere in a brief cameo that revealed our first look at the character as an adult outside of his armor. In last week’s “Chapter 14,” he then finally got a starring guest role as the bounty hunter tracked Din Djarin to the planet Tython and made a deal with him to protect Baby Yoda. With The Child kidnapped by the end of the episode, Fett told Mando that his debt was not repaid, so it looks like he might be sticking around to help him free Grogu from Gideon and the Empire’s clutches.

And while it’s yet to be officially announced, it seems like his role in The Mandalorian season 2 could lead to Morrison getting his own spinoff miniseries as Boba Fett as well, which may have already secretly entered production. While we wait for news on that, though, don’t miss “Chapter 15” on Disney Plus this Friday.